ATPCO SUBMITS COMMENT ON AIRLINE DISTRIBUTION AND DISPLAY OF ANCILLARY CONTENT EFFORTS
September 16, 2022
On August 10, 2022, the Airline Tariff Publishing Company (“ATPCO”) submitted a comment, available here, to DOT’s nonrulemaking docket for the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protection (“ACACP”) regarding the Department’s consideration of rules that would establish new requirements for airlines on the distribution and display of ancillary content.
As background, DOT has for more than a decade focused on and issued numerous rules related to ancillary service fee transparency and the distribution and transmission of information on ancillary airline products and services. More recently, DOT has signaled a renewed focus on the implementation of new rules in this area, such as the proposed rule on “Enhancing Transparency of Airline Ancillary Fees” (RIN 2105-AF10), scheduled for publication in October 2022. If promulgated, this rule would amend DOT’s aviation consumer protection regulations to ensure that consumers have ancillary fee information including baggage fees, change fees, and cancellation fees at the time they purchase a ticket, and determine whether fees for certain ancillary services should be disclosed at the beginning of the search process for a ticket, when the fare is listed.
In response, ATPCO submitted a letter stating that DOT has missed much of its work, as well as the work of airlines and other third parties, to make “significant progress to facilitate the transparency that the Department intends to foster” with new rules, and that the Department’s issuance of new rules on ancillary content may end up causing complex issues that could delay the industry’s ongoing efforts. For example, ATPCO detailed how it already has been working to develop new standards and data to ensure that flight fares and related policy content, including information on ancillary service and baggage fees, are clearly available to consumers at all points of sale. Comments related to the display and distribution of ancillary content and DOT’s proposed rules on this subject can be made in DOT’s ACACP nonrulemaking docket, available here. Comments on ancillary content can be submitted indefinitely for the time-being since DOT has yet to issue a proposed rulemaking subject to a notice and comment period.
If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com 202-659-6622) or Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com 202-659-6665).
Share This Post
Authors
