86990 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 251 / Thursday, December 31, 2020 / Notices 

Issued in Washington, DC, on December 

17, 2020. 

Elaine L. Chao, 

Secretary of Transportation. 

[FR Doc. 2020–28284 Filed 12–30–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–9X–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Office of the Secretary 

[OST Docket No. DOT–OST–2011–0170] 

Notice of Submission of Proposed 

Information Collection to OMB; Agency 

Request for Revision of BTS Form 251 

and Renewal of OMB Control Number 

2138–0018: Part 250 of the 

Department’s Economic Regulations— 

Oversales 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, 

Department of Transportation. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), this Notice confirms the 

Department of Transportation’s 

(Department) intention to renew and 

revise an Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) control number as related 

to the Department’s Bureau of 

Transportation Statistics (BTS) Form 

251, Report of Passengers Denied 

Confirmed Space. A 60-day comment 

period soliciting comments on the 

information collection was published on 

March 3, 2020. Three comments were 

received. The Department addresses 

those comments in this Notice and is 

seeking to renew the current OMB 

control number by forwarding the 

Information Collection Request (ICR) 

abstracted below to OMB. The ICR 

renames Form 251 to Form 250 and 

revises the form to reduce the burden on 

airlines, better clarify the instructions 

for completing the form, and provide 

more relevant information to 

consumers. 

DATES: Comments on this Notice must 

be received by February 1, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding 

the burden estimate, including 

suggestions for reducing the burden, to 

the Office of Management and Budget, 

Attention: Desk Officer for the Office of 

the Secretary of Transportation, 725 

17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503. 

Comments may also be sent via email to 

OMB at the following address: oira_

submissions@omb.eop.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Stuart Hindman, (202) 366–9342, 

Stuart.Hindman@dot.gov, Office of 

Aviation Consumer Protection (C–70), 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 

20590. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

OMB Control Number: 2138–0018. 

Title: Report of Passengers Denied 

Confirmed Space Due to an Oversale 

Situation. 

Type of Request: Request to Revise 

and Rename Form 251 and Renew OMB 

Control Number. 

Abstract/Background: BTS Form 251 

is a one-page report that U.S. reporting 

carriers submit to the Department on a 

quarterly basis. Among other things, the 

form contains the following 

information: (1) The number of 

passengers denied seats on flights that 

they hold confirmed spaces, either 

voluntarily or involuntarily, (2) the 

numbers of passengers involuntarily 

denied boarding (bumped passengers) 

who qualified for compensation and 

were or were not provided alternate 

transportation, (3) the number of 

passengers voluntarily or involuntarily 

denied boarding who received 

compensation and the amounts of the 

compensation paid to them, and (4) the 

total number of enplanements at a U.S. 

airport relating to flights that are subject 

to the oversales rule. For the purpose of 

Form 251, reporting carriers are U.S. air 

carriers that account for at least 0.5 

percent of domestic scheduled-service 

passenger revenues. These reporting 

carriers must submit Form 251 for all 

flights operated on aircraft with a 

designed passenger capacity of 30 or 

more seats which depart a U.S. airport. 

Carriers do not report data from 

inbound international flights to the 

United States because the protections of 

14 CFR part 250 Oversales do not apply 

to these flights. In addition, reporting 

carriers must file a separate form for all 

scheduled flight segments originating in 

the United States that are operated by a 

codeshare partner of the reporting 

carrier that is a certificated air carrier or 

commuter air carrier using aircraft that 

have a designed passenger capacity of 

30 or more seats, and marketed only 

under one U.S. carrier’s code. As of 

January 1, 2020, there are 5 such 

reporting carriers. 

The Department uses Form 251 to 

monitor the level of oversales activity by 

each reporting carrier, the impact on 

passengers, and the effectiveness of the 

Department’s oversales rule. Certain 

information collected from Form 251 is 

made available to the public in the 

Department’s monthly publication, the 

Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR), at: 

https://www.transportation.gov/ 

individuals/aviation-consumerprotection/air-travel-consumer-reports. 

