About this Document

The Department of Transportation is issuing a final rule to enhance airline passenger protections in the following ways: by requiring air carriers to adopt contingency plans for lengthy tarmac delays and to publish those plans on their websites; by requiring air carriers to respond to consumer problems; by deeming continued delays on a flight that is chronically late to be unfair and deceptive in violation of 49 U.S.C. §41712; by requiring air carriers to publish information on flight delays on their websites; and by requiring air carriers to adopt customer service plans, to publish those plans on their websites, and audit their own compliance with their plans. The Department took this action on its own initiative in response to the many instances when passengers have been subject to delays on the airport tarmac for lengthy periods and also in response to the high incidence of flight delays and other consumer problems.