[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 107 (Monday, June 3, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 27818-27821]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-13815]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
14 CFR Part 250
[Docket No. OST-96-1255 Notice 96-7]
RIN 2105-AC45
Oversales Signs
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DOT.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department proposes to eliminate a consumer notice about
airline oversales that is required to appear on signs at airports, city
ticket offices, and travel agencies, on the basis that the information
will continue to be
[[Page 27819]]
available through other means. This action is taken on the Department's
initiative, as a result of the President's Regulatory Reinvention
Initiative.
DATES: Comments on the issues discussed in this document should be
received by July 18, 1996. Late-filed comments will be considered to
the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Docket Clerk, Docket No. OST-96-
1255, Room PL-401, Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street SW,
Washington, DC 20590. For the convenience of persons who will be
reviewing the docket, it is requested that commenters provide an
original and three copies of their comments. Comments can be inspected
from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the address listed for mailing
comments. Commenters who wish the receipt of their comments to be
acknowledged should include a stamped, self-addressed postcard with
their comments. The docket clerk will date-stamp the postcard and mail
it to the commenter. Comments should be on 8\1/2\ by 11 inch white
paper using dark ink and should be without tabs and unbound.
An electronic version of this notice of proposed rulemaking will be
available at http://www.dot.gov/dotinfo/general/rules/aviation.html
shortly after publication in the Federal Register.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tim Kelly, Aviation Consumer
Protection Division, Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings,
Office of the General Counsel, Department of Transportation, 400
Seventh Street SW, Room 4107, Washington, DC 20590, telephone (202)
366-5952.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Airlines overbook (accept more reservations
than there are seats on a flight) in order to compensate for ``no
shows'' (passengers with confirmed reservations who do not show up for
their flight and do not cancel their reservation). Overbooking fills
seats that would otherwise go empty, thus keeping load factors up and
fares down. It also allows more passengers to obtain reservations on
the flight of their choice.
The Department of Transportation (Department or DOT) allows
overbooking but regulates it; see 14 CFR Part 250. Section 250.11(a) of
this regulation requires U.S. and foreign air carriers and travel
agencies to display a notice about overbooking at every desk or
position in the United States where tickets are sold. (The original
document adopting this rule can be found at 42 FR 12422, March 4,
1977.) The notice must be in boldface type at least one-fourth of an
inch high, and must read as follows:
Notice--Overbooking of Flights
Airline flights may be overbooked, and there is a slight chance
that a seat will not be available on a flight for which a person has
a confirmed reservation. If the flight is overbooked, no one will be
denied a seat until airline personnel first ask for volunteers
willing to give up their reservation in exchange for a payment of
the airline's choosing. If there are not enough volunteers the
airline will deny boarding to other persons in accordance with its
particular boarding priority. With few exceptions persons denied
boarding involuntarily are entitled to compensation. The complete
rules for the payment of compensation and each airline's boarding
priorities are available at all airport ticket counters and boarding
locations. Some airlines do not apply these consumer protections to
travel from some foreign countries, although other consumer
protections may be available. Check with your airline or your travel
agent.
The oversale protections of Part 250 do not apply to inbound
international flights to the United States. Section 250.11(e) states
that any U.S. or foreign air carrier that chooses to fully comply with
Part 250 on inbound international flights to the United States need not
use the last two sentences of the above Sec. 250.11(a) notice.
In his Regulatory Reinvention Initiative Memorandum of March 4,
1995, President Clinton directed Federal agencies to conduct a page-by-
page review of all of their regulations and to ``eliminate or revise
those that are outdated or otherwise in need of reform.'' In response
to that directive, the Department has undertaken a review of its
aviation economic and consumer regulations as contained in 14 CFR
Chapter II. This rulemaking is one result of those efforts. Other
rulemakings will address other regulations.
