[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 4, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14548-14550]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-06857]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

[OST Docket No. DOT-OST-2011-0170]


Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments; agency request for renewal and 
partial modification of a previously approved collection: disclosure of 
code-sharing arrangements and long-term wet leases.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended) this notice announces the Department of 
Transportation's (Department) intention to reinstate and partially-
modify an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number as 
related to the Disclosure of Code-Sharing Arrangements and Long-Term 
Wet Leases. The growth in the use of code-sharing, wet-leasing, and 
similar marketing tools, particularly in international air 
transportation, led the Department on March 15, 1999, to adopt specific 
regulations requiring the disclosure of code-sharing arrangements and 
long-term wet leases by carriers (U.S. and foreign) and ticket agents 
via oral, written, and internet communications. In a recent final rule 
titled ``Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections'' (See, 81 FR 76800, 
November 3, 2016), the Department, among other things, amended the 
code-share disclosure regulation to require that carriers and ticket 
agents must disclose any code-share arrangements on their websites, 
including mobile websites and applications; clarify the format in which 
that information must be displayed; and specify that verbal code-share 
disclosures should be made the first time a flight involving a code-
share arrangement is offered to consumers or the first time a consumer 
inquiries about such a flight whether by telephone or in person 
conversations.
    In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice 
also announces that the request for reinstatement and partial-
modification of an OMB Control Number for the Information Collection 
Request (ICR) abstracted below is being forwarded to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comments. A Federal Register 
Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the 
following information collection was published on September 12, 2017.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by May 4, 2018. 
Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding this 
proposal.

ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding the burden estimate, including 
suggestions for reducing the burden, to the Office of Management and 
Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for the Office of the Secretary of 
Transportation, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503. Comments may 
also be sent via email to OMB at the following address: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daeleen Chesley, (202) 366-6792, 
[email protected], Office of the Assistant General Counsel for 
Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings (C-70), U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC, 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    OMB Control Number: 2105-0537.
    Title: Disclosure of Code-Sharing Arrangements and Long-Term Wet 
Leases.
    Abstract: Code-sharing is the name given to a common airline 
industry marketing practice where, by mutual agreement between 
cooperating carriers, at least one of the airline designator codes used 
on a flight is different from that of the airline operating the 
aircraft. In one version of code-sharing, two or more airlines each use 
their own designator codes on the same aircraft operation. Although 
only one airline operates the flight, each airline in a code-sharing 
arrangement may hold out, market, and sell the flight as its own in 
published schedules. Code-sharing also refers to other arrangements, 
such as when a code on a passenger's ticket is not that of the operator 
of the flight, but where the operator does not hold out the service in 
its own name. Such code-sharing arrangements are common between 
commuter air carriers and their

[[Page 14549]]