The ATCR is a widely cited source of 

information for newspapers, magazines 

and trade journals. A review of the Form 

251 data reveals that the overall 

involuntarily denied-boarding rate has 

consistently decreased in recent years, 

while passenger enplanements are 

increasing. For example, compared to 

the annual involuntary denied boarding 

rate of 4.38 per 10,000 passengers in 

1980, this rate has been reduced to 0.24 

per 10,000 passengers in 2019. 

Publishing individual carrier’s denied 

boarding rates publicly serves to 

diminish the need for more intrusive 

regulations by disincentivizing carriers 

from setting unreasonable overbooking 

rates—resulting in a market based 

mechanism that is more efficient than 

direct regulation. In addition, a carrier’s 

denied boarding rate provides an insight 

into that carrier’s operational principles 

and customer service practices. For 

instance, a rapid sustained increase in 

the rate of denied boarding may indicate 

operational difficulties. Because the rate 

of denied boarding is released quarterly, 

travelers and travel agents concerned 

about being bumped can select carriers 

with lower incidences of denied 

boardings. 

In 2016, the Department issued a final 

rule that, in part, revised the oversales 

reporting requirements. In conjunction 

with that rulemaking, on May 23, 2014 

the Department published a 60-day FR 

Notice (79 FR 29970), and, on November 

3, 2016, a 30-day FR Notice (81 FR 

76800) to renew and revise the OMB 

control number regarding oversales 

information collection (2138–0018). On 

October 12, 2017, OMB approved the 

control number authorizing these new 

collections of information until October 

31, 2020. The Department received an 

emergency extension of the current 

OMB control number until December 

31, 2020. 

The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) (PRA) and its 

implementing regulations, 5 CFR part 

1320, require Federal agencies to issue 

two notices seeking public comment on 

information collection activities before 

OMB may approve paperwork packages. 

44 U.S.C. 3506, 3507; 5 CFR 1320.5, 

1320.8(d)(1), 1320.12. On March 3, 

2020, the Department published a 60- 

day Notice in the Federal Register 

soliciting comment on ICRs for which 

the agency was seeking OMB approval 

(85 FR 12664). A line-by-line summary 

of the proposed changes to the form 

with an explanation for each change 

was published in the 60-day Notice. The 

Department received three comments, 

one from an industry trade organization, 

one from a U.S. airline, and one from a 

member of the public. The Department’s 


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response to the comments on each 

change is below: 

Form 250 

• Title 

A. Change: The current title of the 

form—‘‘Report of Passengers Denied 

Confirmed Space’’—is revised to 

‘‘Report of Passengers Denied 

Confirmed Space Due to an Oversale 

Situation’’ and renamed to be ‘‘Form 

250.’’ This revision is intended to clarify 

that the form is meant to capture data 

relating to passengers denied boarding 

due to an oversale situation and not for 

other reasons such as safety, security, or 

health related reasons. Renaming the 

form to ‘‘Form 250’’ is intended to 

clarify further the applicability of the 

data to oversale situations and 

correspond to the appropriate part of 

Title 14 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations which addresses oversales, 

Part 250. 

Comments: No comments were 

received on the title change. 

• Line 1 

A. Change: Added ‘‘from flights that 

were oversold’’ to the leading sentence 

to reinforce that the form is intended to 

capture data from oversold flights. 

Comments: No comments were 

received on this change 

B. Change: In order to provide more 

complete and accurate regulation 

citations, changed the regulation 

citation in line 1(a) to ‘‘§ 250.5(a)(2) or 

(b)(2)’’ and added a regulation citation 

in lines 1(b) of ‘‘§ 250.5(a)(3) or (b)(3).’’ 

Comment: Revert to previous 

language to match regulatory text and 

add definition of ‘‘oversold’’ to form’s 

instructions. 

Response: The Department accepts 

this comment. The Department has 

reworded the language in lines 1(a) and 

1(b), added a clarifying language in 

Instruction (B), and added the definition 

of ‘‘oversold flight’’ which is found in 

14 CFR 250.9 to Instruction (A). 

C. Comment: Combine the data in 

lines 1(a) and 1(b). 

Response: The Department rejects this 

comment. The data contained in lines 

1(a) and 1(b) are distinct from each 

other, thus combining the lines would 

result in the publication of misleading 

information. Moreover, keeping the data 

separate allows the Department to more 

accurately monitor airline oversales and 

accommodation practices. 

