14 CFR Part 234

§ 232.5

14 CFR Ch. II (1–1–99 Edition)

General within the meaning of section
41902 of the Statute may, within not
more than four calendar days after the
issuance of such order, apply to the Department for a postponement of the effective date of that order pending review: Provided, That if the final day of
the four day period is a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday for the Department, the
application may be filed with the Department no later than the end of the
next day which is neither a Saturday,
Sunday, or holiday.
(b) An application for postponement
of the effective date filed under this
part may be made in writing or by telegram, and shall be conspicuously entitled Application for Postponement of
the Effective Date of Order of the Postmaster General Pending Review Under
section 41902 of the Statute. Such application for postponement shall specify:
(1) The schedule affected and identity
of the order complained of;
(2) The manner in which the applicant is or would be aggrieved by the
order;
(3) The relief which will be sought;
(4) That the applicant intends to file
a timely application for review of the
order under § 232.1; and
(5) A summary of the justification
and facts relied upon to establish that
the stay should be granted.
(c) Any interested person may, within not more than four calendar days
after the service of an application for
postponement of the effective date,
serve and file with the Department an
answer in opposition to, or in support
of, the application: Provided, That if
the final day of the four day period is
a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday for the
Department, the application may be
filed with the Department no later
than the end of the next day which is
neither a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday: Provided further, however, That the
Department need not consider any answer filed later than eight calendar
days after issuance of the Postmaster
General’s order.
[41 FR 49479, Nov. 9, 1976, as amended by
Docket No. 47939, 57 FR 40102, Sept. 2, 1992; 60
FR 43524, Aug. 22, 1995]

§ 232.5 Filing and service of applications, answers, and replies.
(a) An application, answer or reply
filed hereunder shall be deemed to have
been filed on the date on which it is actually received by the Department at
its offices in Washington, D.C.
(b) At the time a written or telegraphic application, answer, or reply is
filed under this part, a copy thereof
shall be served by personal service, registered mail, or telegraph upon the
Postmaster General and upon the air
carrier operating or ordered to operate
the mail service in question. Except in
the case of telegraphic delivery each
copy so served shall be accompanied by
a letter of transmittal stating that
such service is being made pursuant to
this section. In the case of telegraphic
delivery the copy shall be accompanied
by a telegraphic statement that service
is being made pursuant to this section.
(c) The execution, number of copies,
and verification of a written application, answer, or reply filed under this
part, and the formal specifications of
papers included in such application, answer, or reply shall be in accordance
with the requirements of the Rules of
Practice relating to applications generally (see part 302 of this chapter).
[41 FR 49479, Nov. 9, 1976, as amended by
Docket No. 47939, 57 FR 40102, Sept. 2, 1992]

PART 234—AIRLINE SERVICE
QUALITY PERFORMANCE REPORTS
Sec.
234.1 Purpose.
234.2 Definitions.
234.3 Applicability.
234.4 Reporting of on-time performance.
234.5 Form of reports.
234.6 Baggage-handling statistics.
234.7 Voluntary reporting.
234.8 Calculation of on-time performance
codes.
234.9 Reporting of on-time performance
codes.
234.10 Voluntary disclosure of on-time performance codes.
234.11 Disclosure to consumers.
234.12 Waivers.
AUTHORITY: 49 U.S.C. 329 and chapters 401,
417.
SOURCE: Amdt. No. 234–1, 52 FR 34071, Sept.
9, 1987, unless otherwise noted.
NOTE: The reporting requirements contained in this part have been approved by the

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Office of the Secretary, DOT

§ 234.2

Office of Management and Budget under control number 2138–0041.

