BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C.

American Airlines Multiple Price Advertising Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 399.84(a) Docket DOT

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- 2013

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COMMENT S IN SUPPORT OF DOT INVESTIGATION INTO AMERICAN AIRLINES

INC VIOLATIONS AND ADDITIONAL FACTS

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to:

Mike Borsetti 1 Montgomery St Ste 2500 San Francisco, CA 94104 mike@borsetti.com

21 March 20131 BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C.

American Airlines Multiple Price Advertising Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 399.84(a) Docket DOT

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- 2013

- 002 4

COMMENTS IN SUPPORT OF DOT INVESTIGATION INTO AMERICAN AIRLINES

INC VIOLATIONS AND ADDITIONAL FACTS

I strongly encourage the Secretary to exercise its authority under 49 U.S.C. § 41712 to investigate and impose sanction s on American Air lines for the unfair and deceptive practices described in Mr. Edelman’s complaint, Document DOT

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- 0001 , and in doing so fulfill its mission. In addition, I would like to provide the following additional information to the Secretary in aiding its decision making

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A MERICAN A IRLINES T ELEPHONE R EPRESENTATIVE M ISREPRESENTATION On 31 January at approximately 6: 30 PM PT I called American Airlines to change ticketed award travel involving carriage on British Airways. The representative misstated the price of the new itinerary to me as “tax es ”, when in reality the vast majority of it was in fuel surcharges

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A MERICAN A IRLINES E - T ICKET C ONFIRMATIONS ARE I NCOMPLETE AND D O N OT S EPARATE C ARRIER - I MPOSED F EES
The email ed e

- ticket I received as a result of the abovementioned change did not break apart taxes from carrier

- imposed fees: all was lumped

- in under “ Additional Fare Collection ”.

American Airlines, unlike most other airlines, no longer provides cust omers with the information that has been historically provided to all travelers in the ticket, specifically fare calculation , individual tax breakdown, and restrictions/endorsements. I urge the DOT to require American Airlines (and all airlines should such requirement not be in existence) to continue to provide such complete disclosure to their customers with their e

ticket confirmation /receipt so that passengers know exactly what they have purchased. The current disclosure “boilerplate” 1 is so vague to be irrelevant without further details such as the restriction line of the ticket.

1 The disclosure as it appears in the email, at 100% its original size:3

R ELEVANT C OMMENTS I N A D IFFERENT D OCKET I would like to alert the Secretary that some of the comments filed in Docket DOT

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2013

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- 2013

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- 0029 and Deirdre Elizabeth Seim in DOT

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- 2013

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- 004 1, but this list is probably incom plete

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R ESOLUTION In view of the preponderant evidence and ample public support, the Secretary should open an investigation on American Airlines under 49 U.S.C. § 41712 without further ordering the required resolution from the complaint

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I further urge the DOT to require American Airlines (and all airlines should such requirement not be in existence) to provide complete ticket details in their email confirmation/receipt

. Furthermore, t he complaint provides evidence that American Airlines was first m ade aware of the violation s on 31 December 2011 , over 15 months ago, and is continuing to engage in the unfair and deceptive manner s described. I strongly urge the Secretary to take into account each da y from that date as a separate violation when impos ing a civil penalty as per 49 USC § 46301

. Submitted via regulations.gov on 21 March 2013 /s/4

Mike Borsetti