When are consumer airline advocates more effective than the aviation IT industry?
When advocating about airline ancillary fees, a common-sense advocacy effort may be more effective. The country needs joint work to develop new airline ticket sales regulations.
Last month, I had a major medical operation. I entered the hospital for my procedure just as the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a live comment period on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). This had to do with airline ancillary fees. I have waited for this kind of DOT examination of ancillary fees for about a dozen years.
Travelers United has spoken with all the distributors of aviation to consumers. They need more time to prepare mockups and complete work on new distribution systems.
The airlines, Google, Amadeus, Sabre, Expedia, Booking, and their associations had all read DOT’s tea leaves to interpret no extension to the rulemaking. The Travel Technology Association sent a formal request for an extension. All of the backchannel and upfront requests were denied. So Travelers United sent in its consumer request to extend the rulemaking comment period. That would allow the Information Technology (IT) world to present mockups of ancillary fees new regulations would entail.
DOT grants Travelers United a Reopening of Public Comment Period on DOT-OST-2022-0109.
Consistent with the procedural requirement under section 14 CFR 399.75, which provides that interested parties shall be given an opportunity to file statements or comments after a hearing on the proposed regulation, and in granting the Travelers United request for additional time to submit comments, the Department is reopening the comment period for the NPRM from March 14, 2023, through April 6, 2023. The Department will consider any comments received from publication of the NPRM through April 6, 2023, to be timely filed. New comments submitted to the Docket may include, but need not be limited to, subjects discussed in the petition for hearing and during the March 30, 2023, hearing.
This request allows extra time for the distribution side of the IT world to make their case.
Make no mistake about this. Travelers United’s request is to allow extra time for the distribution side of the IT world to make their case. The excerpts below are all from the Travelers United REQUEST FOR NPRM EXTENSION.
…the Travel Tech petition was because they did not have time to review and respond to the recommendations that emerged from the recent January 12, 2023, meeting of the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee (“ACPAC”). At that meeting, ACPAC considered, and voted on recommendations to the DOT, regarding this NPRM.
The Internet Technology world has changed dramatically from the days of 2010 and 2011.
In those days almost 80 percent of online travel was transacted on desktop or large laptop computers. The homepage real estate was relatively large. Today, we are dealing with much smaller mobile devices – 70-80 percent of transactions happen on these tiny computers.
DOT is seriously underestimating the technology and user-interface problems that new rules will entail. Plus, new Artificial Intelligence technology is coming in the next years. Passengers, the airlines, and the distribution network deserve a thorough review of these changes. By the time this rulemaking is ready to go live, new technology will be leading us in a different direction.
There was no expert testimony provided about questions raised by ACPAC members.
The airline member of the committee, Doug Mullen, complained that he could not vote until he returned to discuss the meeting with other members of his organization – he ended up abstaining on most decisions. John Breyault, the consumer member, only reluctantly voted on the issues, as did the airport and State AG advisory committee members. Speeding up the process, not more information, seemed to be the priority.
The aviation industry is at a tipping point. We need bold, determined action, not speed.
I believe that every other stakeholder with whom I have held discussions during the past weeks will agree with me that more time is needed to properly analyze the new technology that this NPRM will require. Plus, every stakeholder, be they airline, ticket agent, travel advisor, metasearch, or GDS, needs to have their position in the aviation community redefined. This industry is at a tipping point.
We need determined deliberation and innovation, not speedy meetings to meet political practicalities during this comment period.
We have all waited almost a dozen years since the last real debate over ancillary fees. Another few months may make a giant difference. Today we are on the threshold of new technology that will change airline search parameters.
I realize that this request is very last minute, but these are volatile times and bold, innovative action is needed. America’s biggest technology companies, the nation’s major airlines, the backbone of the travel and tourism distribution system, and travel consumer advocates all are building the future – a better one with more traveling, faster IT, and even smaller computers. Let’s not squander this opportunity.
A plea for an extension from Travelers United did the trick. The airlines and distribution experts now had time to respond to DOT’s requests.
This letter gave the Information Technology experts additional time to present their case for the limitation of ancillary fees. Unfortunately, the experts focused on today’s technology. Unfortunately, they did not continue to include the coming world of Artificial Intelligence that will be used when any changes initiated by this NPRM are ready to use. However, the door is now open.
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Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
