[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 1, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33303-33304]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-11567]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. DOT-OST-2018-0190]


Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee Matters

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

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Transportation (Department) announces 
that the public meeting of the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory 
Committee (ACPAC) which was originally scheduled to be held on March 21 
and 22, 2022 is rescheduled to June 28 and 29, 2022. In addition, one 
of the topics planned for discussion at the rescheduled meeting has 
changed from Airline Ticket Refunds to Airline Ancillary Service Fees.

DATES: The meeting, which was originally scheduled to be held on March 
21 and 22, 2022, will now be held from 9:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. (ET) on June 
28 and 29, 2022.

ADDRESSES: The June 28 and 29 meeting will take place in-person at the 
DOT headquarters building, at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE in Washington, 
DC, and will be livestreamed. Attendance is open to the public, up to 
the room's capacity. A detailed agenda will be available on the ACPAC 
website at least one week before the meeting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To register for the next in-person 
meeting, please contact the Department by email at [email protected]. 
Attendance is open to the public subject to any capacity limitations. 
For further information, contact Kimberly Graber, Deputy Assistant 
General Counsel, by telephone at (202) 366-1695 or by email at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The ACPAC evaluates current aviation consumer protection programs 
and provides recommendations to the Secretary for improving them, as 
well as recommending any additional consumer protections that may be 
needed.
    On November 11, 2021, the Department issued a Federal Register 
notice announcing two meetings of the ACPAC, the first to be held on 
December 2, 2021 and the second to be held on March 21 and 22, 2022. 
The ACPAC held the December 2, 2021 meeting as planned. One of the 
topics discussed at the December 2, 2021 meeting was Airline Ticket 
Refunds. The Department planned to continue discussion of the Airline 
Ticket Refunds topic at the March 21 and 22, 2022 meeting concurrently 
with the projected date of the public comment period for the Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Airline Ticket Refund and Consumer 
Protections (RIN 2105-AF04). However, due to delays associated with the 
rulemaking process and the

[[Page 33304]]

availability of the ACPAC members, the meeting originally scheduled for 
March 21 and 22, 2022 will now be held on June 28 and 29, 2022.

II. Agenda

    As previously indicated, the Department intended to use the June 28 
and 29, 2022 meeting to continue the discussion on Airline Ticket 
Refunds and to discuss Enhancing Consumer Access to Airline Flight 
Information. While the NPRM on Airline Ticket Refunds was submitted to 
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for its review, 
the NPRM is not expected to be issued before the date of this ACPAC 
meeting. As a result, the Department will schedule a meeting at a 
future date to discuss the NPRM on Airline Ticket Refunds.
    The Department still plans to discuss Enhancing Consumer Access to 
Airline Flight Information at the June meeting. The Executive Order on 
Promoting Competition in the American Economy, issued on July 9, 2021 
(Competition Executive Order), directed the Department to take action 
to protect consumers and promote competition. Specifically, the 
Department is directed, among other things, to ``promote enhanced 
transparency and consumer safeguards, as appropriate and consistent 
with applicable law, including through potential rulemaking, 
enforcement actions, or guidance documents, with the aims of: (1) 
Enhancing consumer access to airline flight information so that 
consumers can more easily find a broader set of available flights, 
including by new or lesser known airlines . . . .'' The ACPAC will 
consider the topic of enhancing access to airline flight information, 
including examining what is meant by airline flight information and how 
best to ensure that consumers can more easily find a broader set of 
available flights.
    The Competition Executive Order also directs the Department to 
consider initiating a rulemaking to ensure that consumers have 
ancillary fee information, including baggage fees, change fees, and 
cancellation fees at the time of ticket purchase. The Department has 
announced that it has initiated such a rulemaking and plans to issue a 
notice of proposed rulemaking on transparency of airline ancillary 
service fees this calendar year. The Department, after consultation 
with the ACPAC members, has decided to discuss enhancing airline 
ancillary service fees at the June 28 and 29, 2022 meeting. The ACPAC 
will consider how best to ensure the disclosure of ancillary service 
fee information to consumers and whether the sharing of information 
between airlines and ticket agents is needed to ensure that consumers 
have access to ancillary fee information when they purchase air 
transportation from ticket agents.

III. Public Participation

    The meetings will be open to the public; however, attendance may be 
limited due to constraints of the physical meeting space. To register, 
please send an email to the Department at [email protected] as set forth in 
the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. The Department is 
committed to providing equal access to this meeting for all 
participants. If you need alternative formats or services because of a 
disability, such as sign language interpreter or other ancillary aids, 
please contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section.
    Members of the public may also present written comments at any 
time. The docket number referenced above (DOT-OST-2018-0190) has been 
established for committee documents including any written comments that 
may be filed. At the discretion of the Chairperson or Designated 
Federal Officer, after completion of the planned agenda, individual 
members of the public may provide oral comments time permitting. Any 
oral comments presented must be limited to the objectives of the 
committee and will be limited to five (5) minutes per person. 
Individual members of the public who wish to present oral comments must 
notify the Department of Transportation via email at [email protected] that 
they wish to attend and present oral comments no later than Friday, 
June 21, 2022.
    Speakers are requested to submit a written copy of their prepared 
remarks for inclusion in the meeting records and for circulation to 
ACPAC members by June 21, 2022. All prepared remarks submitted on time 
will be accepted and considered as part of the meeting's record.

IV. Viewing Documents

    You may view documents mentioned in this notice at https://www.regulations.gov. After entering the docket number (DOT-OST-2018-
0190), click the link to ``Open Docket Folder'' and choose the document 
to review.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on or around this 25th day of May 
2022.
John E. Putnam,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2022-11567 Filed 5-31-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P