News Digest - DOT 91-17

DOT withdraws two proposed rulemakings.  As part of the Administration’s effort to reduce regulation and control regulatory costs, today the U.S. Department of Transportation is withdrawing two notices of proposed rulemakings – (1) the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Ancillary Airline Passenger Revenues; and (2) the Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Transparency of Airline Ancillary Service Fees.  The notice of proposed rulemaking on ancillary airline passenger revenues, which was issued in July 2011, proposed to collect detailed information about ancillary fees paid by airline consumers to determine the total amount of fees carriers collect through the a la carte pricing approach for optional services related to air transportation.  The supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking on transparency of airline ancillary service fees, which was issued in January 2017, proposed to require airlines and other entities to disclose baggage fee information to consumers when fare and schedule information is provided.  The Department is withdrawing these rulemakings because they are of limited public benefit.  The Transparency of Airline Ancillary Service Fees is unnecessary as the Department’s existing regulations already provide consumers information regarding fees for ancillary services, including baggage fees.  The Ancillary Airline Passenger Revenue rulemaking would require airlines to incur significant costs to implement when airlines already provide significant amounts of data on air carrier ancillary fee revenue.  Contact:  pressoffice@dot.gov.