[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 17 (Thursday, January 26, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 4922-4923]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-01517]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

14 CFR Part 399

[Docket No. DOT-OST-2022-0109]
RIN 2105-AF10


Enhancing Transparency of Airline Ancillary Service Fees

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

ACTION: Denial of Request for Extension of Comment Period.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Transportation (Department or DOT) 
declines to extend the comment period beyond January 23, 2023 for its 
proposed rule on Enhancing Transparency of Airline Ancillary Service 
Fees.

DATES: Comments on the rulemaking should be filed by January 23, 2023. 
Late-filed comments will be considered to the extent practicable. 
Petitions for a hearing pursuant to 14 CFR 399.75(b)(1) must also be 
filed by January 23, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may file comments identified by the docket number DOT-
OST-2022-0109 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. Commenters 
using this method of delivery should contact Docket Services at 202-
366-9826 or 202-366-9317 before delivery to ensure staff is available 
to receive the delivery.
     Fax: (202) 493-2251.
    Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket number 
DOT-OST-2022-0109 or the Regulatory Identification Number (RIN 2105-
AF10) 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 is able to 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

[[Page 4923]]

submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). 
For information on DOT's compliance with the Privacy Act, please 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: Ryan Patanaphan or Blane 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] or [email protected] (email).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 26, 2022, the Department of 
Transportation (DOT or Department) publicly announced and posted to its 
website a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that proposed several 
disclosure requirements to enhance the transparency of ancillary 
service fees that consumers pay for when they purchase airline tickets. 
(See 87 FR 63718; October 20, 2022). In the NPRM, the Department 
proposed to require U.S. air carriers, foreign air carriers, and ticket 
agents to clearly disclose passenger-specific or itinerary-specific 
baggage fees, change fees, and cancellation fees to consumers whenever 
fare and schedule information is provided to consumers for flights to, 
within, and from the United States. The Department also proposed 
requiring similar disclosures for fees for a child 13 or under to be 
seated adjacent to an accompanying adult, as well as the 
transactability of such seating fees. The proposed rule would require 
carriers to provide useable, current, and accurate information 
regarding fees to ticket agents that sell or display the carrier's fare 
and schedule information.
    The NPRM initially provided for a comment period of 60 days after 
publication of the NPRM in the Federal Register, i.e., December 19, 
2022. During this time, the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory 
Committee (ACPAC) met on December 8, 2022 and heard from Department 
staff and various stakeholders on the proposed rule. The ACPAC meeting 
was open to the public. The Department received requests for an 
extension of the comment period from several commenters.\1\ In response 
to those requests, and to provide additional time for stakeholders to 
conduct a thorough review of the NPRM's potential impacts, the 
Department extended the comment period by 35 days to January 23, 2023. 
(See 87 FR 77765 (Dec. 20, 2022). During the extended comment period, 
the ACPAC met again on January 12, 2023 to deliberate and vote on 
recommendations in connection with the NPRM's proposals. The ACPAC 
meeting was again open to the public.
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    \1\ Commenters requesting additional time for comment were 
Airlines for America, the International Air Transportation 
Association, the Travel Technology Association, the American Society 
of Travel Advisors, and the Global Business Travel Association.
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    On January 18, 2023, the Travel Technology Association (Travel 
Tech) requested an extension to file comments on the NPRM, writing that 
commenters would not have a sufficient opportunity to review and 
respond to the ACPAC's recommendations that resulted from its January 
12 meeting.\2\ Travel Tech asserts that it and others were not able to 
view the meeting when it occurred, and that, at the time the 
organization requested an extension, the meeting materials had not yet 
been posted to the public docket. Travel Tech requested a two-week 
extension to February 6, 2023, to file comments.
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    \2\ https://www.regulations.gov/comment/DOT-OST-2022-0109-0068.
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    While materials from the ACPAC's January 12 meeting, including a 
video recording of the full meeting, have been posted publicly and can 
be viewed on the Department's website or on regulations.gov (Docket 
DOT-OST-2018-0190), the meeting was publicly viewable on the date it 
was held. Stakeholders were provided sufficient notice of the meeting 
in advance, and the Federal Register notice announcing the meeting 
noted that the ACPAC intended to deliberate and decide on 
recommendations, if any, regarding ancillary fee transparency.\3\ 
Indeed, Travel Tech was aware that the ACPAC would meet on January 12 
to deliberate and decide on recommendations, if any, regarding this 
rulemaking. Moreover, the Department believes members of the public 
have had sufficient time, nearly 4 months, to consider the proposed 
rule and to file comments. In light of the foregoing, the Department 
finds insufficient basis to extend further the comment period for the 
Enhancing Transparency of Airline Ancillary Service Fees NPRM. As such, 
the Department denies Travel Tech's request for an extension to file 
comments in this rulemaking. The Department's denial notwithstanding, 
commenters are reminded that late-filed comments will be considered to 
the extent practicable.
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    \3\ A meeting notice was published in late December 2022 both on 
the Department's website and at regulations.gov. See https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/latest-news and https://www.regulations.gov/document/DOT-OST-2018-0190-0087.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on or around this 20th day of January 
2023, under authority delegated at 49 U.S.C. 1.27n.
John E. Putnam,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2023-01517 Filed 1-25-23; 8:45 am]
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