New rules would boost bumping compensation

The Transportation Department has issued a new round of proposed new consumer protection rules, and is seeking public comment on them; the agency also has created a new web site designed to facilitate consumer feedback on the rules. The newly proposed regulations follow up on other consumer protection rules that took effect in April, including one that requires airlines to let passengers off any plane that has been stuck on the tarmac for at least three hours. The newly proposed rules include:

• An increase in the amount of compensation airlines would have to pay passengers who are involuntarily bumped from a flight on which they hold a confirmed reservation. The current compensation limits are $400 if the airline provides alternative arrangements that get the bumped passenger to his destination within one or two hours of his original schedule (one to four hours for international travel), or $800 if the traveler is rescheduled to arrive more than two hours later than originally planned (later than four hours for international). The proposed change would bump up those limits to $650 and $1,300 respectively, and would provide for additional inflation-based increases every two years.
  

• Requiring foreign airlines to establish contingency plans for lengthy tarmac delays. Currently, U.S. airlines’ international flights are not subject to the same three-hour tarmac delay limit as domestic flights, but U.S. airlines are required to have contingency plans for lengthy delays of international flights,. The new rules would extend the same requirement to foreign airlines. The proposed regulations would also impose new tarmac delay data reporting requirements on all U.S. and foreign airlines.
  

• A guarantee that passengers would be able to cancel any reservation within 24 hours of making it, without penalty – a provision that some airlines already allow.
  

• Requiring “full and prominently displayed disclosure of baggage fees” and mandating that airlines provide fee refunds and expense reimbursement when bags are not delivered on time.

Other rules would require airlines to provide timely notice of flight status changes, prohibit airlines from increasing prices after a ticket is purchased, and order airlines to provide special notice of any baggage fee increases.

The agency said it is trying out a new feedback mechanism for the proposed rule changes. DOT has teamed up with the Cornell eRulemaking Initiative to create a web site where consumers can find a plain-English explanation of the proposed rules, and can comment on them. It’s at http://regulationroom.org.