Section 250.11(b) requires that the text of the oversales sign also
appear on a notice that must accompany every ticket, and we plan to
leave this ticket notice requirement in place. The Department has
tentatively decided that it is no longer necessary to require this
notice both on signs and in tickets, and consequently we are proposing
to eliminate the requirement for the oversales sign for carriers and
travel agencies that provide the ticket notice. Most carriers that
offer ``ticketless'' transportation send passengers a copy of the
consumer notices required by DOT rules, including the Sec. 250.11(b)
notice.1 Where a carrier does not provide this notice in writing
to each customer, however, the notice would have to continue to appear
on signs at locations where that carrier sells tickets, e.g. airports
and city ticket offices.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ On January 19, 1996, the Department published a Federal
Register notice seeking comment on the issue of passenger notices as
applied to ticketless travel. See 61 FR 1309; also available on the
World Wide Web at http://www.dot.gov/dotinfo/general/rules/
aviation.html. The comment period for that Notice ended March 19,
1996. After examining the comments in that proceeding, the
Department will determine, among other things, whether ``ticket'' in
the context of currently required ticket notices would include air
transportation sold without a conventional paper ticket and,
consequently, whether the existing rules require ticketless sales to
be accompanied by the passenger notices that are currently required
to be included on or with tickets.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have decided to propose elimination of the sign rather than the
ticket notice because the ticket notice is normally provided earlier in
the process, and it is a record that the passenger can retain. At
airports, the oversales sign is sometimes placed in locations where it
is difficult to read. In addition, there have been occasional
objections from airports over the placement of required signage.
Eliminating the requirement for the sign should be particularly
beneficial to the more than 45,000 travel agencies in the United
States, many of whom are small businesses.
This revision should not impair consumer protection. Air travelers
will continue to receive the same information via ticket notices. In
addition, Sec. 250.9 requires carriers to give a lengthier written
handout to anyone who is actually denied boarding, and to anyone else
who requests this handout. (The ticket notice makes reference to this
handout.) Finally, the substantive consumer protections of Part 250
continue to apply even where specific passengers might not receive
notice about those protections. In other words, during an oversale
situation, carriers are under an affirmative obligation to solicit
volunteers and pay compensation to all eligible passengers who are
denied boarding involuntarily, not simply those who request these
services as a result of reading a notice.
As indicated above, the ticket notice requirement in Sec. 250.11(b)
is being retained. The text of the ticket notice is not contained in
current Sec. 250.11(b); instead, because the text of the ticket notice
and the sign is identical, current Sec. 250.11(b) (the ticket notice
provision) incorporates the notice text by reference to the text in
Sec. 250.11(a) (the sign provision). Because Sec. 250.11(a) is being
eliminated, we are proposing to move the text of the ticket notice to
Sec. 250.11(b). We are also proposing to change the word ``notices'' in
the first sentence of current Sec. 250.11(b) to ``notice''; the
singular form is more accurate and is the form used in the remainder of
current Sec. 250.11(b). Finally, we are proposing to remove the word
``station'' from the phrase ``desk,
[[Page 27820]]
station or position'' in current Sec. 250.11(a) (proposed
Sec. 250.11(b)) because it is confusing. This provision refers to an
individual staffed counter position, whereas the airlines use
``station'' to refer to a carrier's entire operation at a particular
city.
We are also taking this opportunity to propose changes to certain
outdated language in Part 250. We are proposing to change references to
the Civil Aeronautics Board, our predecessor in aviation economic
regulation, to the Department of Transportation. Citations to sections
of the Federal Aviation Act shall be changed to reflect the current
section numbers of these statutory provisions in the United States
Code, as a result of a 1994 recodification which absorbed that Act
directly into the U.S. Code and renumbered its sections. A statutory
change that occurred at the time of this recodification incorporated
``overseas air transportation'' into ``interstate air transportation''
and eliminated the former term, and we are proposing to make
corresponding changes to the term ``overseas air transportation''
wherever it occurs in Part 250.
Regulatory Analyses and Notices
This NPRM is considered to be a non-significant rulemaking under
DOT's regulatory policies and procedures, 44 FR 11034. The NPRM was not
subject to review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
pursuant to Executive Order 12866.
The proposal would have minimal economic impact, and accordingly no
regulatory evaluation has been prepared. The principal impact will be
that several dozen air carriers and more than 45,000 travel agencies,
many of whom are small businesses, will no longer have to display this
sign. The economic impact is difficult to quantify. There has been no
continuing direct cost associated with display of the signs, and thus
elimination of this requirement will not produce an immediate monetary
savings. Some carriers may choose not to incur the labor cost of
removing signs, particularly since the information on the sign is still
accurate. The major economic benefit will result from the fact that
this sign will not have to be erected at future airline and travel
agency locations. That will bring about both material and labor
savings.
The NPRM has been analyzed in accordance with the principles and
criteria contained in Executive Order 12612, and it has been determined
that it does not have sufficient federalism implications to warrant the
preparation of a Federalism Assessment.
