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In rapid fire in recent weeks, the DOT and FAA have issued several announcements and regulatory proposals that could provide new protections for airline customers on issues ranging from refunds to seat sizes and seating policies.
With U.S. airlines facing public criticism over a summer of poor performance, some industry observers see the timing of such announcements as politically charged.
“It’s good politics to bash people you hate,” said Brian Del Monte, president of the advertising firm Aviation Agency.
But analysts are divided on whether the proposals will make a big difference to government watchdogs that have been reluctant to impose their demands on airlines in recent years.
“This seems like a sea change from where they’ve been for a long time, going back many years, at least to the first Obama administration,” said Paul Hudson, founder of the consumer advocacy group FireRights. “And certainly, that’s a big part of the fact that things are clearly getting worse in air travel.”
Bill McGee
Bill Magee, senior aviation fellow at the American Economic Freedom Project, a consumer advocacy group, said while he welcomes the new rule, he sees some recent DOT and FAA announcements as lip service.
“Frankly speaking, on the enforcement side, under the DOT [secretary Pete] Buttigieg was very disappointing,” McGee said.
Rules proposed by the DOT in early August would impose new refund requirements on airlines that delay flights and create a right to refunds for passengers who cancel travel plans due to health reasons. Specifically, the proposal would require airlines to refund domestic flights delayed more than three hours and international flights delayed more than six hours.
Separately, in early August, the FAA began a regulatory review process that could lead to the establishment of minimum seat sizes and minimum space requirements for commercial airplanes.
Also, in early August, Buttigieg pledged to ask airlines to allow passengers to remain in their personal wheelchairs while flying. And in July, the DOT warned airlines to take pains to seat children next to accompanying adults on flights at no extra charge. Failure to do so within four months will result in the department issuing formal regulations barring airlines from charging for such seating arrangements.
Rules were in effect.
A DOT spokesperson said in a statement that some of the department’s recent airline-related actions have been in the works for a long time. Plans for the refund rulemaking were announced in the department’s spring agenda document, which was published in July to coincide with the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a bill of rights for air passengers with disabilities.
Chris Brown, vice president of government affairs for the National Air Carriers Association, whose membership includes ultra-low-cost carriers such as Spirit, Frontier and Allegiant, offered a similar view.
“I think what you’re seeing is the DOT and the FAA trying to clean up the books on the 2018 mandates. [FAA reauthorization] “This legislation would require the FAA to establish a minimum necessary size requirement for airplane seats to maintain a 90-second evacuation time,” the bill said.
Brown said the FAA recently proposed regulations requiring new commercial airplanes to have a secondary cockpit door, a measure mandated by the 2018 FAA approval. And the agency is working to finalize a rule in 2018 that would increase the duty period between flight attendant shifts as mandated by Congress.
The current FAA license expires in October 2023.
Still, Brown acknowledged that recent calls by members of Congress to take action against airlines could have an impact.
“Secretary Buttigieg is aligned with Hill,” he said.
McGuim recognized Buttigieg’s political acumen. But the DOT secretary said the department’s lack of enforcement action against airlines that had serious violations at the start of the outbreak, demanding refunds for canceled flights.
The department has so far fined only Air Canada for refund violations, although it is currently taking action against 10 other airlines. While McGee welcomed DOT’s proposed stricter refund rules, he said the process of enacting them into law could take longer than this president’s term.
“In the last two and a half years, we have yet to see a fine of up to $1 on any US airline for a refund,” he said. “How long will it take to conduct this investigation?”
Flying Rights, which sued the FAA in January to force the agency to mandate the 2018 seat size, planned to put its own seat size proposal in the public record last week, Hudson said. Hudson called the FAA’s decision to solicit public comments on the safety impact of standard airline seating and cabin configurations “baby boom ahead.”
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