[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 249 (Wednesday, December 29, 2004)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 77885-77890]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-28543]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

14 CFR Part 382

[OST Docket No. 2003-11473]
RIN 2105-ADO4


Reporting Requirements for Disability-Related Complaints

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

ACTION: Guidance on final rule and notice of information collection 
approval.

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SUMMARY: A July 8, 2003, final rule (68 FR 40488) requires, among other 
things, that certain certificated U.S. air carriers and foreign air 
carriers record disability-related complaints and submit a summary 
report of those complaints annually to the Department.
    This document announces the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
approval of this information collection request (ICR) OMB No. 2105-
0551, ``Reporting Requirements for Disability-Related Complaints,'' 
provides information on how covered carriers can submit a report 
summarizing the disability-related complaints that they receive during 
the prior calendar year to the Department through the World Wide Web, 
and addresses frequently asked questions about the applicability of the 
rule.

DATES: The final rule published July 8, 2003 (68 FR 40488) was 
effective August 7, 2003. The expiration date for the ICR is April 30, 
2007.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Damon P. Whitehead or Blane A. Workie, 
Office of the General Counsel, 400 7th Street, SW., Room 4116, 
Washington, DC 20590, (202) 366-9342 (voice), (202) 366-7152 (Fax) or 
[email protected] or [email protected] (E-mail). 
Arrangements to obtain the notice in an alternative format may be made 
by contacting the above-named individuals.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On July 8, 2003, the Office of the Secretary published a final rule 
adding Sec.  382.70 to 14 CFR Part 382, the Department's rule 
implementing the Air Carrier Access Act. Section 382.70 requires most 
certificated U.S. air carriers and foreign air carriers operating to 
and from the U.S. that conduct passenger-carrying service to do the 
following: (1) Record and categorize complaints that they receive 
alleging inadequate accessibility for the disabled or discrimination on 
the basis of disability according to the type of disability and nature 
of complaint; (2) prepare an annual summary report of the number of 
such complaints; (3) submit the report to the Department's Aviation 
Consumer Protection Division through the World Wide Web unless the 
carrier can demonstrate that it would suffer undue hardship if it were 
not permitted to submit the data via paper copies, computer disks, or 
e-mail; and (4) retain copies of the correspondence and records of 
action taken on the disability-related complaints for three years. 68 
FR 40488. The effective date of this final rule was August 7, 2003. At 
that time, the Department had not obtained an OMB control number for 
its information collection request and had not established procedures 
for covered carriers to follow when submitting annual reports to the 
Department through the World Wide Web.

Approval of Information Collection Request

    OMB regulations implementing provisions of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 require that interested members of the public and affected 
agencies have an opportunity to comment on information collection and 
recordkeeping activities and specify that no person is required to 
respond to an information collection unless it displays a valid OMB 
control number. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
OST has received OMB approval of the following ICR:
    OMB Control Number: 2105-0551.
    Title: Reporting Requirements for Disability-Related Complaints.
    This information collection approval, which was granted by OMB on 
April 23, 2004, expires on April 30, 2007. Because OMB approved the 
information collection after publication of the July 8, 2003, final 
rule, we are now announcing the OMB approval and incorporating notice 
of this approval into the form that carriers will use through the World 
Wide Web to submit their annual report summarizing the disability-
related complaints that they received during the prior calendar year. A 
copy of the form is included below and this notice will be sent to 
affected carriers for whom we have accurate contact information.
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Procedures For Submission of Report Through the World Wide Web

