Vol. 76 Monday, No. 79 April 25, 2011 Part IV Department of Transportation 14 CFR Parts 244, 250, 253 Et al. Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections; Final Rule VerDate Mar<15>2010 17:57 Apr 22, 2011 Jkt 223001 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4717 Sfmt 4717 E:\FR\FM\25APR4.SGM 25APR4 srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with RULES4 23110 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 79 / Monday, April 25, 2011 / Rules and Regulations DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION taking this action to strengthen the Contingency plans for lengthy tarmac rights of air travelers in the event of delays; (2) reporting of tarmac delay Office of the Secretary oversales, flight cancellations and data; (3) customer service plans; (4) delays, ensure that passengers have contracts of carriage; (5) responding to 14 CFR Parts 244, 250, 253, 259, and accurate and adequate information to consumer problems/complaints (6) 399 make informed decisions when oversales; (7) full fare advertising; (8) [Docket No. DOT–OST–2010–0140] selecting flights, prohibit unfair and baggage and other ancillary fees; (9) deceptive practices such as post- post-purchase price increases; (10) RIN 2105–AD92 purchase price increases and contract of notification to passengers of flight status carriage choice-of-forum provisions, and changes; (11) choice-of-forum Enhancing Airline Passenger to ensure responsiveness to consumer provisions; and (12) peanut allergies. In Protections complaints. response to the NPRM, the Department AGENCY: received over 2100 comments, the vast Office of the Secretary (OST), DATES: This rule is effective August 23, Department of Transportation (DOT). 2011 except for the amendments to 14 majority of which were related to the ACTION: Final rule. CFR 399.84 which become effective proposal to address peanut allergies in October 24, 2011. air travel. SUMMARY: The Department of The Department received comments FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Transportation is issuing a final rule to on the NPRM from the following: U.S. Blane A. Workie, Tim Kelly or Daeleen improve the air travel environment for carriers and U.S. carrier associations; Chesley, Office of the Assistant General consumers by: Increasing the number of foreign air carriers and foreign carrier Counsel for Aviation Enforcement and carriers that are required to adopt associations; U.S. and foreign consumer Proceedings, U.S. Department of tarmac delay contingency plans and the groups; travel agents and members of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave., airports at which they must adhere to organizations in the travel industry; SE., Washington, DC 20590, 202–366– the plan’s terms; increasing the number airports and various airport-related 9342 (phone), 202–366–7152 (fax), of carriers that are required to report industry groups; members of Congress; [email protected] or tarmac delay information to the embassies; peanut industry groups and [email protected] (e-mail). Department; expanding the group of allergy associations; as well as a number carriers that are required to adopt, SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: of individual consumers. In addition, follow, and audit customer service plans Background the Department received a summary of and establishing minimum standards for the public discussion on the NPRM the subjects all carriers must cover in On December 30, 2009, the proposals that occurred on the such plans; adding carriers to those Department published a final rule in Regulation Room Web site, http:// required to include their contingency which it required certain U.S. air www.regulationroom.org. The plans and customer service plans on carriers to adopt contingency plans for Regulation Room site is a site where their websites; increasing the number of lengthy tarmac delays; respond to members of the public can learn about carriers that must respond to consumer consumer problems; post flight delay and discuss proposed federal complaints; enhancing protections information on their websites; and regulations and provide feedback to afforded passengers in oversales adopt, follow, and audit customer agency decision makers. To support this situations, including increasing the service plans. The rule also defined Administration’s open government maximum denied boarding chronically delayed flights and deemed initiative, the Department partnered compensation airlines must pay to them to be an ‘‘unfair and deceptive’’ with Cornell University in this pilot passengers bumped from flights; practice. The majority of the provisions project to discover the best ways to use strengthening, codifying and clarifying in that rule took effect on April 29, Web 2.0 and social networking the Department’s enforcement policies 2010. See 74 FR 68983 (December 30, technologies to increase effective public concerning air transportation price 2009). involvement in the rulemaking process. advertising practices; requiring carriers In the preamble to that final rule, the The Department has carefully to notify consumers of optional fees Department noted that it planned to reviewed and considered the comments related to air transportation and of review additional ways to further received. The commenters’ positions increases in baggage fees; prohibiting enhance protections afforded airline that are germane to the specific issues post-purchase price increases; requiring passengers and listed a number of raised in the NPRM and the carriers to provide passengers timely subject areas that it was considering Department’s responses are set forth notice of flight status changes such as addressing in a future rulemaking. On below, immediately following a delays and cancellations; and June 8, 2010, the Department published summary of regulatory provisions and a prohibiting carriers from imposing a notice of proposed rulemaking summary of the regulatory analysis. unfair contract of carriage choice-of- (NPRM), 75 FR 32318, in which it forum provisions. The Department is addressed the following areas: (1) Summary of Regulatory Provisions Subject Final rule Tarmac Delay Contingency Plans ....................... • Requires foreign air carriers operating to or from the U.S. with at least one aircraft with 30 or more passenger seats to adopt and adhere to tarmac delay contingency plans. • Requires U.S. and foreign air carriers to not permit an international flight to remain on the tarmac at a U.S. airport for more than four hours without allowing passengers to deplane subject to safety, security, and ATC exceptions. • Expands the airports at which airlines must adhere to the contingency plan terms to include small hub and non-hub airports, including diversion airports. • Requires U.S. and foreign carriers to coordinate plans with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). VerDate Mar<15>2010 17:57 Apr 22, 2011 Jkt 223001 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 4701 Sfmt 4700 E:\FR\FM\25APR4.SGM 25APR4 srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with RULES4 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 79 / Monday, April 25, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 23111 Subject Final rule • Requires notification regarding the status of delays every 30 minutes while aircraft is de- layed, including reasons for delay if known. • Requires notification of opportunity to deplane from an aircraft that is at the gate or another disembarkation area with door open if the opportunity to deplane actually exists. Tarmac Delay Data ............................................. • Requires all carriers that must adopt tarmac delay contingency plans to file data with the Department regarding lengthy tarmac delays. Customer Service Plans ...................................... • Requires foreign air carriers that operate scheduled passenger service to and from the U.S. with at least one aircraft with 30 or more passenger seats to adopt, follow and audit cus- tomer service plans. • Establishes standards for the subjects U.S. and foreign air carriers must cover in customer service plans. Examples include: • delivering baggage on time, including reimbursing passengers for any fee charged to transport a bag if the bag is lost; • where ticket refunds are due, providing prompt refunds including refund of optional fees charged to a passenger for services that the passenger was unable to use due to an oversale situation or flight cancellation; and • allowing reservations to be held at the quoted fare without payment, or cancelled with- out penalty, for at least twenty-four hours after the reservation is made if the reserva- tion is made one week or more prior to a flight’s departure date. Posting of Customer Service Plans and Tarmac • Requires foreign carriers to post their required contingency plans, customer service plans, Delay Contingency Plans. and contracts of carriage on their websites as is already required of U.S. carriers. Response to Consumer Problems ...................... • Expands the pool of carriers that must respond to consumer problems to include foreign air carriers operating scheduled passenger service to and from the U.S. with at least one air- craft with 30 or more passenger seats (i.e., monitor the effects of irregular flight operations on consumers; inform consumers how to file a complaint with the carrier, and provide substantives responses to consumer complaints within 60 days). Oversales ............................................................ • Increases the minimum denied boarding compensation limits to $650/$1,300 or 200%/400% of the one-way fare, whichever is smaller. • Implements an automatic inflation adjuster for minimum DBC limits every 2 years. • Clarifies that DBC must be offered