Communications with respect to this document should be sent to:

Mike Borsetti 1 01 California St Ste 41 00 San Francisco, CA 941 11 mike@borsetti.com

2 March 2014 BEFORE THE

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

In Re Benjamin Edelman,

vs. Air Europa Lineas Aereas, S.A.U Docket DOT

- OST

- 2013

- 0214

COMMENTS IN SUPPORT OF AN ENFORCEMENT ACTIONC omments of Borsetti

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

In Re Benjamin Edelman,

vs. Air Europa Lineas Aereas, S.A.U

. Docket DOT

- OST

- 2013

- 0214

COMMENTS IN SUPPORT OF AN ENFORCEMENT ACTION

1. In DOT

- OST

- 2013

- 02 14

- 00 05 Mr. Edelman provides evidence that as of 4 April 2013 Air Europa was in violation of 14 CFR § 399.84 , a fu ll 15 months after its

effective date of 24 October 2011 1

. 2. Air Europa ’ s answer ( DOT

- OST

- 2013

- 0214

- 0006 ) effectively admits that

its “ review ” screen (as proved by Mr. Edelman) was not compliant and therefore deceptive 2
, and, while shrouding the reply with ambiguities and vague claims , it does not provide affirmative evidence of compliance elsewhere in the book ing process no r does it make such affirmation, leaving one wondering.

1 See 76 FR 23166
2 “ websites which detailed additional fees labeled all additional charges , government and carrier

- imposed, as taxes when in fact carrier

- imposed fees were often the major portion of these fees. Such displays wereC omments of Borsetti

2 3. By selling Air Europa

- imposed surcharges and fees as if they were government

- imposed taxes , it is uncontroversial that Air Euro pa has been deceiving customers.

T he fact that it was allowed to get away with it until Mr. Edelman took his time and employed his skills to aid the under

- resourced DOT spot this is not a justification for Air Europa to avoid the prescribed enforcement fine for violati ng 49 U.S.C. § 41712

. 4. I do believe that Air Europa ’ s argument ( in essence: “we’ ve been able to get away with violating the law without being caught 3 , so the DOT should not fine us 4 ” ) is dangerous and, if allowed, wo uld significantly impair the DOT’ s ability to have its regulations taken seriously by airline s

– why comply wi th DOT regulations by their effective

date when there i s no cost for not doing so?

Respectfully s ubmitted , /s/

Mike Borsetti

2 March 2014

deceptive and in violation of section 41712 ” . DOT determination of deceit in Additional Guidance on Airf are/Air Tour Price Advertisements , 21 February 2012, page 1.
3 “To Air Europa’s knowledge, DOT has not received a single complaint about the site (apart from Mr. Edelman’s), and Air Europa itself has received no complaints

. ”
4 “N o useful purpose would be served by a continued expenditure of Department resources on th is matter. The Department should proceed to the next case [...] rather than revisit the past. ”C omments of Borsetti

3 CERTIFICATE OF SERVI CE

A copy of the foregoing has been served as required by 14 C.F.R. § 302 .7 this day of 2 March 2014 upon the following parties via e lectronic mail , and no indication was received that any transmission had failed :

 For the U.S. Department of Transportation:
o Sam uel Podberesky , Esq., Assistant General Counsel for Aviation E n forcement & Proceedings : sam.podberesky@dot.gov

 For Air Europa Lineas Aereas : o Aaron A. Goerlic h, Garofalo Goerlich Hainbach PC : agoerlich@ggh

- airlaw.com

 For the Complainant:
o Benjamin Edelman, Esq. : ben@benedelman.org

/s/

Mike Borsetti