    DOT has established a Web site at http://382reporting.ost.dot.gov 
to enable covered carriers to submit from any Internet-connected 
computer anywhere in the world the required annual report summarizing 
the disability-related complaints that they received during the prior 
calendar year using the form specified in Appendix A of Part 382. 
Carriers will need to register on the Web site before they can gain 
access and complete the disability-related complaint form online. To 
register, carriers simply fill in and submit the required registration 
information: Carrier name; carrier class (foreign or U.S.); carrier 
address; and carrier representative name, title, and contact 
information. Each carrier representative will be assigned a unique user 
name and password after DOT has verified the authenticity of the 
registered carrier and representative, which may take a day or two. 
This step is necessary to ensure that only authorized users can submit 
information and view sensitive data. We encourage each covered carrier 
to register with the Web site as soon as possible so that the carrier 
representative can receive a user name and password well in advance of 
January 25, 2005, the date by which carriers must submit to the 
Department of Transportation the report covering disability-related 
complaints received during calendar year 2004.
    Once a carrier representative receives a user name and password 
from DOT, that representative will be able to access and complete the 
disability-related complaint form online, modify his/her contact 
information and change his/her user name and/or password. To change a 
user name or password, the representative would simply login with the 
given user name and password and then click on the ``Change Password'' 
link on the left side of the menu. Similarly, a carrier representative 
could modify his/her contact information by clicking on ``Change 
Contact Information.'' Clicking on the ``Add Report to Current Year'' 
will take the carrier representative to a screen containing data fields 
that need to be completed on the DOT disability complaint reporting 
form. All the fields in the form must be completed, as failure to 
provide a number in any field would prevent the representative from 
continuing to the next screen. Carriers are to enter a numeral ``0'' 
where there are no complaints in a given category. When the carrier 
representative finishes inputting numbers in all the fields in the 
form, he/she should then read and acknowledge the legal certification 
statement prior to clicking the ``Submit'' button. After submission, 
the annual report will be forwarded to DOT and the carrier 
representative will not be able to make any changes to the report 
through the Internet.

Frequently Asked Questions

    Since the final rule on reporting requirements for disability-
related complaints was published on July 8, 2003, a number of carrier 
representatives have contacted the Department of Transportation to ask 
for clarification or interpretation regarding the text of Sec.  382.70. 
These clarifications and interpretations have been disseminated 
primarily through informal conversations or e-mails between DOT staff 
and individual carrier representatives. The Department believes that 
the guidance provided to these carrier representatives may also be of 
interest to other members of the public. To ensure this guidance will 
be more accessible to the public and Sec.  382.70 will be more readily 
understandable, we are including in this notice frequently asked 
questions and DOT responses regarding Sec.  382.70.
    1. Question: Did Sec.  382.70 become effective on August 7, 2003? 
If so, what action(s) were covered carriers required to take beginning 
on that date?
    Answer: Yes, Sec.  382.70 became effective on August 7, 2003. See 
68 FR 40488. Beginning on that date, covered carriers were required to 
record and categorize disability-related complaints that they receive 
according to the type of disability and nature of complaint. Covered 
foreign air carriers were also required to retain for three years 
copies of the correspondence and records of action taken on the 
disability-related complaints. Prior to August 7, 2003, 14 CFR 249.20 
of the Department's regulations already required certificated U.S. air 
carriers to retain correspondence and records of action taken for all 
consumer complaints for three years.
    The first report, which must cover complaints received during 
calendar year 2004, must be submitted to the Department by January 25, 
2005. There was no requirement to submit a report in 2004 for 
complaints received during any portion of calendar year 2003, and 
carriers are not to include complaints received during 2003 in the 
report that they file in January 2005.
    2. Question: Can one piece of correspondence (e.g., a letter, e-
mail message) contain more than one disability-related complaint? If 
so, must each separate complaint be categorized and reported?
    Answer: Yes, a single piece of correspondence might express more 
than one complaint. Each disability-related problem that an individual 
complains about in writing must be categorized and reported. For 
example, if a passenger in a wheelchair sends in a letter stating that 
he/she did not receive connecting assistance, and after his/her final 
flight he/she discovered that his/her wheelchair was damaged, that is 
two complaints.
    3. Question: Is a carrier required to report disability-related 
complaints that it receives from government agencies (e.g. DOT)?
    Answer: Yes, each carrier is required to record, categorize, and 
report disability-related complaints forwarded by a governmental agency 
with respect to difficulties encountered in connection with service the 
carrier provides. However, if a carrier receives a disability-related 
complaint from an agency and the carrier has already recorded, 
categorized, and reported that complaint based on prior correspondence 
received from, or submitted on behalf of, the involved individual with 
a disability then the carrier is not required to count the same 
complaint again (i.e. there is to be no double counting).
    4. Question: Are the types of complaints covered by the final rule 
limited to complaints deemed by the carrier to be reasonable, 
complaints that the carrier is not able to resolve satisfactorily or 
complaints that relate to service required under Part 382?
    Answer: The types of complaints required to be reported are not 
limited to those disability complaints that the carrier deems to be 
valid or to constitute a potential violation of Part 382. Carriers are 
required to report on all complaints that they receive alleging 
discrimination on the basis of disability or failure to accommodate a 
disability, even if the carrier believes that the complaint is 
unreasonable or invalid, there was a rational explanation for what 
happened, the carrier arrived at a subsequent resolution with the 
passenger that the passenger said was satisfactory, or the incident 
does not constitute a violation of Part 382.
    5. Question: Are all complaints filed by passengers with 
disabilities to be reported, even if a problem had nothing to do with 
the disability?
    Answer: No, only disability-related complaints are to be reported. 
For example, if a passenger who uses a wheelchair complains that his/
her flight operated two hours late, but he/she expresses no 
dissatisfaction with the disability-related accommodations that he/she 
received, that complaint is not to

