Department of Transportation

(Dive Travel Business News - May 17, 2011) -- The U.S. Department of Transportation's new proposal on the disclosure of airlines' ancillary fees through global distribution systems will likely not be announced until next year. However, a draft of the rule is expected to be sent to the Office of Management and Budget in August and will be evaluated until the end of the year.

The U.S. Department of Transportation does not expect to publicly reveal before January 2012 a new proposal on airlines' disclosure of optional service fees through global distribution systems. According to a DOT update issued last week, a public comment period following that Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would extend until June 2012. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - June 9, 2010) -- Just months after the US Department of Transportation  (DOT) dealt with lengthy on-ground flight delays with new tarmac rules,  DOT Secretary Ray LaHood has released a new round of consumer-friendly airline rules. If adopted, this newest set of airline regulations would:

• Force smaller airports and international air carriers to adopt contingency plans for lengthy tarmac delays;
• Make airlines give passenger more information on delays;
• Foreign airlines would become subject to the same ground delay data reporting and disclosure rules as U.S. carriers;
• Establish of minimum standards for carriers’ customer service plans and extend the customer service plan requirements to cover foreign carriers;
• Change airline policies on denied boarding compensation, also known as involuntary bumping, to increase minimum compensation, add inflation adjustment, and offer more information to passengers about the policies

(Dive Travel Business News - May 11, 2010 ) -- You've now heard of the "3-hour rule". With a few security-related exemptions, an airline must allow customers to get off the plane — or risk receiving fines of up to $27,500 per passenger to be paid to the government — at the three-hour point of a tarmac delay. 

But it's not just the tarmac delay rule that took effect April 29, 2010, but one of a series of new DOT regulations designed to protect commercial airline passengers.The Department of Transportations' new rule on tarmac delays is part of an 81-page document detailing DOT’s new Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections.  In the document, other regulations are found that apply more broadly and require carriers to be more truthful about flight delays and take more responsibility when things go wrong.

Here are some highlights of the DOT legislation. read more »