While the proposal would benefit a large number of small
businesses, I certify that the proposal, if adopted, would not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 250
Air carriers, Consumer protection.
For the reasons set forth above, the Department proposes to amend
title 14, chapter II, subchapter A, part 250 as follows:
PART 250--[AMENDED]
1. The authority citation for part 250 would continue to read as
follows:
Authority: 49 U.S.C. chapters 401, 411, 413, 417.
2. In Sec. 250.1, revise the definition of ``Carrier'' to read as
follows:
Sec. 250.1 Definitions.
* * * * *
Carrier means
(1) A direct air carrier, except a helicopter operator, holding a
certificate issued by the Department of Transportation pursuant to 49
U.S.C. 41102 (formerly sections 401(d)(1), 401(d)(2), 401(d)(5) and
401(d)(8) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958), or an exemption from 49
U.S.C. 41101 (formerly section 401(a) of the Act), authorizing the
transportation of persons, or
(2) A foreign route air carrier holding a permit issued by the
Department pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 41301 through 41306 (formerly section
402 of the Act), or an exemption from the appropriate provision of 49
U.S.C. 41301 through 41306, authorizing the scheduled foreign air
transportation of persons.
Sec. 250.2 [Amended]
* * * * *
3. In Sec. 250.2, remove the words ``or overseas.''
Sec. 250.2 [Amended]
4. In Sec. 250.2b(b), remove the word ``Board'' in the last
sentence and add in its place ``DOT.''
Sec. 250.4 [Amended]
5. In Sec. 250.4(c), remove ``the Board'' and add in its place
``DOT.''
Sec. 250.5 [Amended]
6. In Sec. 250.5(a), remove the words ``and overseas'' in the last
sentence.
Sec. 250.9 [Amended]
7. In Sec. 250.9(b), in the subsection entitled Compensation for
Denied Boarding, remove the phrase ``Civil Aeronautics Board'' and add
in its place ``Department of Transportation.''
Sec. 250.9 [Amended]
8. In Sec. 250.9(b), in the subsection entitled Amount of Denied
Boarding Compensation, remove ``the CAB'' and add in its place ``DOT.''
Sec. 250.11 [Amended]
9. Section 250.11(a) is removed and reserved.
10. Paragraph (b) of Sec. 250.11 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 250.11 Public disclosure of deliberate overbooking and boarding
procedures.
* * * * *
(b) Every carrier shall include with each ticket sold in the United
States the following notice, printed in at least 12-point type. The
notice may be printed on a separate piece of paper, on the ticket
stock, or on the ticket envelope. The last two sentences of the notice
shall be printed in a typeface contrasting with that of the rest of the
notice.
Notice--Overbooking of Flights
Airline flights may be overbooked, and there is a slight chance
that a seat will not be available on a flight for which a person has
a confirmed reservation. If the flight is overbooked, no one will be
denied a seat until airline personnel first ask for volunteers
willing to give up their reservation in exchange for a payment of
the airline's choosing. If there are not enough volunteers the
airline will deny boarding to other persons in accordance with its
particular boarding priority. With few exceptions persons denied
boarding involuntarily are entitled to compensation. The complete
rules for the payment of compensation and each airline's boarding
priorities are available at all airport ticket counters and boarding
locations. Some airlines do not apply these consumer protections to
travel from some foreign countries, although other consumer
protections may be available. Check with your airline or your travel
agent.
A ``ticketless'' carrier that does not provide a copy of this
notice to passengers in writing in conjunction with air transportation
purchased in the United States must display this notice continuously on
a sign in a conspicuous public place at each desk and position in the
United States staffed by its employees or its contractor (not including
travel agencies) to sell transportation to passengers. The notice must
be clearly visible and clearly readable to the traveling public and
must be in boldface type at least one-fourth of an inch high.
Sec. 250.11 [Amended]
11. In Sec. 250.11(c), remove the phrase ``paragraphs (a) and (b)
of this section'' and add in its place ``paragraph (b) of this
section.''
[[Page 27821]]
Sec. 250.12 [Amended]
12. In Sec. 250.11(e), remove ``notices'' and add in its place
``notice'' and remove the phrase ``paragraph (a) of this subsection''
and add in its place ``paragraph (b) of this section.''
Issued this 1st day of April, 1996 at Washington, D.C.
Charles A. Hunnicutt,
Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs.
[FR Doc. 96-13815 Filed 5-31-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-62-P
