Notice2024-11140
Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 21, 2024
Issuing agencies
Transportation Department
Abstract
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), as amended, this notice announces the Department of Transportation's (Department or DOT) intention to renew Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Control Number 2105-0561 for the collection and posting of certain aviation consumer protection-related information from U.S. carriers and foreign carriers. The subject information collections relate to requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for the development and auditing of carrier customer service plans, reporting of tarmac delays, display of on-time performance, and the posting of various consumer protection documents on carrier websites. The Control Number is set to expire on August 31, 2024, unless renewed.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 99 (Tuesday, May 21, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 21, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44758-44760]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-11140]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
[Docket ID Number: DOT-OST-2010-0140]
Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA),
as amended, this notice announces the Department of Transportation's
(Department or DOT) intention to renew Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) Control Number 2105-0561 for the collection and posting of
certain aviation consumer protection-related information from U.S.
carriers and foreign carriers. The subject information collections
relate to requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for the
development and auditing of carrier customer service plans, reporting
of tarmac delays, display of on-time performance, and the posting of
various consumer protection documents on carrier websites. The Control
Number is set to expire on August 31, 2024, unless renewed.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by July 22, 2024.
Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding this
proposal.
ADDRESSES: To ensure that you do not duplicate your docket submissions,
please submit them by only one of the following means:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> and follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
<bullet> Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
<bullet> Hand delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays. Commenters using this method
of delivery should contact Docket Services at 202-366-9826 or 202-366-
9317 before delivery to ensure staff is available to receive the
delivery.
<bullet> Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket
number DOT-OST-2010-0140 at the beginning of your comment. All comments
received will be posted without change to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>,
including any personal information provided.
<bullet> Privacy Act: Anyone can search the electronic form of all
comments received in any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). For information on
DOT's compliance with the Privacy Act, please visit
<a href="http://www.transportation.gov/privacy">www.transportation.gov/privacy</a>.
<bullet> Docket: For access to the docket to read background
documents or comments received, go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and
follow the online instructions for accessing the docket.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alexa Strong or Hannah Cohen, Office
of the Secretary, Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (C-70), U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC
20590, at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f8b9949d8099d6ab8c8a97969fb89c978cd69f978e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4c0d2029342d621f383e23222b0c282338622b233a">[email protected]</span></a>, 202-768-3269 or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c088a1aeaea1a8ee83afa8a5ae80a4afb4eea7afb6"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2a624b44444b42046945424f446a4e455e044d455c">[email protected]</span></a>,
202-641-3623. Arrangements to receive this document in an alternative
format may be made by contacting the above-named individuals.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Submission of Miscellaneous Information Collection Systems
as Required by the Department's Rules to Enhance Airline Passenger
Protections.
OMB Control Number: 2105-0561.
On Dec. 30, 2009 and April 25, 2011, the Department issued two
rules to enhance airline passenger protections that, among other
things, required U.S. and foreign carriers to adopt and audit a
customer service plan, retain information regarding tarmac delays,
submit data regarding tarmac delays, and post tarmac delay plans,
customer service plans, and contracts of carriage on their websites.
The 2009 rule also required U.S. carriers that file on-time performance
reports under 14 CFR part 234 (``reporting carriers'') to display the
on-time performance of domestic flights on their websites. A 2016 rule
then expanded the definition of U.S. carriers considered reporting
carriers.
On May 3, 2021, the Department issued a rule amending its tarmac
delay requirements. Among other things, the rule narrowed the tarmac
delay data reporting requirements in 14 CFR part 244 to those delays
considered ``excessive tarmac delays'' (i.e., those tarmac delays
exceeding 3 hours on domestic flights and 4 hours on
[[Page 44759]]
international flights). The amended rule also required carriers to file
a narrative report regarding such tarmac delays and eliminated the
requirement to retain the delay information for two years.
Currently, the Department's Office of Aviation Consumer Protection
(OACP) is finalizing development of the Aviation Complaint,
Enforcement, and Reporting System (ACERS), a database that it intends
to require carriers to use when submitting tarmac delay information as
required under 14 CFR part 259. ACERS will help streamline the process
by which OACP receives, reviews, and analyzes the narrative reports
submitted by carriers.