larger affiliates. In a wet-lease situation, a leasing arrangement is 
made whereby the lessor provides both an aircraft and crew to a lessee 
dedicated to a certain route under either an agreement that lasts more 
than 60 days or under a series of such lease agreements that amount to 
a continuing arrangement lasting more than 60 days.
    Although code-sharing and wet-lease arrangements can offer 
significant consumer benefits, they can also be misleading unless 
consumers know the identity of the airline operating the flight. The 
growth in the use of code-sharing and wet-leasing, particularly in 
international air transportation, led the Department to adopt specific 
regulations requiring the disclosure of code-sharing arrangements and 
long-term wet leases on March 15, 1999 (14 CFR part 257). More 
specifically, the rule requires carriers to provide information about 
their code-share relationships in written or electronic schedule 
information provided by carriers to the public (e.g. the Official 
Airline Guide/OAG). The rule also requires carriers and ticket agents 
to disclose code-share information in written notice at the time of a 
ticket purchase. Further, the regulation requires those entities to 
tell prospective consumers the first time a flight is identified in all 
oral communications that the transporting airline is not the airline 
whose designator code will appear on travel documents and to identify 
the transporting airline by its corporate name and any other name under 
which that service is held out to the public.
    In 2010, to further enhance these consumer protections, Congress 
enacted by Public Law 111-216, sec. 210 (August 1, 2010), which was 
codified as 49 U.S.C. 41712(c). Among other things, the statute 
requires ticket agents and carriers (U.S. and foreign) to disclose in 
oral communication or in written or electronic communications 
(including on the internet), prior to the purchase of a ticket, the 
name of the carrier providing the air transportation and, if the flight 
has more than one segment, the name of each carrier providing the air 
transportation for each flight segment. The statute also requires 
ticket agents and carriers (U.S. and foreign) that sell tickets on an 
internet website to disclose the required information on the first 
display of their website following a consumer's search of a requested 
itinerary in a format that is easily visible.
    In a recent final rule, Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections III 
(81 FR 76800, November 3, 2016), the Department clarified its code-
share disclosure regulation to ensure that carriers and ticket agents 
disclose code-share arrangements in schedules, advertisements, and 
communications with consumers. The rule amended the Department's code-
share disclosure regulation to codify the statutory requirement that 
carriers and ticket agents must in a format that is easily visible to a 
viewer disclose any code-share arrangements on the first display of the 
website following itinerary search results; clarify that the 
requirement for code-share disclosures in flight itinerary search 
results and flight schedule displays includes information provided by 
airlines via mobile websites and applications; clarify the format in 
which that information must be displayed; and specify that verbal code-
share disclosures should be made the first time a flight involving a 
code-share arrangement is offered to consumers or inquired about by 
consumers during telephone or in person conversations.
    As most of these provisions are implementing the statutory 
requirement enacted in 2010, carriers and ticket agents should already 
be complying with most of the requirements.\1\ The aspect of the 
provision which is new is the specification of when during a telephone 
or in-person booking process a carrier or ticket agent must disclose 
the code-share information, which may result in additional compliance 
costs for some carriers and ticket agents. Those additional costs would 
be borne by those carriers and ticket agents that currently do not 
present code-share information at the first mention of a flight during 
a reservation call or in-person booking. As such, these carriers and 
ticket agents may have slightly longer reservation calls and longer in-
person bookings. However, the disclosure was already required so the 
additional time, if any, would be minimal.
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    \1\ The regulated entities that have a website should already 
have the required information programmed in their systems and that 
information should already appear on their websites. Thus, the 
incremental costs to add the information to mobile websites and 
applications should be small. To the extent there are any costs, 
they could be minimized if any necessary changes were incorporated 
at the same time as another upgrade.
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    In addition to costs for additional agent time during some calls 
and in-person bookings, some respondents may have a slight increase in 
their training costs, as they modify their trainings to note that code-
share information must be shared when the flight is first presented to 
the consumer.\2\ These additional training costs are likely to be 
incurred only by those respondents which do not already present code-
share information at the first mention of a flight.
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    \2\ The costs are minimal if this change is incorporated into 
agent curricula during the same time as other updates and/or sent in 
an update bulletin via the carrier's/travel agent's intranet system, 
as is standard industry practice.
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    The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and its implementing 
regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, require Federal agencies to issue two 
notices seeking public comment on information collection activities 
before OMB may approve paperwork packages. 44 U.S.C. 3506, 3507; 5 CFR 
1320.5, 1320.8(d)(1), 1320.12. On September 12, 2017, the Department 
published a 60-day notice in the Federal Register soliciting comment on 
ICRs for which the agency was seeking OMB approval (82 FR at 42877). 
The Department received one comment, but the comment was not relevant 
to this collection. Accordingly, the Department announces that these 
information collection activities have been re-evaluated and certified 
under 5 CFR. 1320.5(a) and forwarded to OMB for review and approval 
pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.12(c).
    Before OMB decides whether to approve these proposed collections of 
information, it must provide 30 days for public comment. 44 U.S.C. 
3507(b); 5 CFR 1320.12(d). Federal law requires OMB to approve or 
disapprove paperwork packages between 30 and 60 days after the 30-day 
notice is published. 44 U.S.C. 3507(b)-(c); 5 CFR 1320.12(d); see also 
60 FR 44978, 44983 (Aug. 29, 1995). The 30-day notice informs the 
regulated community to file relevant comments to OMB and affords the 
agency adequate time to digest public comments before it renders a 
decision. 60 FR 44983 (Aug. 29, 1995). Therefore, respondents should 
submit their respective comments to OMB within 30 days of publication 
to best ensure their full consideration. 5 CFR 1320.12(c); see also 60 
FR 44983 (Aug. 29, 1995).
    This notice addresses the information collection requirements set 
forth in the Department's regulation requiring disclosure of code-share 
and wet-leases, 14 CFR 257. The reinstated OMB control number will be 
applicable to all the provisions set forth in this notice. The title, a 
description of the respondents, and an estimate of the annual 
recordkeeping and periodic reporting burden are set forth below:
    Title: Disclosure of Code-Sharing Arrangements and Long Term Wet 
Leases in Flight Itineraries and Schedules, Oral Communications with 
Prospective Consumers, Ticket Confirmations, and Advertisements.
    Respondents: All U.S. air carriers and foreign air carriers that 
participate in code-sharing arrangements or long-term

