Instructions

Air Carrier Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements

§ 382.70 Disability-related complaints received by carriers.

(a) For the purposes of this section, a disability-related complaint means a specific written expression of dissatisfaction received from, or submitted on behalf, of an individual with a disability concerning a difficulty associated with the person's disability, which the person experienced when using or attempting to use an air carrier's or foreign carrier's services.

(b) If you are a carrier covered by this Part, conducting passenger operations with at least one aircraft having a designed seating capacity of more than 60 passengers, this section applies to you. As a foreign carrier, you are covered by this section only with respect to disability-related complaints associated with any flight segment originating or terminating in the United States.

(c) You must categorize disability-related complaints that you receive according to the type of disability and nature of complaint. Data concerning a passenger's disability must be recorded separately in the following areas: vision impaired, hearing impaired, vision and hearing impaired, mentally impaired, communicable disease, allergies ( e.g. , food allergies, chemical sensitivity), paraplegic, quadriplegic, other wheelchair, oxygen, stretcher, other assistive device (cane, respirator, etc.), and other disability. Data concerning the alleged discrimination or service problem related to the disability must be separately recorded in the following areas: refusal to board, refusal to board without an attendant, security issues concerning disability, aircraft not accessible, airport not accessible, advance notice dispute, seating accommodation, failure to provide adequate or timely assistance, damage to assistive device, storage and delay of assistive device, service animal problem, unsatisfactory information, and other.

(d) You must submit an annual report summarizing the disability-related complaints that you received during the prior calendar year using the form specified at the following internet address: http://382reporting.ost.dot.gov. You must submit this report by the last Monday in January of each year for complaints received during the prior calendar year. You must make submissions through the World Wide Web except for situations where you can demonstrate that you would suffer undue hardship if not permitted to submit the data via paper copies, disks, or e-mail, and DOT has approved an exception. All fields in the form must be completed; carriers are to enter “0” where there were no complaints in a given category. Each annual report must contain the following certification signed by your authorized representative: “I, the undersigned, do certify that this report has been prepared under my direction in accordance with the regulations in 14 CFR Part 382. I affirm that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, this is a true, correct, and complete report.” Electronic signatures will be accepted.

(e) You must retain correspondence and record of action taken on all disability-related complaints for three years after receipt of the complaint or creation of the record of action taken. You must make these records available to Department of Transportation officials at their request.

(f)(1) As either carrier in a codeshare relationship, you must comply with paragraphs (c) through (e) of this section for—

(i) Disability-related complaints you receive from or on behalf of passengers with respect to difficulties encountered in connection with service you provide;

(ii) Disability-related complaints you receive from or on behalf of passengers when you are unable to reach agreement with your codeshare partner as to whether the complaint involves service you provide or service your codeshare partner provides; and

(iii) Disability-related complaints forwarded by another carrier or governmental agency with respect to difficulties encountered in connection with service you provide.

(2) As either carrier in a codeshare relationship, you must forward to your codeshare partner disability-related complaints you receive from or on behalf of passengers with respect to difficulties encountered in connection with service provided by your code-sharing partner.

(g) Each carrier, except for carriers in codeshare situations, shall comply with paragraphs (c) through (e) of this section for disability-related complaints it receives from or on behalf of passengers as well as disability-related complaints forwarded by another carrier or governmental agency with respect to difficulties encountered in connection with service it provides.

(h) Carriers that do not submit their data via the Web shall use the disability-related complaint data form specified in Appendix A to this Part when filing their annual report summarizing the disability-related complaints they received. The report shall be mailed, by the date specified in paragraph (d) of this section, to the following address: U.S. Department of Transportation, Aviation Consumer Protection Division (C–75), 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building, Room W96–432, Washington, DC 20590.

§ 382.159   How are complaints filed with DOT?

(a) Any person believing that a carrier has violated any provision of this Part may seek assistance or file an informal complaint at the Department of Transportation no later than 6 months after the date of the incident by either:

(1) Going to the web site of the Department's Aviation Consumer Protection Division at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov and selecting “Air Travel Problems and Complaints,” or

(2) Writing to Department of Transportation, Aviation Consumer Protection Division (C–75), 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20590.

(b) Any person believing that a carrier has violated any provision of this Part may also file a formal complaint under the applicable procedures of 14 CFR Part 302.

(c) You must file a formal complaint under this Part within six months of the incident on which the complaint is based in order to ensure that the Department of Transportation will investigate the matter.