DOT fines Brazil's GOL airline largest penalty for violating airline consumer rules

By BA Staff

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) fined the Brazilian airline GOL $250,000 for violating a number of DOT’s rules protecting the rights of air travellers. This is the largest penalty assessed for violations of the rules adopted in April 2011.

The airline was ordered to cease and desist from further violations of the Department’s airline consumer rules.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said:

“We adopted these rules to ensure that passengers are treated with respect when they buy a ticket or board a plane. We will not tolerate disregard of our rules and will take enforcement action when necessary to protect travelers.”

The Department’s Aviation Enforcement Office found that GOL’s U.S. website, for a period of time after it was launched in November 2012, failed to include a variety of information and features required by DOT air travel consumer protection rules. The website did not include a contingency plan for handling lengthy tarmac delays or a link from the homepage to a list of fees for baggage and other optional services.

GOL also violated DOT’s full-fare advertising requirement by failing to include taxes and fees in fares displayed on the website in response to consumer searches. The full fare, including taxes and fees, was available only after the consumer selected a specific itinerary.

The airline also failed to post its contract of carriage in an easily accessible form on its website. A consumer had to begin the process of searching for an itinerary before being able to gain access to the contract information. This made it hard to easily compare GOL’s contract with those of other airlines, and made obtaining the contract difficult for passengers who wanted to review the information online before booking a flight by telephone or with a ticket agent.

Can we look to something similar in India? Share your thoughts via a comment.

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Marginal decrease in August US passenger traffic from a year earlier

By BA Staff

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported that U.S. airlines carried 67.7 million systemwide (domestic and international) scheduled service passengers in August 2013, 0.1 per cent fewer than in August 2012. Domestic passengers decreased 0.9 percent to 58.1 million, and international passengers increased 5.5 per cent to 9.6 million compared to August 2012.

Total U.S. airlines' passenger traffic for the first eight months of 2013 increased 0.4 per cent 502.7 million, compared to the same period last year. Domestic passengers remain virtually unchanged at 435.3 million, while international passenger traffic increased 3.1 per cent to 67.4 million.

System-wide and domestic load factors, the proportion of capacity measured Available Seat-Miles (ASMs) vs. utilisation measured in Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPMs), remained below the all-time August highs reached in 2011, while international load factors hit record highs of 87 per cent as RPM growth far exceeded ASM capacity expansion.

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Airline consumer complaints down from previous year

By BA Staff

Airline consumer complaints filed with DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division during the first nine months of this year were down 14.1 percent from the first nine months of 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report released.

From January to September 2013, the Department received 10,439 consumer complaints, down from the total of 12,153 filed during the first nine months of 2012. In September, the Department received 1,008 complaints about airline service from consumers, down 6.8 percent from the 1,081 complaints filed in September 2012 and down 23.5 percent from the 1,318 received in August 2013.

The consumer report also includes data on tarmac delays, on-time performance, cancellations, chronically delayed flights, and the causes of flight delays filed with the Department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by the reporting carriers.  In addition, the consumer report contains information on airline bumping, mishandled baggage reports filed by consumers with the carriers, and disability and discrimination complaints received by DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division.  The consumer report also includes reports of incidents involving the loss, death, or injury of pets traveling by air, as required to be filed by U.S. carriers.

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FAA issues final rule on pilot training

By BA Staff

The United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a final rule on the training of commercial air carrier pilots.  

The final rule stems in part from the crash of Colgan Air 3407 in February 2009 near Buffalo, NY, and addresses a Congressional mandate in the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 to ensure enhanced pilot training. This rule is one of several rulemakings required by the Act, including the requirements to prevent pilot fatigue that were finalized in December 2011, and the increased qualification requirements for first officers who fly U.S. passenger and cargo planes that were issued  in July 2013.
The final rule requires:

• ground and flight training that enables pilots to prevent and recover from aircraft stalls and upsets.  These new training standards will impact future simulator standards as well;
• air carriers to use data to track remedial training for pilots with performance deficiencies, such as failing a proficiency check or unsatisfactory performance during flight training;
• training for more effective pilot monitoring;
• enhanced runway safety procedures; and
• expanded crosswind training, including training for wind gusts.