§ 234.1 Purpose.
The purpose of this part is to set
forth required data that certain air
carriers must submit to the Department and to computer reservations
system vendors in computerized form,
except as otherwise provided, so that
information on air carriers’ quality of
service can be made available to consumers of air transportation. This part
also requires that service quality data
be disclosed directly to consumers.
§ 234.2 Definitions.
For the purpose of this part:
Cancelled flight means a flight operation that was not operated, but was
listed in a carrier’s computer reservation system within seven calendar days
of the scheduled departure.
Discontinued flight means a flight
dropped from a carrier’s computer reservation system more than seven calendar days before its scheduled departure.
Diverted flight means a flight which is
operated from the scheduled origin
point to a point other than the scheduled destination point in the carrier’s
published schedule. For example, a carrier has a published schedule for a
flight from A to B to C. If the carrier
were to actually fly an A to C operation, the A to B segment is a diverted
flight, and the B to C segment is a cancelled flight.
Extra-section flight means a flight
conducted as an integral part of scheduled passenger service, that has not
been provided for in published schedules and is required for transportation
of traffic that cannot be accommodated on the regularly scheduled flight.
Flight means any nonstop scheduled
passenger flight segment with a specific flight number scheduled to be operated pursuant to a published schedule within a specific origin-destination
city pair, other than transborder or
foreign air transportation. In the case
of reporting to computer reservations
system vendors, flight also means onestop or multi-stop single plane scheduled operations that include any flight
segments for which performance is reported pursuant to this part.

Late or late flight means a flight that
arrives at the gate 15 minutes or more
after its published arrival time.
Mishandled-baggage report means a report filed with a carrier by or on behalf
of a passenger that claims loss, delay,
damage or pilferage of baggage.
New flight means a flight added to a
carrier’s schedule to operate in a specific origin-destination city pair and
not scheduled to depart within 30 minutes of any discontinued flight that
was contained in the carrier’s published schedules for the same city pair
during the previous month.
On-time means a flight that arrives
less than 15 mintues after its published
arrival time.
On-time performance means the percentage of scheduled operations of a
specific flight that an air carrier operates on-time during a month.
On-time performance code means a single character determined in accordance
with the provisions of this part that reflects the monthly on-time performance of certain nonstop flights and single plane one-stop or multi-stop
flights, the schedule and availability of
which are listed in a computer reservation system (CRS) regulated by 14 CFR
part 255.
Reportable flight means any nonstop
flight, including a mechanically delayed flight, to or from any airport
within the contiguous 48 states that
accounts for at least 1 percent of domestic
scheduled-passenger
enplanements in the previous calendar
year, as reported to the Department
pursuant to part 241 of this title. Qualifying airports will be specified periodically in accounting and reporting directives issued by the Office of Airline
Information.
Reporting carrier means an air carrier
certificated under 49 U.S.C. 41102 that
accounted for at least 1 percent of domestic scheduled-passenger revenues in
the 12 months ending March 31 of each
year, as reported to the Department
pursuant to part 241 of this title. Reporting carriers will be identified periodically in accounting and reporting
directives issued by the Office of Airline Information.

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§ 234.3

14 CFR Ch. II (1–1–99 Edition)

Wet-leased flight means a flight operated with a leased aircraft and crew.
[Amdt. 234–1, 52 FR 34071, Sept. 9, 1987, as
amended by Docket No. 48524, 59 FR 49797,
Sept. 30, 1994; 60 FR 66722, Dec. 26, 1995]

§ 234.3 Applicability.
This part applies to certain domestic
scheduled passenger flights that are
held out to the public by certificated
air carriers that account for at least 1
percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenues. Certain provisions
also apply to voluntary reporting to
on-time performance by carriers.
§ 234.4 Reporting of on-time performance.
(a) Each reporting carrier shall file
BTS Form 234 ‘‘On-Time Flight Performance Report’’ with the Office of
Airline Information on a monthly
basis, setting forth the information for
each of its reportable flights held out
in the Official Airline Guide (OAG), in
the computer reservations systems
(CRS), or in other schedule publications. The reportable flights include,
but are not limited to, cancelled
flights, mechanically cancelled flights,
diverted flights, new flights and wetleased flights. The report shall be made
in the form and manner set forth in accounting and reporting directives
issued by the Director, Office of Airline
Statistics, and shall contain the following information:
(1) Carrier and flight number.
(2) Aircraft tail number.
(3) Origin and Destination airport
codes.
(4) Published OAG departure and arrival times for each scheduled operation of the flight.
(5) CRS scheduled arrival and departure time for each scheduled operation
of the flight.
(6) Actual departure and arrival time
for each operation of the flight.
(7) Difference in minutes between
OAG and CRS scheduled arrival times.
(8) Difference in minutes between
OAG and CRS scheduled departure
times.
(9) Actual wheels-off and wheels-on
times for each operation of the flight.
(10) Date and day of week of scheduled flight operation.