A Federal agency generally cannot conduct or sponsor a collection
of information, and the public is generally not required to respond to
an information collection, unless it is approved by OMB under the PRA
and displays a currently valid OMB Control Number. In addition,
notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no person shall generally
be subject to penalty for failing to comply with a collection of
information if the collection of information does not display a valid
OMB Control Number. See 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 1320.6.
This notice addresses five information collection requirements set
forth in the Department's airline passenger protection rules: (1)
posting of tarmac delay plans, customer service plans, and contracts of
carriage on carrier websites, (2) submission of a narrative report
regarding tarmac delays that last over three hours for domestic flights
and four hours for international flights, (3) adoption and audit of
customer service plans and retention of results, (4) display of on-time
performance data on carrier websites, and (5) submission of a data
report for tarmac delays that last over three hours for domestic
flights and four hours for international flights. It seeks renewal of
the OMB control number with respect to all information collections set
forth in this notice. For each of these information collections, the
title, a description of the respondents, and an estimate of the annual
recordkeeping and periodic reporting burdens are set forth below:
1. Requirement to post tarmac delay plans, customer service plans,
and contracts of carriage on a carrier's website. (14 CFR 259.2 and
259.6)
Title: Posting of Tarmac Delay Plan, Customer Service Plan, and
Contract of Carriage on website.
Respondents: U.S. carriers that operate scheduled passenger or
public charter service and foreign air carriers operating scheduled
passenger or public charter service to or from the United States, using
any aircraft with a designed seating capacity of 30 or more seats.
Applicable to U.S. carriers that have a website and foreign carriers
that have a website marketed toward U.S. consumers.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 44 U.S. air carriers and 112
foreign air carriers.
Estimated Total Burden on Respondents: 65 hours (3,900 minutes,
average of 25 minutes per carrier to post plans and contracts of
carriage on website). The burden calculation accounts for additional
time carriers may spend updating the contents of their customer service
plans.
Frequency: One time per respondent.
2. Requirement to file a narrative report with OACP of each flight
that experiences a tarmac delay of more than three hours (domestic
flights) and more than four hours (international flights). (14 CFR
259.4(g))
Title: Reporting of Tarmac Delays in a Narrative Format That
Complies with 49 U.S.C. 42301(h).
Respondents: U.S. Carriers that operate scheduled passenger service
or public charter service using any aircraft with 30 or more seats, and
foreign air carriers that operate scheduled passenger or public charter
service to and from the United States using any aircraft with 30 or
more seats.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 44 U.S. air carriers and 112
foreign air carriers.
Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: 2 hours per report for U.S.
carriers and 4 hours per report for foreign carriers. The expected
burden per U.S. carrier is between 0 and 147 reports per year, and the
expected burden per foreign carrier is between 0 and 2 reports per year
(based on the highest annual number of tarmac delays experienced by a
single U.S. and foreign carrier from 2022 and 2023), or 0.0 to 294.0
hours of burden per U.S. carrier and 0.0 to 8.0 hours of burden per
foreign carrier.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: Based on the average number of
tarmac delay reports filed with OACP by each type of carrier from 2022
through 2023, 358 reports for U.S. carriers and 10 reports for foreign
carriers, or a total of 756 hours (358 reports multiplied by 2 hours
per report for U.S. carriers, and 10 reports multiplied by 4 hours for
foreign carriers).
Frequency: One report per respondent for each tarmac delay.
3. Requirement that certain U.S. and foreign air carriers adopt a
Customer Service Plan and retain for two years the results of its
annual self-audit of its compliance with its Customer Service Plan. (14
CFR 259.2 and 259.5)
Title: Adopting a Customer Service Plan and Retaining Self-audit of
Customer Service Plan.
Respondents: U.S. carriers that operate scheduled passenger service
using any aircraft with a designed seating capacity of 30 or more
seats, and foreign air carriers that operate scheduled passenger
service to and from the United States using any aircraft with a
designed seating capacity of 30 or more seats.
Number of Respondents: 44 U.S. air carriers and 112 foreign air
carriers.
Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: 15 minutes per year for
each respondent. The estimate was calculated by multiplying the
estimated time for carriers to maintain an updated Customer Service
Plan and to retain a copy of the carrier's self-audit of its compliance
with its Customer Service Plan by the number of audits per carrier in a
given year (1). The initial costs of adopting a Customer Service Plan
are not included in this estimate as most covered carriers initially
adopted such plans when the requirement was promulgated in 2009 (for
U.S. carriers) and 2011 (for foreign carriers).
Estimated Total Annual Burden: A maximum of 39 hours (2,340
minutes) for all respondents. The estimate was calculated by
multiplying the time in a given year for each carrier to maintain an
updated Customer Service Plan and to retain a copy of its self-audit of
its compliance with its Customer Service Plan (15 minutes) by the total
number of covered carriers (156 carriers).
Frequency: One information set to maintain and retain per year for
each respondent.
4. Requirement that each large U.S. carrier display on its website,
at a point before the consumer selects a flight for purchase, the
following information for each listed flight regarding its on-time
performance during the last reported month: The percentage of arrivals
that were on time (within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival time), the
percentage of arrivals that were more than 30 minutes late (with
special highlighting if the flight was more than 30 minutes late more
than 50 percent of the time), and the percentage of flight
cancellations if the flight is cancelled more than 5% of the time. In
addition, the requirement that a marketing/reporting carrier display
delay data for its non-reporting codeshare carrier(s). (14 CFR 234.11)
Title: Displaying On-time performance Information on Carrier
website.
[[Page 44760]]
Respondents: U.S. carriers that operate scheduled passenger service
that account for at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger
revenue and that market flights directly to consumers via a website.
Number of Respondents: 15 carriers.
Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: 2 hours per month (24 hours
annually) to cover both updates of a carrier's own delay data and
updates of code-share delay data.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: No more than 360 hours (21,600
minutes) a year for all respondents. The estimate was calculated by
multiplying the total number of hours per carrier per year for
management of data links (24) by the number of covered carriers (15).
Frequency: Updating information for each flight listed on website
12 times per year (1 time per month) for each respondent (for both a
carrier's own delay data and code-share delay data).
5. Requirement that carriers report certain tarmac delay data to
BTS for each tarmac delay exceeding 3 Hours (for domestic flights) and
exceeding 4 Hours (for international flights). (14 CFR 244.3)
Title: Reporting Tarmac Delay Data to BTS for Tarmac Delays
Exceeding 3 Hours (for Domestic Flights) and 4 Hours (for International
Flights).
Respondents: U.S. carriers that operate scheduled passenger service
or public charter service using any aircraft with 30 or more seats, and
foreign air carriers that operate scheduled passenger or public charter
service to and from the United States using any aircraft with 30 or
more seats.
Number of Respondents: 44 U.S. air carriers and 112 foreign air
carriers.
Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: 30 minutes per report
filed. The expected burden per U.S. carrier is between 0 and 147
reports per year, and the expected burden per foreign carrier is
between 0 and 2 reports per year (based on the highest and lowest
number of reports submitted by each individual U.S. and foreign carrier
from 2022 and 2023), or 0.0 to 73.5 hours of burden per U.S. carrier
and 0.0 to 1.0 hours of burden per foreign carrier.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: Based on an average number of tarmac
delays reported to BTS for 2022 and 2023, the estimated annual burden
is 368 reports for U.S. carriers and foreign carriers, or a total of
184 hours (368 reports multiplied by 30 minutes per report).
Frequency: One report per respondent for each tarmac delay.
We invite comments on (a) whether the collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of DOT, including
whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the accuracy
of DOT's estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection;
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information
to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection
of information on respondents, including the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of information technology. All
responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the request
for OMB approval. All comments will also become a matter of public
record on the docket.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter
35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.26, 1.27, 1.48 and 1.49; DOT Order
1351.29.
Issued in Washington, DC.
Livaughn Chapman, Jr.,
Deputy Assistant General Counsel, Office of Aviation Consumer
Protection.
[FR Doc. 2024-11140 Filed 5-20-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P
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