DOT CONSIDERING EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE COMMENTS ON ITS PROPOSED CONSUMER RULE 3
July 6, 2014
On June 13, 2014, Airlines for America, the International Air Transport Association and the Regional Airline Association, on behalf of their members, requested a 90-day extension for submitting comments on DOT’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled “Transparency of Airline Ancillary Fees and Other Consumer Protection Issues” (i.e., Consumer Rule 3). The rule proposes, among other things, to: (1) require carriers to disseminate certain ancillary service fee information to ticket agents; (2) require carriers to modify their websites to display (as specific charges) certain basic ancillary service fees; (3) modify the Department’s post-purchase price increase rule with respect to ancillary fees; and (4) amend the tarmac delay rule to clarify that the Department may impose penalties for tarmac delay violations on a per passenger basis (up to $27,500 per passenger).
All carriers should consider submitting comments to this latest attempt by DOT to over-regulate the industry. Currently, comments are due by August 21, 2014. If the extension is granted, comments will be due by November 19, 2014.