BEFORE THE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION WASHINGTON, D.C.

------------------------------ ------------- ----------- In the matter of: :

: Final Rule : Enhancing Airline : Docket No. DOT-OST-2007-0022 Passenger Protections :

------------------------------ ------------- -----------

JOINT PETITION OF ATA, RA A, AND ACAA FOR RULEMAKING

The Air Transport Association of America, Inc., 1 the Regional Airline Association, 2 and the Air Carrier Association of America submit this jo int petition for rulemaking to change the time period for uploading flight information to a ca rrier’s website as requi red by the Department’s consumer protection final rule, published in the Federal Register at 74 FR 68983 on December 30, 2009. 3 As this petition is supported by all pa rt 234 “reporting” carriers, we ask the Department give it im mediate consideration. 4

Under the December amendments to part 234, each reporting carrier is required to upload onto its website the following flight performance information on dome stic flights, “...between the 20th and 23rd day of the month after the month fo r which the information is being provided”: (1) the percentage of arrivals that were on time, i. e. a flight that arrives less than 15 minutes after its published arrival time, (2) the percentage of a rrivals that were more than 30 minutes late, (3) special highlighting if the flight was more than 30 minutes late more than 50 percent of the time, and (4) the percentage of flight cancellations if 5 percen t or more of the flight’s operations were

canceled in the month covered. 5 Uploading of flight performance information on websites will begin in July for June data.

We request that the Department amend section 234.11(c) to change the upload date by deleting

the text “...between the 20th and 23rd day...” and replacing it with “...by the end of the fourth

1 ATA airline members are: ABX Air, Inc.; AirTran Airway s; Alaska Airlines, Inc.; American Airlines, Inc.; ASTAR Air Cargo, Inc.; Atlas Air, Inc. ; Continental Airlines, Inc.; Delta Air Lines, Inc.; Evergreen International Airlines, Inc.; Federal Express Corporation; Hawaiian Air lines; JetBlue Airways Corp.; Southwest Airlines Co.; United Airlines, Inc.; United Parcel Service Co., and US Airways, Inc. ATA Airline Associate Members are: Air Canada; Air Jamaica Ltd.; and Mexicana.

2 RAA airline members are: Aerolitoral, Air Wisc onsin Airlines Corp., AirNet Systems Inc., American Eagle Airlines, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Cape Air, Chautauqua Airlines, Colgan Air, Comair, CommutAir, Compass Airlines, Empire Airlines, Era Avia tion, ExpressJet, GoJet, Gr and Canyon Airlines/Scenic, Great Lakes Aviation, Gulfstream Int'l Airlines, Horizo n Air, Island Air, Jazz Ai r, Lynx Aviation, Inc., Mesaba Aviation, New England Airlines, Piedmont Airlines, Pinnacle Airlin es, Inc., PSA Airlines, Republic Airlines, Shuttle America, SkyWest Airlines, Inc., and Trans States Airlines.

3 See 14 CFR 234.11(c).

4 Section 14 CFR 234.3 defines a “reporting” carrier and each qualifying carrier is listed in Technical Directive 19, under Section II, Applicability. We note that ATA, RAA, and ACAA include all reporting carriers except Mesa, which indicated to us its support for this petition.

5 See 14 CFR 234.11(b) & (c), 74 FR 69002.Saturday...” The practical effect of this cha nge would be, for example, to move the website upload date from July 20-23, 2010 to July 24, 2010 for the first reporting period. This change would further the Department’s goal of having all carriers upload flight information at the same time, thus ensuring passengers are comparing flight performance data from the same time period. However, it also would allow carriers to follow standard industry pract ice of updating flight information such as schedule changes every Saturd ay evening. Loading f light performance data at the same time would be in the public intere st because it would promote data congruity, consolidate data uploads, and re duce the potential for errors.

We request the fourth Saturday of the month to avoid a conflict with pa rt 234 requirements to

file other BTS data on the 15th of the month. For example, the third Saturd ay of each month is not a viable option because sometim es the 15th of the month is th e third Saturday. This raises two concerns. First, when the 15th falls on a weekend or federal government holiday, carrier BTS reporting data is due the next working day. 6 Therefore, when the 15th falls on a weekend day, BTS reporting data is not due until Monday and consequently the website upload information would actually be due before a ll other BTS reported data. May 2010, January 2011, and October 2011 are good examples of this conflict . Second, even if th e first conflict did not exist, it would be unduly burdensome for a carrier to file BTS required information on the same day as having to upload information on a carrier ’s website because the same technical personnel

and resources are used for both activities. Becau se the fourth Saturday of the month will never also be the 15th, carriers will avoid these potential conflicts if the requested relief is granted.

As the first reporting period is ap proaching, we request th at the Department consider this petition on an expedited basis.

Respectfully submitted,

Douglas Mullen Senior Attorney Regulatory Affairs Air Transport Association of America, Inc. 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004

202-626-4000 dmullen@airlines.org

May 7, 2010

6 See Technical Directive 19, S ection VI. Submission of Reports, paragraph (3), “Due Dates.”

2