In addition, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta is inviting the nation’s commercial aviation safety leaders to Washington, D.C. on November 21, to discuss additional voluntary steps that can be taken to further boost safety during airline operations, including pilot training.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said:

“Today’s rule is a significant advancement for aviation safety and U.S. pilot training. One of my first meetings as Transportation Secretary was with the Colgan Flight 3407 families, and today, I am proud to announce that with their help, the FAA has now added improved pilot training to its many other efforts to strengthen aviation safety.”

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said:

"This pivotal rule will give our nation’s pilots the most advanced training available. While the rule marks a major step toward addressing the greatest known risk areas in pilot training, I’m also calling on the commercial aviation industry to continue to move forward with voluntary initiatives to make air carrier training programs as robust as possible.”

The FAA proposed to revise the training rules for pilots in 2009, one month prior to the Colgan Flight 3407 accident. The FAA issued a supplemental proposal on May 20, 2011, to address many of the NTSB’s recommendations resulting from the accident, and incorporate congressional mandates for stick pusher, stall recovery and remedial training.  A stick pusher is a safety system that applies downward elevator pressure to prevent an airplane from exceeding a predetermined angle of attack in order to avoid, identify, or assist in the recovery of a stall.

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US airfares down 3.6% in second quarter 2013

By BA Staff

The average domestic air fare decreased to $378 in the second quarter of 2013, down 3.6 percent from the average fare of $392 in the second quarter of 2012, measured in constant 2013 dollars, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported.

Huntsville, Ala., had the highest average fare, $547, while Atlantic City, N.J., had the lowest, $159.

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), reports average fares based on domestic itinerary fares. Itinerary fares consist of round-trip fares unless the customer does not purchase a return trip. In that case, the one-way fare is included. Fares are based on the total ticket value which consists of the price charged by the airlines plus any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity at the time of purchase. Fares include only the price paid at the time of the ticket purchase and do not include other fees, such as baggage fees, paid at the airport or on-board the aircraft. Averages do not include frequent-flyer or “zero fares” or abnormally high reported fares.

The second-quarter 2013 fare was down 18.4 percent in constant 2013 dollars from the average fare of $463 in 1999, which was the highest average fare of any second quarter, adjusted for inflation. The 18.4 percent decline took place while there was an increase in overall consumer prices of 40.5 percent. In the 18 years since BTS began collecting air fare records in 1995, inflation-adjusted fares declined 16.9 percent compared to a 53.1 percent increase in overall consumer prices.

U.S. passenger airlines collected 70.6 percent of their total revenue from passenger fares during the second quarter of 2013, down from 1990, the earliest year for which airlines’ revenues and expenses are available, when 87.6 percent of airline revenue was received from fares.

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New rules to make flying easier for passengers with disabilities

By BA Staff

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), to ensure equal access to air transportation for all travellers, is requiring airline websites and automated airport kiosks to be accessible to passengers with disabilities.

In addition, DOT will allow airlines to choose between stowing wheelchairs in a cabin compartment on new aircraft or strapping them to a row of seats, an option that will ensure that two manual, folding wheelchairs can be transported at a time.

The new rules are part of DOT’s continuing implementation of the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said

“All air travelers should be treated fairly when they fly, regardless of any disabilities they may have. These new rules build on our past work in ensuring that our air transportation system is accessible for everyone, while balancing both airlines’ and passengers’ need for flexibility.”   

Under the new websites-and-kiosks rule, covered airlines will be given up to two years to make pages of their websites that contain core travel information and services accessible to persons with disabilities, and to make all of their web pages accessible within three years.

Websites are required to meet the standards for accessibility contained in the widely accepted Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The requirement applies to both U.S. and foreign airlines, with websites marketing air transportation to U.S. consumers for travel within, to, or from, the United States. 

The rule also requires ticket agents to disclose and offer web-based discount fares to customers unable to use their sites due to a disability starting within 180 days after the rule’s effective date.   Airlines are already required to provide equivalent service for consumers who are unable to use inaccessible websites. Under the new rule, airlines must also offer equivalent service to passengers with disabilities who are unable to use their websites even if the websites meet the WCAG accessibility standards.

In addition, any automated kiosks installed at U.S. airports for services -- such as printing boarding passes and baggage tags --must be accessible to passengers with disabilities until at least 25 percent of all kiosks at each airport location are accessible. Even if no new kiosks are installed, 25 percent of kiosks at each airport location must be accessible within 10 years. The standards for accessible kiosks are based on those set by the U.S. Department of Justice for ATM and fare machines in its 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act rule as well as the Section 508 standards for self-contained closed products, such as copiers.