• Line 2 

A. Change: Added ‘‘from flights that 

were oversold’’ in the leading sentence 

to reinforce that the form is intended to 

capture data from oversold flights. 

Comment: No comments were 

received on this change. 

B. Change: Reworded the contents in 

lines 2(a), 2(b), and 2(c) to ensure that 

the language on the form matches the 

regulatory text, listed order of 

exceptions to the denied boarding 

compensation rule found in 14 CFR 

250.6, and included the applicable 

citation to section 250.6. 

Comment: Add clarifying language to 

line 2(a) to ensure consistency in 

reporting by carriers. 

Response: The Department concurs 

with this suggestion and has added 

clarifying language to Instruction (C). 

C. Change: Moved the content of line 

6 to line 2; reordered lines 2(a), 2(b), 

2(c), and 2(d). 

Two Comments: (1) Remove all data 

in line 2 because the data is not 

published by the Department and the 

reported data is not related to denied 

boardings in an oversales situation. (2) 

In the alternative, the Department 

should remove data collection related to 

upgrades and downgrades (line 2(c)). 

Response: The Department rejects the 

comment to remove all collection in line 

2. Keeping data collection related to the 

exceptions for denied boarding 

compensation allows the Department to 

monitor and track overall compliance 

with the denied boarding compensation 

rules. However, the Department accepts 

the suggestion to remove data related to 

upgrades and downgrades. If a 

passenger is ultimately accommodated 

on the flight but in a different section of 

the aircraft, the passenger was not 

denied boarding due to the entire flight 

being ‘‘oversold.’’ 

• Line 3—no change was proposed 

A. Comment: Remove line 3 as data 

contained in this line is duplicative of 

line 1 if line 2 is deleted. 

Response: The Department rejects the 

deletion of all of the information in line 

2; therefore, the data contained in line 

3 is not duplicative of other collected 

data. 

• Line 4 

A. Changes: Added ‘‘from an oversold 

flight’’ to reinforce that the form is 

intended to capture data from oversold 

flights. Added ‘‘regardless of the type of 

compensation (e.g., voucher, cash)’’ to 

clarify that reporting carriers must 

report the actual number of all 

passengers who receive any type of 

compensation as a result of being 

denied boarding involuntarily. 

Comment: Remove line 4 as the data 

collected is duplicative of Line 1. 

Response: The Department rejects this 

comment. The data collected in lines 1 

and 4 are distinct. Line 1 collects the 

number of passengers entitled to denied 

boarding compensation, while line 4 

collects the number of passengers that 

actually received denied boarding 

compensation. The collection of the 

data in line 4 enables the Department to 

monitor carriers’ compliance with the 

denied boarding compensation 

requirements, especially with regard to 

the proper payment of owed denied 

boarding compensation. A discrepancy 

in the data contained in lines 1 and 4 

is an indication that a carrier may not 

be properly compensating all passengers 

who are entitled to denied boarding 

compensation. 

• Line 5 

A. Change: Added ‘‘due to a potential 

oversale situation’’ to reinforce that the 

form is intended to capture data from 

oversold flights. 

Comment: Remove the word 

‘‘potential’’ as it could place an 

excessive burden on reporting carriers 

and could result in overreporting of 

data. 

Response: The Department accepts 

the comment in part and has substituted 

new language in line 5 to now read: 

Number of passengers who voluntarily 

accepted a carrier’s offer to give up 

reserved space due to a potential 

oversale situation and did not travel on 

their original flight in exchange for a 

payment of the carrier’s choosing. In the 

60-day notice, line 5 stated: Number of 

passengers who volunteered to give up 

reserved space due to a potential 

oversale situation in exchange for a 

payment of the carrier’s choosing. The 

Department believes that adding the 

phrase ‘‘and did not travel on their 

original flight’’ will prevent 

overreporting of potential oversale 

situation and any undue burden for 

reporting carriers as the carrier would 

only report the number of passengers 

who volunteer to be denied boarding 

after solicitation by the carrier and 

ultimately give up a reserved space. 

• Line 6 

A. Changes: Moved the text in line 6 

regarding upgrades and downgrades to 

line 2 so that all data relating to 

exceptions to the denied boarding 

compensation rule is on one line. 

