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Obama Administration Announces New Actions on Delayed Baggage, Airline Reporting

Moves by Department of Transportation to address delayed luggage, protect travelers with disabilities and review current airline practices.

The Obama Administration announced a set of new policies on Tuesday geared towards holding airlines more accountable to their passengers. The goal of the new regulations is to improve the flyer experience from the moment passengers purchase tickets to the moment they retrieve their luggage.

The executive actions build on a number of overhauling regulations first envisioned in 2009.

“These actions answer the President’s Executive Order that called for more competition that helps consumers, workers, and entrepreneurs,” the statement from the Office of the Press Secretary reads.

Among the biggest changes is an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking sent out to air carriers from the Department of Transportation (DOT) informing them of changes to delayed baggage refunds. Airlines that do not deliver checked luggage with an arriving aircraft would be required to promptly reimburse the customer for any fees paid when luggage is lost.

In addition, airlines would be required to inform passengers of actual baggage delivery rates. The DOT is shifting reporting methodology to require airlines to report the actual number of mishandled checked bags against the number of checked bags accepted every month. Prior to this change, airlines reported lost luggage ratios by comparing passenger reports of lost luggage against the total number of passengers flying.

Luggage rules are not the only regulations changing. Under new final rules released by the DOT, airlines must report the on-time activity of all flights under their respective brands. Previously, the on-time activity of flights operated by smaller airlines and codesharing under the main airline’s flight numbers were reported to the operating airline, not the codeshared airline. This allowed airlines to report their on-time percentage as a reflection of their mainline flights. The new rule requires major air carriers to report every flight operated under one of their brands, giving a better picture of the on-time rules.

Pricing rules will also receive an overhaul. Online travel agencies may no longer allow bias on flight offerings without a disclosure to the consumer. The rule will prevent travel websites from offering one fare over another based on their commission, and is intended to result in more transparent airfares.

The DOT will use this opportunity to review airline business practices for pricing and fare delivery. Current regulations allow for airlines to block certain websites from seeing their fares, or block travel websites from presenting the fare including seat assignment and checked luggage fees. Additionally, DOT officials will investigate the practice of blocking sites from showing all available fares, and sites that employ the practice will be subject to a DOT Request for information to determine if these tactics are unfair to the consumer.

Finally, the DOT will mandate that airlines begin reporting how often wheelchairs belonging to disabled passengers are mishandled by flight crew. Additional rules that will be finalized in the near future include mandating minimum customer service standards across travel agencies and determining who qualifies as a “ticket agent” to ensure that customer rules are followed.

Under the Obama administration, the DOT has enacted several measure to improve the airline experience, including the ability to hold reservations without payment, the right to cancel reservations within 24 hours of booking and collect compensation for being erroneously denied boarding.

FlyerTalk’s forums will host a two-hour question-and-answer session on Wednesday with officials from the DOT starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time/10 a.m. Pacific Time.

[Photo: Getty Images]

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Danwriter October 20, 2016

A good start. Consolidation has turned the remaining legacy carriers into the equivalent of Comcast and Wells Fargo with wings.