DOT ANNOUNCES AIRLINE COMPLAINT PARTNERSHIP WITH STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL
May 6, 2024
On April 16, DOT launched a joint venture with eighteen (18) state attorneys general to investigate airlines and ticket agents for violations of aviation consumer protection laws. The partnership creates a fast-track system for prioritizing alleged misconduct by airlines identified by state attorneys general and greatly expands the Department’s oversight abilities of airlines. In a signed Memoranda of Understanding (“MOU”) DOT’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (“OACP”) expressed its commitment to collaborate with regard to complaints involving unfair or deceptive practices by airlines and create a formal mechanism for state attorneys general to report airlines to DOT for failing to respond to requests for information as part of a state investigation into a customer or other complaint. The MOU also indirectly expands OACP’s manpower, by allowing states to use their resources towards making determinations as to whether airlines are potentially violating federal aviation consumer protection requirements. So far, DOT has signed MOUs with the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New York, New Hampshire, North Carolina, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, the United States Virgin Islands, and Wisconsin. Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington have also expressed an interest in signing an MOU.
If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr at 202.659.6622 or esahr@eckertseamans.com; Drew Derco at 202-659-6665 or dderco@eckertseamans.com; Jay Julien at 202.659.6648 or jjulien@eckertseamans.com, or any other attorney at Eckert Seamans with whom you have been working.
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