DOT’s wheelchair rule provides airlines with more flexibility because it permits airlines to transport passenger wheelchairs by strapping them across a row of seats using a strap kit that complies with applicable safety standards, in addition to stowing them in a closet or similar compartment. In 2008, DOT issued a rule prohibiting airlines from using the seat-strapping method on new aircraft as an alternative to stowing the manual wheelchair in a closet or similar compartment. In that same rule, DOT allowed the use of a seat-strapping method on existing aircraft. Based on a fuller evaluation of the costs and benefits, DOT has now revised its position to also allow the use of seat-strapping on new aircraft subject to certain conditions.   For example, if an airline chooses to use the seat-strapping method to stow a wheelchair, it must transport two wheelchairs in the cabin if requested unless stowing the second wheelchair would displace other passengers.

If an airline chooses to use a closet to stow a wheelchair, then it will still be required to stow only one wheelchair in the cabin. However, in this case it must install a sign or placard prominently on the closet indicating that a wheelchair and other assistance devices are to be stowed in this area with priority over other items brought onto the aircraft by other passengers or crew, including crew luggage.

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USDOT fines US Airways $1.2m for failure to provide wheelchair assistance

By BA Staff

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) fined US Airways $1.2 million for failing to provide adequate wheelchair assistance to passengers in Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C. The fine is one of the largest ever assessed by DOT in a disability case.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said:

“All air travelers deserve to be treated equally and with respect, and this includes persons in wheelchairs and other passengers with disabilities. We will continue to make sure that airlines comply with our rules and treat their passengers fairly.”

Under DOT’s rules implementing the Air Carrier Access Act, airlines are required to provide free, prompt wheelchair assistance upon request to passengers with disabilities. This includes helping passengers to move between gates and make connections to other flights. 

In one of its periodic reviews of airline compliance with DOT rules, the Department’s Aviation Enforcement Office found that US Airways committed a significant number of violations of the requirements for wheelchair assistance during 2011 and 2012 at Philadelphia International Airport and Charlotte Douglas International Airport. 

As part of its review, the Enforcement Office examined approximately 300 complaints filed by passengers with the airline and DOT relating to incidents at Philadelphia and Charlotte, which covered only a sample of complaints filed over two years against US Airways for the two airports. The airline’s use of a combination of electric carts and wheelchairs to carry passengers between gates required frequent transfers and led to long delays. Some passengers missed connections because of the delays or were left unattended for long periods of time.

Of the $1.2 million fine, US Airways may use up to $500,000 for improvements in its service, to passengers with disabilities, that are beyond what DOT rules require. These include hiring managers to ensure the quality of the airline’s disability services in Philadelphia and Charlotte, creating a telephone line to assist these passengers, purchasing tablets and other equipment to monitor assistance requests, providing compensation to passengers with disability-related complaints, and programming the airline’s computers so that boarding passes identify passengers who request special services.

Now if only the DGCA comes up with similar fines for Indian carriers. Share your thoughts via a comment.
 

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US August passenger airline employment down 2.2 percent

By BA Staff

U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 380,328 workers in August 2013, down 2.2% from a year earlier, as per the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reports. August was the 12th consecutive month that full-time equivalent (FTE) employment for U.S. scheduled passenger carriers was below that of the same month of the previous year.

Scheduled passenger airline categories include network, low-cost, regional and other airlines. 

The decline in FTEs may be due, in part, to two factors.  First, American Airlines, the industry’s third largest employer, filed for bankruptcy in November 2011 and reduced FTEs by 7.2% year-to-year. Second, network carriers have experienced increased fuel costs and have reduced contracts with the regional airlines that operate less fuel-efficient regional jets.  Regional airline employment is down 5.1 percent year-to-year.

The five network airlines that collectively employ two-thirds of the scheduled passenger airline FTEs reported 2.5% fewer FTEs in August 2013 than in August 2012, the 13th consecutive month with a decline from the same month of the previous year. Delta Air Lines reduced FTEs by 4.2%, and American Airlines 7.2%. United Airlines increased 0.2% FTEs, US Airways increased FTEs by 2.8% and Alaska Airlines by 3.1% from the same month a year earlier. Network airlines operate a significant portion of flights using at least one hub where connections are made for flights to down-line destinations or spoke cities.