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be reported as a disability-related complaint.
    6. Question: Is the carrier required to report all disability-
related complaints regardless of the passenger's nationality and/or 
citizenship?
    Answer: Yes, a carrier is required to report disability-related 
complaints irrespective of the passenger's nationality and/or 
citizenship. As indicated in the rule, a disability-related complaint 
means a specific written expression of dissatisfaction received from, 
or submitted on behalf of, an individual with a disability concerning a 
difficulty associated with the person's disability, which the person 
experienced when using or attempting to use a U.S. or foreign air 
carrier's services. ``Individual with a disability'' is defined in 
Sec.  382.5. These definitions are not limited in any manner by the 
nationality and/or citizenship of the individual with a disability.
    7. Question: If a passenger has more than one disability, how 
should a carrier record and categorize the passenger's disabilities?
    Answer: Carriers should settle on the primary disability that 
needed to be accommodated for each incident. For instance, consider the 
example provided in the notice of proposed rulemaking that led to Sec.  
382.70 of Jane, who is deaf and a wheelchair user. Jane sends a letter 
to ABC Airlines alleging that there was a failure to provide her with 
ground personnel to assist in pushing the wheelchair at three of the 
airports through which she traveled and she missed her flight at the 
fourth airport because the gate agent did not let her know when she 
should board the aircraft. In this hypothetical, the carrier should 
determine that the primary disability that needed to be accommodated 
for three of the incidents (failure to provide personnel to assist in 
pushing the wheelchair at three airports) is Jane's mobility 
impairment, and that the primary disability that needed to be 
accommodated for the other incident (failure to inform Jane about 
boarding for her flight) is Jane's deafness. It is also worth noting 
that the carrier should count these disability-related problems as four 
separate incidents (i.e. four complaints).
    8. Question: In a flight involving a public charter where there are 
two entities involved (the charter operator and the airline) and in a 
wet lease situation where two airlines are involved, who is responsible 
for recording disability-related complaint data and submitting it to 
the Department in an annual report?
    Answer: Section 382.70 applies to certificated U.S. carriers and 
foreign air carriers operating to, from, and in the United States, 
conducting passenger operations with at least one aircraft having a 
designed seating capacity of more than 60 passengers. In a flight 
involving a public charter, it is the airline that operates the flight 
and not the charter operator (the entity that sells individual seats on 
charter flights and assumes financial risk) that is responsible for 
recording and submitting disability-related complaint data. In a wet 
lease situation, the lessee (the carrier receiving the aircraft and 
crew and under whose name the flight is offered) and not the lessor 
(the carrier providing the aircraft and crew) must report disability-
related complaints.
    9. Question: If code-share partners receive copies of the same 
complaint, which carrier is required to report it?
    Answer: The operating airline is required to report disability-
related complaints involving the flight itself and services provided on 
that flight. The ticketing airline is required to report all other 
complaints, particularly complaints about the reservation system. In 
situations where there is disagreement between code-share partners as 
to which carrier is responsible for reporting a particular complaint 
and only one code-share partner receives the complaint, the carrier 