(11) Scheduled elapsed time, according to CRS schedule.
(12) Actual elapsed time.
(13) Amount of departure delay, if
any.
(14) Amount of arrival delay, if any.
(15) Amount of elapsed time difference, if any.
(b) When reporting the information
specified in paragraph (a) of this section for a diverted flight, a reporting
carrier shall use the original scheduled
flight number and the original scheduled origin and destination airport
codes.
(c) A reporting carrier shall report
the information specified in paragraph
(a) of this section for a new flight beginning with the first day of the new
scheduled operation.
(d) A reporting carrier shall not report the information specified in paragraph (a) of this section for any discontinued or extra-section flight.
(e) Actual arrival, departure and
elapsed times shall be measured by the
times at which the aircraft arrived at
and departed from the gate or passenger loading area.
(f) The published arrival time and departure time of a flight shall be, respectively, the scheduled arrival and
departure times in effect on the date of
the scheduled operation of the flight,
as shown in the most recent Official
Airline Guide, and in computer reservations systems. Each carrier shall designate a single computer reservations
system in addition to the Official Airline Guide as the sources of scheduled
arrival time and departure time data in
its reports to the Department and shall
report the scheduled arrival times and
departure times listed in those sources
for each flight. Scheduled elapsed
times, amount of departure and/or arrival delay, and elapsed time difference
shall be calculated using the scheduled
times shown in the designated CRS
source.
[Amdt. 234–1, 52 FR 34071, Sept. 9, 1987, as
amended by Docket No. 48524, 59 FR 49797,
Sept. 30, 1994; 60 FR 66722, Dec. 26, 1995]

§ 234.5 Form of reports.
Except where otherwise noted, all reports required by this part shall be
filed within 15 days of the end of the
month for which data are reported. The

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Office of the Secretary, DOT

§234.8

reports must be submitted to the Office
of Airline Information on ADP computer tape in the format specified in
accounting and reporting directives
issued by the Director of that office.
[Docket No. 48524, 59 FR 49798, Sept. 30, 1994,
as amended at 60 FR 66722, Dec. 26, 1995]

§ 234.6 Baggage-handling statistics.
Each reporting carrier shall report
monthly to the Department on a domestic system basis, excluding charter
flights, the total number of passengers
enplaned systemwide, and the total
number of mishandled-baggage reports
filed with the carrier. The information
shall be submitted to the Department
within 15 days of the end of the month
to which the information applies and
must be submitted with the transmittal letter accompanying the data
for on-time performance in the form
and manner set forth in accounting and
reporting directives issued by the Director, Office of Airline Information.
[Docket No. 48524, 59 FR 49798, Sept. 30, 1994,
as amended at 60 FR 66722, Dec. 26, 1995]

§234.7 Voluntary reporting.
(a) In addition to the data for each
reportable flight required to be reported by this part, a reporting carrier
may report to DOT for every other
nonstop domestic flight that it schedules, the reportable flight data specified in this part.
(b) Any air carrier that is not a reporting carrier may file the data specified in this part for every reportable
flight that it schedules, or for every
nonstop domestic flight that it schedules.
(c) Voluntary reports containing information not required to be filed (1)
must be submitted in the same form
and manner, and at the same time, as
reports containing data required to be
filed, and (2) must be accompanied by a
written statement describing in detail
the information that is being voluntarily submitted. A carrier that files a
voluntary report must continue to do
so for a period of not less than 12 consecutive months.

§234.8 Calculation of on-time performance codes.
(a) Each reporting carrier shall calculate an on-time performance code in
accordance with this section and as
provided in more detail in accounting
and reporting directives issued by the
Director, Office of Airline Information.
The calculations shall be performed for
each reportable flight, except those
scheduled to operate three times or
less during a month. In addition, each
reporting carrier shall assign an ontime performance code to each of its
single plane one-stop or multi-stop
flights, or portion thereof, that the
carrier holds out to the public through
a CRS, the last segment of which is a
reportable flight.
(b) The on-time performance code
shall be calculated as follows:
(1) Based on reportable flight data
provided to the Department, calculate
the percentage of on-time arrivals of
each nonstop flight. Calculations shall
not include discontinued or extra-section flights for which data are not reported to the Department.
(2) Based upon the on-time performance percentage calculated in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, assign a
single digit code to each flight that reflects the percentile of on-time performance achieved by the flight, as set
forth in the following table:
ON TIME PERFORMANCE
Code:
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

......................................................
......................................................
......................................................
......................................................
......................................................
......................................................
......................................................
......................................................
......................................................
......................................................