Of the six low-cost carriers, half i.e. Spirit Airlines, Allegiant Airlines and JetBlue Airways - reported an increase in FTEs while the other half, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Virgin America, reported a decline. Low-cost airlines operate under a low-cost business model, with infrastructure and aircraft operating costs below the overall industry average.

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July 2013 U.S. airline traffic data shows system passengers unchanged from 2012

By BA Staff

Courtesy of Bts.gov

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported that U.S. airlines carried 69.2 million systemwide (domestic + international) scheduled service passengers in July 2013, the same as in July 2012. The systemwide total was the result of a 0.7 percent decrease in the number of domestic passengers (59.3 million) and a 4.3 percent increase in international passengers (9.9 million).

BTS, a part of the Department’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that U.S. airlines carried 0.4 percent more total systemwide passengers during the first seven months of 2013 (435.0 million) than during the same period in 2012. Domestically, U.S. airlines carried 377.2 million passengers, 0.1 percent more than 2012. Internationally, they carried 57.8 million passengers, up 2.7 percent from 2012. See Tables 2, 8 and 14 of Air Traffic Press Releases for previous-year data.

The July 2013 international load factor of 86.9 percent was a record high for the month of July as year-over-year growth in revenue passenger-miles exceeded international capacity expansion. Systemwide and domestic load factors remained below the all-time July highs reached in 2011. Load factor is a measure of the use of aircraft capacity that compares Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPMs) as a proportion of Available Seat-Miles (ASMs).

 

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United fined for lengthy tarmac delays in July 2012

By BA Staff

The U. S. Department of Transportation (DOT) fined United Airlines $1.1 million for lengthy tarmac delays that took place at Chicago-O’Hare International Airport on July 13, 2012.  The airline was ordered to cease and desist from future violations of the tarmac-delay rule.

This is the largest fine assessed for a tarmac-delay violation since the rule limiting long tarmac delays first took effect in April 2010. Of the $1.1 million, United will pay the United States $475,000; the remainder covers mitigation measures for affected passengers and significant corrective actions by United to enhance future compliance with tarmac delay requirements.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said:

“It is unacceptable for passengers to be stranded in planes on the tarmac for hours on end. We will continue to require airlines to adopt workable plans to protect passengers from lengthy tarmac delays and carry out these plans when necessary.”

United is being fined for 13 lengthy tarmac delays that took place on a day when severe thunderstorms and lightning caused several ramp closures and disrupted the movement of aircraft at O’Hare. Delays by United and its United Express code-share affiliates exceeded the three-hour limit for tarmac delays by as little as two minutes and as much as 77 minutes.

Although United had a contingency plan for tarmac delays, DOT’s Aviation Enforcement Office found that the airline did not implement the plan during these delays, and that the plan was inadequate to cover foreseeable weather emergencies in which there were more planes on the ground than space at gates.   The Enforcement Office also found that United did not contact airport personnel or other airlines for assistance during the tarmac delays. Additionally, on two United Express flights, the lavatories were inoperable during part of the delays.

Under DOT rules, U.S. airlines operating aircraft with 30 or more passenger seats are prohibited from allowing their domestic flights to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours at U.S. airports without giving passengers an opportunity to leave the plane. Exceptions to the time limits are allowed only for safety, security or air traffic control-related reasons. The rules also require airlines to provide adequate food and water, ensure that lavatories are working and, if necessary, provide medical attention to passengers during long tarmac delays.

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Airline on-time performance in August down from previous year, up from July

By BA Staff

The United States' largest airlines posted an on-time arrival rate of 78.8 percent in August, down from the 79.1 percent on-time rate from August 2012, but up from the 73.1 percent mark from July 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report released today.

Airlines also reported two tarmac delays of more than three hours on domestic flights and no tarmac delays of more than four hours on international flights in August. Both of the reported tarmac delays involved flights scheduled to arrive in Denver, Colo. on Aug. 3 that were diverted due to storms. Both delays are under investigation by the Department.

The larger U.S. airlines have been required to file complete reports on their long tarmac delays for domestic flights since October 2008.  Under a rule that took effect Aug. 23, 2011, all U.S. and foreign airlines operating at least one aircraft with 30 or more passenger seats must report lengthy tarmac delays at U.S. airports.

