DOT comes out swinging against airlines with proposed new bump rules and fee disclosures

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced proposed rulemakings regarding airfare and fee disclosures, bumping compensation, a 24-hour refund rule and tarmac delay extension to foreign carriers.

Here is the digest version. In order of my assessment of the importance to general consumers. More analysis will follow.

Baggage and other fees and related code-share issues
Basically, the DOT came down on the side of passengers and travel agents who will now be able to get all fee information as well as airfare information when making decisions regarding purchasing airline tickets. The exact method is not determined, however, the rule is full disclosure.

Full fare advertising
DOT is requiring that all fares be advertised with complete taxes and non-optional fees. They also propose to ban the practice of “opt-out” and listing one-way fares based on round-trip airfares.

Increase in the overbooking/bumping fines
DOT proposed to increase the minimum denied boarding compensation limits to $650 and $1,300 depending on the length of the delay caused by the bumping and to index the fines to inflation.

Require foreign carriers to response to consumer problems
Basically, foreign carriers operating in the USA will need to follow the same rules as domestic carriers.

Contract of carriage changes to insure tarmac delay rules and include foreign carriers
This requirement will make the new rules part of the contract between the passenger and the airline. This also extends the contract of carriage provisions to foreign airlines as well as domestic.

Expansion of the tarmac delay provisions
Now, also foreign carriers will also be subject to these rules, the contingency plans and data requirements will be expanded.

Airfares may not be increased after purchase

Clear communication of flight status changes
DOT proposed a series of changes to force airlines to inform passengers when flights are delayed at the airport and online.

Legal forum location
Will require airlines to deal with legal questions in the location where the tickets were purchased rather than requiring passengers to pursue legal action at the location of the airline.

Peanut allergy studies
DOT will conduct studies and try to figure out the best method to deal with passengers that have peanut allergies. They are considering completely banning peanuts on all flights, banning nuts on flights where peanut-allergic passengers are aboard or creating a peanut-free buffer zone.