DOT Proposal for Strengthened Protections for Air Ticket Refunds Open for Comments

After getting flooded throughout the pandemic with complaints
about airways from customers with non-refundable tickets, the U.S. Division
of Transportation introduced this month a proposed rule that will make
vital modifications to airline ticket refunds. 

DOT on Aug. 22 then held a digital public assembly of the
Aviation Client Safety Advisory Committee to debate the proposal, which
was met
with concerns from the Travel Management Coalition, composed of huge U.S.
journey administration corporations. 

BTN reached out to a number of airways for feedback and was
directed to the trade advocacy group Airways for America, which replied
that its “member carriers adjust to federal legal guidelines and rules concerning
money refunds.” The group additionally shared that for the reason that begin of the
pandemic, U.S. airways have issued $21 billion in money refunds, together with
$12.84 billion in 2020 and $8.18 billion in 2021, in contrast with $7.46 billion
in 2019. 

Along with the assembly, the proposal was entered into
the Federal Register on Aug. 22, giving the general public the prospect to remark for a
90-day interval, which ends on Nov. 21. As of midday, Aug. 25, there have been simply six
formal posted feedback; nonetheless, when accessed via the positioning
Rules.gov, 24 feedback had been uploaded, and one other 558 associated feedback
made after DOT’s preliminary notification on Aug. 3 additionally had been accessible.

Refund Proposal Particulars

DOT for years has required airways and ticket brokers to
refund vacationers if airways cancel or considerably change their flights,
nonetheless the phrases “vital change” and “cancellation” had not been outlined,
in line with DOT, leading to inconsistency amongst airways and their refunds.

The proposed modifications would outline these phrases and codify
DOT’s “interpretation {that a} failure to offer refunds when a provider cancels
or considerably modifications a flight to, from, or inside america is an
unfair apply.”

The definition of a “vital change” contains modifications
that have an effect on the arrival or departure occasions by three hours or extra for a
home flight and 6 hours or extra for a global flight, modifications to
the departure or arrival airport, modifications that enhance the variety of
connections within the itinerary, and modifications to the kind of plane flown if it
causes a major downgrade within the air journey expertise or facilities
onboard the flight.

The definition of a cancelled flight would imply one which was
printed in a provider’s reservation system on the time of sale however was not
operated by the provider, in line with DOT.

As well as, the proposal would require that airways and
ticket brokers present passengers with flight credit or vouchers which might be legitimate
indefinitely when passengers are unable to fly for sure pandemic-related
causes, corresponding to government-mandated bans on journey, closed borders or
passengers suggested to not journey to guard their well being or the well being of different
passengers. Additional, airways and ticket brokers that obtain “vital
authorities help associated to a pandemic” can be required to subject refunds
in lieu of non-expiring journey credit or vouchers.

Comment
on the proposed refund rules.

_{This hyperlink will take you to the Federal Register for formal feedback.}

Minimal Airplane Seat Sizes

The DOT proposed refund guidelines had been introduced a few week
after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued a discover for public feedback
on minimal airplane seat sizes obligatory for the protection of air passengers. Congress
had ordered the FAA to ascertain minimal dimensions for airplane seats in 2018,
nonetheless the company didn’t comply. 

The present normal for emergency evacuations is 90 seconds,
together with crew members. Some passenger advocates argue that as seat sizes have
reduced in size and common physique sizes have gotten bigger, it’s turn into a security
and well being hazard.

“Our estimate is that solely 20 % of the inhabitants can
fairly slot in these seats now,” FlyersRights.org president Paul Hudson told
USA Today. “It’s past a matter of consolation, and even emergency evacuation,
there are critical well being and issues of safety whenever you’re put in cramped
circumstances for hours on finish.”

The FAA request, entered into the Federal Register Aug. 3, asks
for feedback on seat width, seat pitch (the house between rows), seat size
and “different seat dimensions” and whether or not they “have or demonstrably might
adversely have an effect on” the protection of passengers by delaying an emergency evacuation.

As of Aug. 25, individuals had left 11,159 formal feedback. The
remark deadline for the seat measurement proposal is Nov. 1. 

Comment
on airplane seat size.

_{This hyperlink will take you to the Federal Register for formal feedback.}