Also beginning Aug. 23, 2011, carriers operating international flights may not allow tarmac delays at U.S. airports to last longer than four hours without giving passengers an opportunity to deplane.  There is a separate three-hour limit on tarmac delays involving domestic flights, which went into effect in April 2010.  Exceptions to the time limits for both domestic and international flights are allowed only for safety, security, or air traffic control-related reasons.  Severe weather could cause or exacerbate such situations.

The consumer report also includes data on cancellations, chronically delayed flights, and the causes of flight delays filed with the Department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by the reporting carriers.  In addition, the consumer report contains information on mishandled baggage reports filed by consumers with the carriers, and consumer service, disability, and discrimination complaints received by DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division.  The consumer report also includes reports of incidents involving the loss, death, or injury of pets traveling by air, as required to be filed by U.S. carriers. 

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DOT fines ticket agents for code-share disclosure violations

By BA Staff

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today fined two ticket agents for violating the Department’s rules on disclosure of code-share flights. DOT issued a $125,000 fine against Carlson Wagonlit Travel and a $65,000 fine against Frosch International Travel, and both companies were ordered to cease and desist from further violations. The amount of the fines was based on the specific circumstances of the individual cases. Today’s consent orders are part of an ongoing effort by DOT to ensure that ticket agents comply with the code-share disclosure rules.

 U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said:

“No one wants to arrive to their gate and learn for the first time that the airline they thought was operating their flight actually sold them a ticket for another airline. We will continue to make sure that all companies selling air transportation are transparent with consumers and will take enforcement action when they fail to disclose code-sharing arrangements.”

Under code-sharing, an airline sells seats on flights using its designator code, but the flights are operated by a separate airline.

In this case, DOT’s Aviation Enforcement Office made telephone calls to a number of agents during January and February of 2013 and inquired about booking certain flights. During these calls, the reservations agents for both companies failed to disclose that the flights were being operated under code-share arrangements. The agents identified only the name of the airline marketing the flight and not the name of airline operating the flight. This violated DOT rules requiring airlines and ticket agents to inform consumers if a flight is operated under a code-share arrangement, as well as disclose the corporate name of the transporting airline and any other name under which the flight is offered to the public.

DOT takes enforcement action when necessary against companies that sell air transportation based on consumer complaints and the Department’s own internal investigations. DOT has now issued six fines for code-sharing violations this year, totaling $430,000.

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United States grants approval to Etihad-Jet Airways code share request

by Devesh Agarwal

On September 4th, Etihad Airways and Jet Airways had petitioned the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) to authorise them to code share i.e. put their marketing codes on each other airlines' flights. Download the original petition in PDF format here or scroll to end of the article to view it and the approval letter.

Etihad requests a blanket Statement of Authorization to permit it to display Jet Airways' "9W*" designator code on any current or future US-United Arab Emirates services operated by Etihad (These may be either nonstop services or services operated via an intermediate point or points; as such, codesharing will not necessarily take place on segments directly to/from the operating carrier's homeland).

Jet Airways requests a blanket Statement of Authorization to permit it to display Etihad's "EY*" designator code on any current or future US-India services operated by Jet Airways.

Initially, Etihad will display the 9W* code on flights operated by Etihad between Abu Dhabi on the one hand and Chicago, New York (JFK) and Washington, DC (IAD) on the other hand, for purposes of carrying Jet Airways' traffic between India and the United States on a blind-sector basis. Jet Airways will display the EY* code on flights operated by Jet Airways between Brussels, which is served as an intermediate point on its India-US services, and Newark, for purposes of carrying Etihad's traffic between the United Arab Emirates and the United States on a blind-sector basis.

The USDOT has provided its approval to the request.

The request though seems to be in conflict with the commercial cooperation agreement that is signed between the two airlines. The agreement reportedly states that Jet Airways will not fly to those destinations already served by Etihad, especially on the west-bound direction, except via Abu Dhabi, the base of Etihad.

The lucrative United States is one of the territories that fall under this. Jet has proposed flights from Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore via Abu Dhabi to New York, Newark, and Chicago. So will Jet Airways' current service from Brussels to the United States continue in the future? In a conference call the senior Jet Airways management called their Brussels hub a "long term engagement".

What are your thoughts? Share a comment.

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