The is no FAA regulation on times between flights. You misunderstood what the flight attendant was telling you. Every airline has a policy about the least amount of time permissible to make a connection. They will have domestic to domestic, domestic to international, etc. If a flight is booked for less than that amount of time, then it is not a legal connection. It has nothing to do with the law, it's just a term.
However, don't ever depend on the flight attendant's info. Many times they are right, but very often they somehow become experts on ticketing and gate procedures and are very often wrong. They are not trained on those aspects, but sometimes think they are. The problem too, is that some airlines will have a different set of legal connection times in different hub cities. I have not found what it is or Alaska, but it could be that less than 40 minutes in not allowed in Seattle, but is OK in LA. But the flight attendant heard it once in SEA, and thought that just applied to all cities.
The other thing to consider is who did you purchase your ticket from? Was it directly from Alaska or from a travel agent or online agency? Agencies have a tendency to break the rules.
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