[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 243 (Wednesday, December 20, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 88217-88218]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-27956]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

[Docket ID Number: DOT-OST-2018-0068]


Agency Request for Emergency Clearance To Extend Information 
Collection Request Related to Traveling by Air With Service Animals

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

ACTION: Notice of request for emergency OMB approval.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice announces DOT's intention to seek emergency clearance to extend 
the information collection request (ICR) under Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) Control Number 2105-0576, ``U.S. Department of 
Transportation Service Animal Air Transportation Form'' and ``U.S. 
Department of Transportation Service Animal Relief Attestation Form.'' 
We are seeking emergency clearance to temporarily extend the ICR to 
ensure that airlines may continue to collect service animal forms from 
passengers with disabilities, which provide assurances to the airline 
that the service animal does not pose a safety threat to passengers and 
crew onboard aircraft. DOT requests that OMB approve this extension 
request within 7 days.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before December 27, 
2023.

ADDRESSES: You may file comments identified by the docket number DOT-
OST-2018-0068 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. (You may access comments received for this notice at http://www.regulations.gov by searching docket DOT-OST-2018-0068.)
     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: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone number is 202-366-9329.
    Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket number 
DOT-OST-2010-0054 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 DOT's dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maegan Johnson or Livaughn Chapman, 
Jr., Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, 
telephone number (202) 366-9342 (voice), (202) 366-7152 (fax); 
[email protected] or [email protected] (email). 
Arrangements to receive this document in an alternative format may be 
made by contacting the above-named individuals.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    OMB Control Number: 2105-0576.
    Title: Traveling by Air with Service Animals.
    Type of Request: Request for emergency extension of existing 
information collections.
    Background: The U.S. Department of Transportation (Department or 
DOT) published a final rule to amend the Department's Air Carrier 
Access Act (ACAA) regulation on the transport of service animals by air 
in the Federal Register on December 10, 2020 (85 FR 79742). 14 CFR 
382.75 allows airlines to require passengers traveling with service 
animals to provide airlines with the following two forms of 
documentation developed by the Department as a condition of travel. The 
first form published in the rule, the U.S. Department of Transportation 
Service Animal Air Transportation Form (``Behavior and Health 
Attestation Form''), is designed to ensure and inform airlines of the 
service animal's good health, disability-related task training, and 
good behavior; to educate passengers traveling with service animals on 
how service animals in air transportation are expected to behave; and 
to inform passengers traveling with service animals of the consequences 
of service animal misbehavior. The second form published in the rule, 
the U.S. Department of Transportation Service Animal Relief Attestation 
Form (``Relief Attestation Form''), may only be required by airlines 
when a passenger is traveling with service animals on a flight segment 
scheduled to take 8 hours or more. The purpose of this form is to 
provide assurances to airlines that the service animal will not need to 
relieve itself on the flight or that the animal can relieve itself in a 
way that does not create a health or sanitation issue, and to educate 
passengers of the consequences should an animal relieve itself on the 
aircraft in an unsanitary way.
    The Behavior and Health Attestation Form and the Relief Attestation 
Form are the only forms that airlines are permitted to require from 
passengers traveling with service animals as a condition of transport, 
except in rare

[[Page 88218]]

circumstances when additional documentation may be necessary to comply 
with requirements on transport of animals by a Federal agency, a U.S. 
territory, or a foreign jurisdiction. Currently, OMB authorization of 
the information collections expire on December 31, 2023.

1. Requirement To Prepare and Submit to Airlines the DOT Air 
Transportation Service Animal Behavior and Health Attestation Form