Percentage
90–100
80–89.9
70–79.9
60–69.9
50–59.9
40–49.9
30–39.9
20–29.9
10–19.9
0–9.9

(3) For a one-stop or multi-stop
flight, or portion thereof, listed in a
CRS, the performance code for the nonstop flight segment arriving at the destination listed in the CRS shall be
used.
(4) In the case of a new flight, carriers shall assign a performance code
consisting of the letter ‘‘N.’’ A flight

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§ 234.9

14 CFR Ch. II (1–1–99 Edition)

that is not a new flight shall be assigned the performance code calculated
for the flight that it replaces, even if
the two flights do not have the same
flight number. In the case of a flight
scheduled to operate three times or
less during a month, carriers shall assign a performance code consisting of
the letter ‘‘U.’’
(c) Carriers shall calculate on-time
performance percentages and assign
on-time performance codes on a
monthly basis. This process shall be
completed no later than the 15th day of
each month, when the reports required
by this part are due to the Department,
and the codes shall reflect the previous
month’s operations.

(1) For each of the carrier’s reportable flights and each of its single plane
one-stop or multi-stop flights, or portions thereof, that it holds out to the
public through a CRS, the last segment
of which is a reportable flight or
(2) For each of the carrier’s domestic
flights.

[Amdt. No. 234–1, 52 FR 34071, Sept. 9, 1987, as
amended by Amdt. No. 234–3, 52 FR 48397,
Dec. 22, 1987; 53 FR 27677, July 22, 1988; Docket No. 48524, 59 FR 49798, Sept. 30, 1994; 60 FR
66722, Dec. 26, 1995]

§ 234.12 Waivers.
Any carrier may request a waiver
from the reporting requirements of this
part. Such a request, at the discretion
of the Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics may be granted for
good cause shown. The requesting
party shall state the basis for such a
waiver.

§ 234.9 Reporting of on-time performance codes.
No later than the 15th day of each
month, each reporting carrier shall deliver, or arrange to have delivered, to
each system vendor, as defined in 14
CFR part 255, the on-time performance
codes required to be determined above.
Carriers may report the codes by insuring that they are included in basic
schedule tapes provided to CRS vendors
or by providing a separate tape that
will permit the CRS vendors to match
the performance codes with basic
schedule tapes.
§ 234.10 Voluntary disclosure of ontime performance codes.
(a) Any air carrier may determine, in
accordance with the provisions of
§ 234.8 of this part, the on-time performance codes for the flights for
which it voluntarily provides flight information to the Department pursuant
to § 234.7 of this part.
(b) A carrier may supply these additional on-time performance codes to
system vendors at the same time and
in the same manner as the required disclosures are made to system vendors,
provided that voluntary disclosures
must continue for a period of not less
than 12 consecutive months, and must
be supplied either

§ 234.11 Disclosure to consumers.
During the course of reservations or
ticketing discussions or transactions,
or inquiries about flights, between a
carrier’s employees and the public, the
carrier shall disclose upon reasonable
request the on-time performance code
for any flight that has been assigned a
code pursuant to this part.

[Docket No. 48524, 59 FR 49798, Sept. 30, 1994,
as amended at 60 FR 66722, Dec. 26, 1995]

PART 240—INSPECTION OF
ACCOUNTS AND PROPERTY
Sec.
240.1 Interpretation.
240.2 Obligation of air carriers, foreign air
carriers, and ticket agents.

§ 240.1 Interpretation.
(a) In the exercise of the authority
granted by section 407(e) of the Act,
the authority of any special agent or
auditor to inspect and examine lands,
buildings, equipment, accounts, records, memorandums, papers or correspondence shall include the authority to make such notes and copies
thereof as he deems appropriate.
(b) The term ‘‘special agent’’ and
‘‘auditor’’ are construed to mean any
employee of the Bureau of Enforcement and any other employee of the
Board specifically designated by it or
by the Director, Office of Facilities and
Operations.
(c) The issuance in the form set forth
below of an identification card and credentials to any such employee shall be

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