(Reuters) - A union representing about 4,100 flight attendants at Frontier Airlines on Wednesday filed for federal mediation over the carrier's plan to overhaul its operations.

Frontier has announced plans to rework its network to allow almost all of its planes to return to their stations every night. The so-called out-and-back model inspired by European budget carriers is meant to minimize flight cancellations and delays. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA filed with the National Mediation Board seeking bargaining over the change that it says "is causing a dramatic reduction in compensation while sharply increasing time on the job or commuting to it."