    Respondents: Passengers with disabilities traveling on aircraft 
with service animals.
    Number of Respondents: The Department estimates that 310,145 
respondents will complete the Service Animal Health and Attestation 
form. This estimate was calculated by using the same analysis used by 
the Department in its 2021 Service Animal Regulatory Impact Analysis 
(RIA), where the Department estimated that 319,000 respondents would 
use the Service Animal Health and Attestation Form.
    In the RIA, the Department relied on 2017 passenger data and 
estimates provided from Airlines for America on the number of service 
animals transported by U.S. air carriers in 2017 \1\ to estimate the 
number of respondents that would use the Service Animal Health and 
Attestation form. DOT estimated that in 2017, 281,000 service animals 
were transported by U.S. carriers on flights to, within, and from the 
United States, and 38,000 were transported by foreign air carriers on 
flights to and from the United States.\2\ Assuming that only one 
passenger with a disability travels with a service animal, the 
Department determined in 2021 that 319,000 respondents (281,000 + 
38,000) would use the service animal form.
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    \1\ Comment from A4A, https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOT-OST-2018-0068-4288. A4A estimates that 281,000 
service animals were transported on U.S. airlines in 2017. DOT 
estimates that 38,000 service animals were transported by foreign 
airlines on flights to and from the U.S. in 2017 based on air 
carrier passenger data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 
available at https://www.bts.gov/newsroom/2017-traffic-data-us-airlines-andforeign-airlines-us-flights.
    \2\ See, Traveling by Air with Service Animals (FR)--Regulatory 
Impact Analysis (November 2020); https://www.regulations.gov/document/DOT-OST-2018-0068-32399.
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    For the purposes of this renewal, the Department relied on 2022 
enplanement data to estimate the number of respondents that would 
complete the service animal forms. In 2022, U.S. passenger enplanements 
increased by .5 percent and foreign carrier enplanements decreased by 
27 percent.\3\ Thus, DOT estimates that 282,405 service animals were 
transported by U.S. carriers to, from, or within the U.S. in 2022 and, 
if foreign carriers had a similar proportion of passengers traveling 
with service animals, foreign carriers transported 27,740 service 
animals to or from the U.S. in 2022. Assuming that only one passenger 
with a disability travels with a service animal, 310,145 respondents 
(282,405 + 27,740) would complete the service animal behavior and 
health attestation form.
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    \3\ Bureau of Transportation Statistics (2022). ``2022 Traffic 
Data for U.S. Airlines and Foreign Airlines U.S. Flights.'' https://www.transtats.bts.gov/Data_Elements.aspx?Data=4. The number of 
passengers on foreign carriers (84.5 million) was 9.9 percent of the 
number on domestic carriers (852.8 million).
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: We estimate that 
completing the form would require 15 minutes (.25 hours) per response, 
including the time it takes to retrieve an electronic or paper version 
of the form from the carrier's website, reviewing the instructions, and 
completing the questions. Passengers would spend a total of 77,536 
hours annually (0.25 hours x 310,145 passengers) to retrieve and 
complete an accessible version of the form. Passengers would fill out 
the forms on their own time without pay. To estimate the value of this 
uncompensated activity, we use median wage data from the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics.\4\ We use a post-tax wage estimate of $18.48 ($22.26 
median for all occupations minus a 17% percent estimated tax rate). The 
estimated annual value of this time is $1,432,865 ($18.48 x 77,536 
hours).\5\
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    \4\ For a discussion of estimating the value of uncompensated 
activities, see ``Valuing Time in U.S. Department of Health and 
Human Services Regulatory Impact Analyses: Conceptual Framework and 
Best Practices'' from the Department of Health and Human Services, 
available at https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/257746/VOT.pdf.
    \5\ Bureau of Labor Statistics (2022). ``May 2022 National 
Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates: United States.'' https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#00-0000.
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2. Requirement To Prepare and Submit to Airlines the DOT Service Animal 
Relief Attestation Form

    Respondents: Passengers with disabilities traveling on aircraft 
with service animals on flight segments scheduled to take 8 hours or 
more.
    Number of Respondents: The Department estimates that 5 percent of 
service animal users would be on flight segments scheduled to take 8 
hours or more and would also have to complete the Relief Attestation 
Form, for a total of 15,507 respondents (310,145 x 0.05).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: We estimate that 
completing the form would require 15 minutes (.25 hours) per response, 
including the time it takes to retrieve an electronic or paper version 
of the form from the carrier's website, reviewing the instructions, and 
completing the questions. Passengers would spend a total of 3,877 hours 
annually (0.25 hours x 15,507 passengers) to retrieve an accessible 
version of the form and complete the form. Passengers would fill out 
the forms on their own time without pay, as they would with the Animal 
Behavior and Health Attestation Form. The estimated annual value of 
this time is $71,647 ($18.48 x 3,877 hours).

Comments Invited

    We invite comments on: (a) Whether the collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the 
Department, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed information collection; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for OMB approval. All comments will also become a matter of 
public record on the docket.
    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter 
35, as amended; and 59 CFR 1.48.

    Issued in Washington, DC.
Livaughn Chapman Jr.,
Deputy Assistant General Counsel, Office of Aviation Consumer 
Protection.
[FR Doc. 2023-27956 Filed 12-19-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P