Q: Why does interrupted rest qualify after the second contact and not the first?
The FAA does allow one call during rest, which is outlined in an FAA letter. This is a clarification of the Flight Attendant Minimum 10 Hours Rest provision in the FAA Reauthorization Bill. This clarification protects from the second call. It is the same protective provision pilots have in FAR 117. For the protection to apply, the Flight Attendant would have had to pick up both calls. Picking up the second call would then restart the legal rest.