that receives the complaint must report it. If both the ticketing and 
operating carrier receive copies of the same complaint and there is no 
agreement between the two as to which one is ultimately responsible for 
reporting the complaint, then both carriers must report the complaint.
    10. Question: Does Sec.  382.70 apply to U.S. and foreign carrier 
code-share segments operated between two non-U.S. points?
    Answer: Section 382.70 does not apply to foreign carriers operating 
aircraft between two foreign points even if the operation in question 
is a code-share flight with a U.S. air carrier. Foreign air carriers 
are covered by this section only with respect to disability-related 
complaints associated with any nonstop flight segment originating or 
terminating in the United States. However, U.S. carriers must report 
all written disability-related complaints if they operate the flight, 
even if the flight is between two foreign points.
    11. Question: What does DOT mean by a flight segment originating or 
terminating in the United States?
    Answer: By flight segment originating or terminating in the United 
States, the Department is referring to a nonstop flight operating to or 
from the United States where the last point of departure or the first 
point of arrival is in the United States. For example, suppose a 
foreign air carrier operates nonstop service between New York and 
London. That flight segment would be covered by Sec.  382.70 because 
the last point of departure or first point of arrival (i.e. New York) 
is in the United States. On the other hand, suppose a foreign carrier 
operates service from Addis Ababa to London to New York. In such a 
circumstance, the flight segment from Addis Ababa to London would not 
be covered by Sec.  382.70, as neither the last point of departure 
(i.e. Addis Ababa) nor the first point of arrival (i.e. London) is in 
the United States; but the flight segment from London to New York would 
be covered by Sec.  382.70 as the first point of arrival of that flight 
segment (i.e. New York) is in the United States.
    12. Question: Is the scope of the reporting requirements for 
disability-related complaints (Sec.  382.70) the same as the scope of 
the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) issued on November 4, 2004 (69 
FR 64364) addressing broad coverage of foreign air carriers under the 
Air Carrier Access Act?
    Answer: No, the scope of the reporting requirements for disability-
related complaints in Sec.  382.70 is narrower than that proposed in 
the November 4 NPRM for other sections of 14 CFR Part 382. Foreign air 
carriers are covered by Sec.  382.70 only with respect to disability-
related complaints associated with any nonstop flight segment 
originating or terminating in the United States. The November 4 NPRM 
proposes to cover foreign air carriers with respect to flights that 
begin or end at a U.S. airport. In other words, the November 4 NPRM 
does not limit coverage to nonstop flight segments originating or 
terminating in the United States but proposes to cover all flights that 
involve a continuous journey beginning or ending at a U.S. airport 
using the same aircraft and/or flight number.
    13. Question: Are carriers required to make their records available 
to DOT on request?
    Answer: Yes, carriers must retain and make available to Department 
of Transportation officials at their request correspondence and records 
of action taken on all disability-related complaints for three years 
after receipt of the complaint or creation of the record of action 
taken.


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    Issued this 22nd day of December, 2004, at Washington DC.
Jeffrey A. Rosen,
General Counsel, U.S. Department of Transportation.
[FR Doc. 04-28543 Filed 12-27-04; 11:54 am]
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