Moved the text from line 7 regarding 

total boardings to line 6 without any 

change. 

Comments: No comments were 

received on this change. 

• Line 7 

A. Change: Moved the text from line 

8 up to line 7 and added the regulation 

citation to ‘‘§ 250.5(a)(2) or (b)(2)’’ to 

line 7(a) and ‘‘§ 250.5(a)(3) or (b)(3)’’ to 

line 7(b) to complete the applicable 

regulatory citation. 

Comment: Remove lines 7(a) and 7(b) 

as requiring the reporting of aggregate 


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1The burden estimate was based on a cost/ 

benefits analysis conducted in 2016 as part of the 

Department’s Final Rule on Enhancing Airline 

Passenger Protections III. See, Regulatory Impact 

Analysis for Final Rule Enhancing Airline 

Passenger Protection III, October 18, 2016. https:// 

www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOT-OST-2014- 

0056-0792. 

data does not provide the Department or 

the public with usable information. 

Response: The Department accepts 

the suggestion to remove lines 7(a) and 

7(b). Instead, the Department will 

rename and reword proposed line 7 to 

read: Amount of compensation paid to 

passengers who voluntarily accepted a 

carrier’s offer to give up reserved space 

on an oversold flight that received cash 

or cash equivalent payment. This 

change allows the Department to 

monitor industry practice regarding 

payment of voluntary denied boarding 

compensation for potential regulatory 

changes in the future. 

Instructions to Form 250 

No Comments were received on the 

changes proposed in the Instructions. 

• Instruction (A) 

Æ Added clarifying language to 

ensure reporting carriers are only 

reporting data relating to oversold 

flights operated by covered aircraft (i.e., 

aircraft with 30 or more seats). 

Æ Added language related to the 

requirement for reporting carriers to 

submit a separate Form 250 for flights 

operated by a reporting marketing 

carrier’s code-share partner if the codeshare partner is also a reporting carrier. 

• Instruction (B) 

Æ Added clarifying language to 

include the full citation to the 

applicable regulation to ensure that 

reporting carriers are properly reporting 

data on lines 1(a) and 1(b). 

• Instruction (C)—no change. 

• Instruction (D) 

Æ Added a new Instruction D to 

clarify that reporting carriers must 

include on line 4 passengers who 

receive any type of compensation as a 

result of being denied boarding 

involuntarily from an oversold flight. 

• Instruction (E) 

Æ Moved text from previous 

Instruction (D) to Instruction (E) without 

additional change. 

• Instruction (F) 

Æ Moved text from previous 

Instruction (E) to Instruction (F) without 

additional change. 

• Instruction (G) 

Æ Moved text from previous 

Instruction (F) to Instruction (G) and 

added clarifying language to ensure 

reporting carriers properly report only 

the amount of cash or cash-equivalent 

compensation provided to passengers 

denied boarding either voluntarily or 

involuntarily. 

• Instruction (H) 

Æ Moved text from previous 

Instruction (G) to Instruction (H) 

without additional change. 

• Instruction (I) 

Æ Moved text from previous 

Instruction (H) to Instruction (I) and 

include a new submission email 

address. 

Copies of the revised form and 

accompanying instructions reflecting 

the changes are included in this Notice. 

Accordingly, the Department 

announces that these information 

collection activities have been reevaluated and certified under 5 CFR. 

1320.5(a) and forwarded to OMB for 

review and approval pursuant to 5 CFR 

1320.12(c). Before OMB decides 

whether to approve these proposed 

collections of information, it must 

provide 30 days for public comment., 

see 44 U.S.C. 3507(b); 5 CFR 1320.12(d). 

Federal law requires OMB to approve or 

disapprove paperwork packages 

between 30 and 60 days after the 30-day 

Notice is published, see 44 U.S.C. 

3507(b)–(c); 5 CFR 1320.12(d); see also 

60 FR 44978, 44983 (Aug. 29, 1995). The 

30-day Notice informs the regulated 

community to file relevant comments to 

OMB and affords the Agency adequate 

time to review and respond to public 

comments before rendering a decision. 

See 60 FR 44983 (Aug. 29, 1995). 

