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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 192 (Thursday, October 3, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 80435-80436]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-22632]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

14 CFR Parts 259 and 261

[Docket No. DOT-OST-2024-0091]
RIN No. 2105-AF15

Family Seating in Air Transportation

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Transportation (Department or DOT) is 
extending the comment end date for interested persons to submit 
comments to its proposed rule on Family Seating in Air Transportation 
from October 8, 2024, to November 7, 2024.

DATES: The comment period for the proposed rule published August 9, 
2024, at 89 FR 65272 is extended. Comments should be filed by November 
7, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may file comments identified by the docket number DOT-
OST-2024-0091 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, West Building Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC, 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room 
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: (202) 493-2251.
    Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket number 
DOT-OST-2024-0091 or the Regulatory Identification Number (RIN 2105-
AF15) for the rulemaking at the beginning of your comment. All comments 
received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, 
including any personal information provided.
    Privacy Act: Anyone can search the electronic form of all comments 
received in any of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting 
the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an 
association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78), or you may visit https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents and 
comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov or to the street 
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the 
docket.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maegan Johnson, Nicole Smith, or Blane 
A. Workie, Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE, Washington, DC, 20590, 202-
366-9342 (phone), [email protected], [email protected], or 
[email protected] (email).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 9, 2024, the Department published 
in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that 
proposes to require airlines to seat children aged 13 and under 
adjacent to at least one accompanying adult at no additional cost 
beyond the fare, subject to limited exceptions. Under the NPRM, the 
specific requirements that airlines would be required to follow to 
ensure a young child is seated adjacent to an accompanying adult at no 
additional cost differ depending on the carrier's seating method. There 
are different requirements for an open seating carrier and an assigned 
seating carrier. However, in both cases, airline that fail to provide 
family seating as proposed would be required to mitigate the harm to 
passengers by offering them a choice of rebooking at no additional cost 
on the next available flight with family seating, transport of the 
young child or young children and an accompanying adult on the flight 
without adjacent seats, or a prompt refund of the fare paid for the 
child and other persons on the same reservation. In addition, the 
proposal explains that the Department considers family seating to be a 
basic service that must be included in the advertised fare and seeks 
comment on what services beyond adjacent family seating should be 
considered a basic service. The NPRM provided for a comment period of 
60 days after publication of the NPRM in the Federal Register, i.e., 
October 8, 2024.

[[Page 80436]]

    On August 29, 2024, Airlines for America, the International Air 
Transport Association, the National Air Carrier Association, and the 
Regional Airline Association (collectively, ``Members'') filed a joint 
request to extend the public comment period on the family seating NPRM 
for an additional 60 days. The Members state that additional time is 
needed to collect data and submit comprehensive comments to help the 
Department make an informed decision on a final rule. Specifically, the 
Members assert that the Department has not sufficiently considered the 
impact of its proposal on foreign airlines which means that the airline 
industry must collect, analyze, and submit information regarding this 
impact. According to the Members, this is a significant task that will 
take time to complete. Furthermore, the Members state that airlines 
need additional time to fully consider and analyze the proposed 
procedures for mitigating harm to passengers who are not provided 
adjacent family seating, including time to determine the proposals 
impact on their operations and propose potential alternatives that meet 
the Department's goals but are less disruptive to airlines. The Members 
also note that the expert report that the Regulatory Impact Analysis 
(RIA) relied on was placed in the docket two weeks after the NPRM was 
published which reduced the time available to review this important 
report and negatively impacted their ability to assess the Department's 
proposal and its potential impacts and submit well informed comments. 
Finally, the members point to the Department's request for comments 
regarding fees charged by airlines for ``basic services'' as a broad 
request for which additional time is needed to respond.
    On September 3, 2024, Southwest Airlines (Southwest) also filed a 
request to extend the public comment period on the family seating NPRM 
for an additional 60 days. In addition to expressing support for the 
Member's request to extend the comment period, Southwest states in its 
request that the comment period for the NPRM should be extended because 
the airline is currently transitioning from an open seating model to a 
carrier that assigns seat and unlike other carriers must evaluate and 
comment on both the assigned seating carrier and open seating carrier 
provisions in the NPRM.
    On September 11, 2024, the American Economic Liberties Project, the 
Consumer Action, the Consumer Federation of America, the National 
Consumers League, and the U.S. PIRG (collectively ``consumer advocacy 
groups'') filed an opposition to the Members' request for an extension 
to the public comment period for the family seating NPRM. The consumer 
advocacy groups urge the Department to stay on its current rulemaking 
trajectory and argue that an extension is unnecessary since the 
Department has provided ample time for relevant stakeholders to respond 
to a proposed rule that has been years in the making, especially since 
the proposals in the NPRM are modeled after draft legislation that the 
Department made public before the NPRM was issued.
    The Department has carefully considered both requests to extend the 
comment period on the family seating NPRM filed by the Members and 
Southwest, and the consumer advocacy groups opposition to an extension 
request. After considering the arguments presented, the Department has 
decided to extend the comment period of the proposed rule for 30 days 
from October 8, 2024, to November 7, 2024. In doing so, the Department 
acknowledges that the NPRM raises important issues which require in-
depth analysis and consideration by stakeholders. At the same time, the 
Department agrees with the consumer advocacy groups that the proposals 
in the NPRM are modeled after draft legislation that Department 
submitted to Congress and should not be a surprise to the stakeholders. 
The Department believes that granting a 30-day extension of the 
original 60-day comment period, is sufficient to allow stakeholders to 
conduct a thorough and careful consideration of all potential impacts 
and prepare comments. Late-filed comments will be considered to the 
extent practicable.

    Signed in Washington, DC, under authority delegated at 49 CFR 
1.27(n).
Subash Iyer,
Acting General Counsel, U.S. Department of Transportation.
[FR Doc. 2024-22632 Filed 10-2-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P
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