[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 187 (Monday, September 28, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58328-58329]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-24562]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. DOT-OST-2011-0177]
RIN 2105-AD96


30-Day Notice of Application for New Information Collection 
Request OMB No. 2105-XXXX: Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability 
in Air Travel

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

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended), this notice announces that the 
Department of Transportation's (DOT) Office of the Secretary (OST) is 
submitting a request to the Office of Management Budget (OMB) for 
approval of the new information collections described below. On 
November 12, 2013, the Department gave 60 day notice of its intent to 
obtain OMB control numbers authorizing the new information collections 
in its final rule amending the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) 
implementing regulation, 14 CFR part 382 (part 382), Nondiscrimination 
on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel. The purpose of this notice is 
to allow for an additional 30 days of public comment.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by October 28, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Your comments should be identified by Docket No. DOT-OST-
2011-0177 and may be submitted through one of the following methods:
     Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer 
for U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary of 
Transportation, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503,
     email: [email protected].
     Fax: (202) 395-5806.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maegan L. Johnson or Blane A. Workie, 
Office of the General Counsel, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department 
of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC, 20590, 
202-366-9342 (Voice), 202-366-7152 (Fax), or [email protected] 
(Email). Arrangements to receive this document in an alternative format 
may be made by contacting the above-named individuals.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: The ACAA, 49 U.S.C. 41705, prohibits discriminatory 
treatment of persons with disabilities in air transportation. On 
November 12, 2013, the Department published a final rule amending its 
ACAA regulation, 14 CFR part 382, to require airlines to ensure that 
the public facing Web pages on their primary Web sites are accessible 
to individuals with disabilities. 78 FR 67882 (November 12, 2013). 
Covered carriers are U.S. and foreign air carriers that operate at 
least one aircraft having a designed seating capacity of more than 60 
passengers and own or control a primary Web site that markets passenger 
air transportation or a tour, or tour component that must be purchased 
with air transportation, to the general public in the United States.\1\

[[Page 58329]]

The final rule established two new information collection requirements 
that are the subject of this notice. First, by December 12, 2015, 
carriers must provide an online mechanism for passengers to request 
disability accommodation services (e.g., enplaning/deplaning 
assistance, deaf/hard of hearing communication assistance, escort to 
service animal relief area, etc.) for a particular flight. Second, by 
December 12, 2016, carriers must ensure that when a user activates a 
link on a carrier's primary Web site to embedded third-party software 
or to an external Web site, a disclaimer is displayed notifying the 
user that the application or Web site may not be accessible. In the 
preamble of the final rule, the Department described and invited 
interested persons to submit comments on any aspect of these new 
information collections for 60 days. The Department received no 
comments on the information collections. This 30 notice is intended to 
give the public additional time to comment.
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    \1\ While there are approximately 175 U.S. and foreign air 
carriers that conduct passenger-carrying service to, from, or in the 
United States with at least one aircraft having a designed seating 
capacity of more than 60 seats, not all of those carriers have a 
primary Web site that markets passenger air transportation to the 
general public in the U.S. After conducting a sample review of 
carrier Web sites, the Department estimates that approximately 135 
of those 175 carriers are subject to the Department's Web-
accessibility requirements.
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1. Online Request for Disability Accommodation

    Type of Request: This is a new information collection.
    Form Number: There are no OST forms associated with this 
collection.
    Description of the need for the information and proposed use: Each 
carrier will provide a mechanism on its Web site for passengers to 
request a disability accommodation service for a future flight and 
provide advance notice of their request. Carriers may, but need not, 
require passengers to include contact information on the form in order 
to follow-up and request more specific information about the 
passengers' accommodation needs. Carriers may also use the aggregate 
data from the online service requests to understand and better plan for 
the volume and types of service requests they receive across time 
periods and routes, but also are not required to do so.
    While the content and design of the online service request form is 
up to the carriers, the Department anticipates that each covered U.S. 
and foreign carrier that markets scheduled air transportation to the 
general public in the United States would incur initial costs 
associated with developing and reviewing a design and implementation 
plan for the request form, developing, coding, and integrating the form 
into the Web site, as well as testing, debugging, and connecting the 
form with a backend database to store the information. The revised 
final regulatory analysis (FRA) estimated that it will take an average 
of 32 labor hours per carrier to develop, implement, integrate, 
connect, and test the online request form. Should carrier associations 
or some other entity develop a common request form that all carriers 
could adapt and incorporate to their Web sites, the initial costs per 
carrier would be reduced.
    Respondents: Certificated U.S. and foreign air carriers operating 
to, from, and within the United States that operate at least one 
aircraft having a seating capacity of more than 60 passengers and own 
or control a primary Web site that markets air transportation to the 
general public in the U.S.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 135 U.S. and foreign carriers.
    Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: 32 hours..
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 4,320 hours.
    Frequency: One-time requirement.

2. Web Site Accessibly Disclaimer Notice

    Type of Request: This is a new information collection.
    Form Number: There are no OST forms associated with this 
collection.
    Description of the need for the information and proposed use:
    In order to be in conformance with the accessibility standard 
required by the final DOT rule, carriers must provide a disclaimer 
notice for each link on their primary Web site that enables a user to 
access software or an external Web site that is not in the carrier's 
control. The disclaimer notice must be activated the first time a user 
clicks the link and must notify the user that the application/Web site 
is not within the carrier's control and may not follow the same 
accessibility policies as the primary Web site. The Department 
anticipates that each covered U.S. and foreign carrier that markets 
scheduled air transportation to the general public in the United States 
will incur costs associated with identifying all links on their Web 
sites that may require a disclaimer such as developing and reviewing 
the design and language for the disclaimer notice, as well as 
developing, testing, and deploying the code to the appropriate Web 
pages.
    The incremental labor hours associated with providing the required 
disclaimer may vary depending on the number of links on the Web site to 
which this requirement applies. The FRA estimated that it will take an 
average of 6 labor hours per carrier to identify the links and then 
develop, test, and deploy the disclaimer notice on the Web site.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 135 U.S. and foreign carriers.
    Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: 6 hours.
    Estimated Total Burden: 810 hours.
    Frequency: One-time requirement.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on September 21, 2015.
Claire W. Barrett,
Chief Privacy & Information Asset Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-24562 Filed 9-25-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P