Therefore, respondents should submit 

any comments to OMB within 30 days 

of publication to best ensure their full 

consideration. 5 CFR 1320.12(c); see 

also 60 FR 44983 (Aug. 29, 1995). 

This Notice addresses the information 

collection requirements set forth in the 

Department’s regulation mandating 

reporting of oversales data, 14 CFR 

250.10. The renewed OMB control 

number will be applicable to all the 

provisions set forth in this Notice. 

The PRA and its implementing 

regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, require 

Federal agencies to issue two notices 

seeking public comment on information 

collection activities before OMB may 

approve paperwork packages. 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 the OMB under 

the PRA and displays a currently valid 

OMB Control Number. In addition, as a 

general matter, notwithstanding any 

other provisions of law, no person shall 

be subject to monetary 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. 

For each of these information 

collections, the title, a description of the 

respondents, and an estimate of the 

annual recordkeeping and periodic 

reporting burden are set forth below: 

The Confidential Information 

Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act 

of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501) requires a 

statistical agency to clearly identify 

information it collects for non-statistical 

purposes. The Departments hereby 

notifies the respondents and the public 

that it uses the information it collects 

under this OMB approval for nonstatistical purposes including, but not 

limited to, publication of the data in the 

Department’s Air Travel Consumer 

Report and submission of the 

information to DOT agencies outside 

BTS for review, analysis, and possible 

use in regulatory, enforcement, and 

other administrative matters. 

Requirement to Submit BTS Form 250 

as related to oversold flights. 

Respondents: U.S. air carriers that 

account for 0.5 percent of domestic 

scheduled-service passenger revenues 

for all flights operated on aircraft with 

a designed passenger capacity of 30 or 

more seats which depart a U.S. airport. 

We have identified 16 carriers meeting 

this threshold in 2020. Additionally, out 

of the 16 carriers, five reporting carriers 

must file a separate form for all 

scheduled flight segments originating in 

the United States which are operated by 

a codeshare partner of the reporting 

carrier that is a certificated air carrier or 

commuter air carrier using aircraft that 

have a designed passenger capacity of 

30 or more seats, and marketed only 

under one U.S. carrier’s code. 

Number of Respondents: 16 (effective 

January 1, 2020). 

Frequency: Four times a year. 

Estimated Total Burden on 

Respondents: 1,144 hours. 

This estimate is based on the 

following information: 1

FLIGHTS OPERATED BY REPORTING

CARRIERS

[Form 250 for flights they operate] 

Respondents ......................... 16 

Quarterly Reports ................. 4 

Total Reports ........................ 64 

Hours per Reports ................ 16 

Burden Hours ....................... 1,024 


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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 251 / Thursday, December 31, 2020 / Notices 86993 

CODESHARE FLIGHTS MARKETED BY

REPORTING CARRIER

[Form 250 for codeshare flights they market] 

Respondents ......................... 5 

Quarterly Reports ................. 4 

Total Reports ........................ 20 

Hours per Reports ................ 6 

Burden Hours ....................... 120 

Public Comments Invited: You are 

asked to comment on any aspect of this 

information collection, including (a) 

whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the 

Department’s performance; (b) the 

accuracy of the estimated burden; (c) 

ways for the Department to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information collection; and (d) ways 

that the burden could be minimized 

without reducing the quality of the 

collected information. 

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 1.49. 

Blane A. Workie, 

Assistant General Counsel for Aviation 

Consumer Protection. 

BILLING CODE 4910–9X–P 


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86994 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 251 / Thursday, December 31, 2020 / Notices 


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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 251 / Thursday, December 31, 2020 / Notices 86995 

[FR Doc. 2020–28798 Filed 12–30–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–9X–C 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission for OMB 

Review; Comment Request; Internal 

Revenue Service Interim Final Rules 

for Group Health Plans and Health 

Insurance Coverage Relating to Status 

as a Grandfathered Health Plan Under 

the Patient Protection and Affordable 

Care Act 

AGENCY: Departmental Offices, 

Department of the Treasury. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of the 

Treasury will submit the following 

information collection requests to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for review and clearance in 

accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the 

date of publication of this notice. The 

public is invited to submit comments on 

these requests. 

DATES: Comments should be received on 

or before February 1, 2021 to be assured 

of consideration. 


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