[[Page 14550]]

wet leases involving scheduled passenger air transportation; and all 
ticket agents doing business in the United States that sell scheduled 
passenger air transportation services involving code-sharing 
arrangements or long-term wet leases.
    Number of Respondents: 12,165 (estimated 48 marketing carriers \3\ 
and 12,117 travel agents/tour operators \4\).
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    \3\ See, Final Regulatory Impact Analysis for Rulemaking 
Regarding Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections III (FRIA EAPP 
III) at page 10, prepared by HDR, October 2016.
    \4\ See, FRIA EAPP III at page 14.
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    Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: 29.26 to 45.65 hours 
(1,755.6 to 2,739.0 minutes) per year for each respondent. The hours 
were calculated by using the estimated annual number of code-share 
related disclosures involving personal contact via a call or in person 
(58.25 million to 90.87 million) \5\ and multiplying by the estimated 
average amount of time per trip for an agent to disclose a code-share 
itinerary (22 seconds or .006111 hours) to determine the total number 
of burden hours (355,966 to 555,307), and then dividing the total 
number of burden hours by the estimated number of respondents (12,165).
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    \5\ Per BTS data, there were 932 million enplanements in 2016. 
See, https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/press_releases/bts017_17. Of those 
travel itineraries, the Department estimates that 25% to 39% of 
these enplanements (233,000,000 to 363,480,000) involve a code-share 
flight in which an agent must reveal that information. See, https://www.transtats.bts.gov/databases.asp?Mode_ID=1&Mode_Desc=Aviation&Subject_ID2=0.
    Of these 233,000,000 to 363,480,000 enplanements, the Department 
also estimates that 25% of travelers (58,250,000 to 90,870,000) make 
a call to an airline or travel agent to book a ticket or obtain 
information about a flight and each traveler will only need to 
obtain the information once per travel itinerary. See, https://www.asta.org/News/PRDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=14517&navItemNumber=539 
and http://fortune.com/2016/07/27/travel-agents/ (for the estimated 
number of travelers who use a travel agent).
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden: Annual reporting burden for this 
data collection is estimated at 355,966 to 555,307 hours for all travel 
agents and airline ticket agents who have personal contact (via a call 
or in person) with a consumer that involves a code-share flight. Most 
of the data collection associated with this ICR is accomplished through 
travelers using highly automated computerized systems to make their air 
travel reservation(s), in which the code-share data is already 
available on the regulated entities websites and/or is programmed into 
their database/reservation systems.
    Frequency: For disclosures involving oral communications: The 
Department estimates 15 seconds per call (to reveal the code-share 
information) and an average of 1.5 calls per trip (a total of 22.5 
seconds per respondent per trip) for the approximately 25% to 39% of 
itineraries that are estimated to involve a code-share itinerary, of 
which the Department estimates that 25% of travelers make a call to an 
airline or travel agent to book a ticket or obtain information about a 
flight and each traveler will only need to obtain the information once 
per travel itinerary.
    For transactions involving written and internet disclosure: The 
Department estimates the burden should be minimal to non-existent \6\ 
as many airlines already have a process in place to make code-share 
information available written in their schedules, by written notice at 
time of ticket purchase and available on their websites (including 
mobile sites) and applications. In addition, most marketing airlines 
currently provide information about their code-share flights to the 
GDSs who, in turn, provide that information to travel agents. As the 
code-share information is integrated into the data provided by the 
airlines to GDSs and travel agents, the code-share information is 
automatically displayed on the internet/computer, as well as on a 
printed version of an itinerary/ticket.
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    \6\ See, FRIA EAPP III at 27-30.
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    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the Department's 
performance; (b) the accuracy of the estimated burden; (c) ways for the 
Department to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information collection; and (d) ways that the burden could be minimized 
without reducing the quality of the collected information.

    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1:48.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on March 27, 2018.
Claire Barrett,
Departmental Chief Privacy & Information Governance Officer Office of 
the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-06857 Filed 4-3-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P


