\(202\) 493-2251

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December 3, 2007

Subject:

**14 CFR Parts 234, 253, 259, and 399**

**Docket No. DOT-OST-2007-0022**

**RIN No. 2105-AD72**

**Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections**

**AGENCY:** Office of the Secretary (OST), Department of Transportation
(DOT)

**ACTION:** Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM)

Dear Secretary Peters,

Please accept my comments on the Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections
ANPRM.

1.  **Require Contingency Plans for Lengthy Tarmac Delays and
    Incorporate Them in their Contracts of Carriage**

    a.  The Department must review and approve air carrier's contingency
        plans. Existing air carrier contingency plans and contracts of
        carriage are not enforceable. We depend upon the government to
        ensure that consumers are protected from unfair and deceptive
        practices.

    b.  The Department should be responsible for setting minimum
        standards. If the left solely up to the airlines, they can set
        unreasonable thresholds.

    c.  The ANPRM must be specific in definition of "the maximum tarmac
        delay that the carrier will permit". This provision of the
        proposal should explicitly require airlines to define the
        maximum tarmac time before passengers are permitted to deplane.

    d.  I strongly agree with inclusion of 30 passenger seats aircraft
        as regional jets are used in approximately 25% of commercial
        traffic.

    e.  Contingency plans should otherwise include; a) maximum tarmac
        delay that the carrier will permit; b) the amount of time on the
        tarmac that triggers the plan's terms; c) assurance of adequate
        food, **potable** water, and **operable** lavatory facilities
        and medical attention; d) assurance of sufficient resources to
        implement the plan; e) assurance that the plan has been
        coordinated with airport authorities at medium and large hub
        airports, and; f) record retention for a period of up to two
        years.

    f.  Carriers should be required to publish airport specific
        contingency plans in their contract of carriage. Where the
        carrier's plan necessitates different plans for different
        airports, consumers will then know what to expect if they are
        traveling to or from any given airport in the event of a delay.
        This will give consumers more information to enable them to
        choose different routes where a choice of carriers/airports
        might be available.

    g.  Often, once flights are canceled and return to a gate,
        passengers are left with no food and water options because
        airport concessions are closed. Airports should have contractual
        provisions with their vendors to require concessions to remain
        open when aircraft are sitting on runways for extended periods.

    h.  

2.  **Require Carriers to Respond to Consumer Problems**

> I agree with the adoption of this new regulation. Carriers should be
> required to;

a.  Provide customer service postal addresses, telephone numbers and
    email addresses.

b.  Respond within 24 hours to acknowledge receipt of complaints

c.  Respond within 30 days with final complaint resolution.

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3.  **Declare the Operation of Flights that Remain Chronically Delayed
    to be an Unfair and Deceptive Practice and an Unfair Method of
    Competition**

> I agree with this regulation. However, airlines should not be
> permitted to have six months to correct these problems. Civil
> penalties should be automatically affected when a flight reaches the
> specified delay threshold in any given quarter. Fines should be
> automatically imposed and immediate corrective action should be taken.
> Airlines should be required to be proactive rather than requiring the
> DOT having to be reactive.
>
> The criteria for identifying a chronically delayed flight should be;

-   Applicable to flights with a frequency of 24 per quarter rather than
    45.

-   Considered late if late by 15 minutes or more

-   Considered chronically late if late more than 50% of the time. In
    what other industry would it be acceptable to be late 50% of the
    time let alone 70%?

> In addition, I urge the DOT to ensure that loopholes such as simply
> changing the flight number and departure time by a few minutes not be
> a permissible way of circumventing this rule.

4.  **Require Carriers to Publish Delay Data on their Websites**

> I agree that the DOT that on-time arrival and late arrival percentage
> data should be made available for all flights, not just those that are
> identified by an arbitrary percentage of lateness. Consumers should be
> permitted to make their own determinations as to acceptable levels of
> flight performance.

-   "Late" should not be defined as arrivals that were more than 30
    minutes late. It should be 15 minutes. Late is late. Carriers have
    already included buffer time in their schedules. The DOT doesn't
    need to add to that buffer.

> These provisions will help consumers make better-informed choices when
> booking flights and this information will have a direct result on
> which flights they book. In turn, this should increase carriers'
> incentives to correct problem flights through their schedules and
> operations.
>
> Airlines should be required to provide this information on their
> websites during the online booking of flights, and also be required to
> provide this information, on request, when flights are booked by
> telephone.
>
> Third-party reservation services should also be required to provide
> this information whether reservations are made by telephone or on-line
> reservation websites. Airlines should be required to provide open
> interfaces for internet applications to access this data from their
> servers so as not to impose undue costs by third parties.
>
> These requirements be expanded to include international flights made
> by domestic carriers, and all domestic scheduled passenger service
> using aircraft with more than 30 passenger seats regardless of their
> revenue levels.

5.  **Require Carriers to Publish Complaint Data on their Websites**

> I believe that airlines should be required to publish complaint data
> on their websites under the following categories:

-   Involuntary Bumping

-   Baggage Issues

-   Frequent Flyer Miles

-   Unaccompanied minors

-   Delays

-   Tarmac strandings

-   Disabilities

6.  **Require Carriers to Report On-Time Performance of International
    Flights**

> Carriers should be required to report on-time performance for all
> domestic and international scheduled passenger service using aircraft
> with more than 30 passenger seats.

7.  **Require Carriers to Audit their Adherence to their Customer
    Service Plans**

> Carriers should be required to audit their CSPs at least every three
> years, and submit the results of those audits to the DOT for approval.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on these important issues.

Best regards,

Paul Sheridan 57 Dickey Hill Road Monroe, ME 04951-3731

Member, Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights