14 CFR Parts 382 and 399; 49 CFR Part 27 - Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel: Accessibility of Web Sites and Automated Kiosks at U.S. Airports - Preamble

E. Paperwork Reduction Act

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), a Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid control number assigned by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) (Pub. L. 104-13, 49 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). The Department may not impose a penalty on persons for violating information collection requirements when an information collection required to have a current OMB control number does not have one.

The final rule contains two new information collection requirements that require approval by OMB under the PRA. Specifically, section 382.43 requires carriers to provide a mechanism on their Web sites for passengers to provide online notification of their requests for disability accommodation services (e.g., enplaning/deplaning assistance, deaf/hard of hearing communication assistance, escort to service animal relief area, etc.) within two years after the effective date of this final rule. Section 382.43 also requires carriers to ensure that a disclaimer is activated when a user clicks a link on a primary Web site to embedded third-party software or an external Web site. The disclaimer must inform the user that the software/Web site is not within the carrier's control and may not follow the same accessibility policies.

As required by the PRA, the Department invites interested persons to submit comments on any aspect of these information collections for 60 days, including the following: (1) The necessity and utility of the information collection, (2) the accuracy of the estimate of the burden, (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected, and (4) ways to minimize the burden of collection without reducing the quality of the collected information. Organizations and individuals desiring to submit comments on these information collection requirements should direct them to the Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503, and should also send a copy of their comments to: Department of Transportation, Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings, Office of the General Counsel, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590.

As noted above, the first of these two new information collections is mandated by the requirement that carriers that market air transportation online to customers in the U.S. make a disability accommodation service request function available on their primary Web site within two years after the effective date of this rule. The types of accommodations a passenger with a disability may request through the function would most often include, but are not limited to, wheelchair assistance, seating accommodation, escort assistance for a visually impaired passenger, and stowage of an assistive device. Carriers are permitted to require that a passenger with a disability provides his/her contact information (e.g., telephone number, email address) when making an online service request.

The Department anticipates that carriers will create a form that contains 1) check boxes corresponding to a listing of the current IATA disability-related Special Service Request (SSR) codes currently used to flag electronic ticket records of passengers requesting assistance, 2) fields for passenger contact information to verify requested services, and 3) an open text box to describe the specific needs and the services being requested. We anticipate that each covered U.S. and foreign carrier that markets scheduled air transportation to the general public in the United States would incur initial costs associated with developing and reviewing the design and implementation plan for the request form, developing, coding, and integrating the form into the Web site, as well as testing, debugging, and connecting the form with a backend database to store the information. None of these initial costs involve recordkeeping or reporting activities under the meaning of the PRA. The revised final regulatory analysis (FRA) estimates that it will take an average of 32 labor hours per carrier to develop, implement, integrate, connect, and test the online request form. Up to 28 additional hours eventually may be needed to revise request-handling procedures and to train staff in the changes resulting from the new form. Should carrier associations or some other entity develop a common request form that all carriers could adapt and incorporate to their Web sites, the initial costs per carrier would be reduced.

The second information collection is a requirement for carriers to provide a disclaimer notice for each link on its primary Web site that enables a user to access software or an external Web site that may not follow the same accessibility policies as the primary Web site. The disclaimer notice must be activated the first time a user clicks such a link before beginning the software download or transferring the user to the external Web site. We anticipate that each covered U.S. and foreign carrier that markets scheduled air transportation to the general public in the United States will incur initial costs associated with identifying all links on the Web site that may require a disclaimer, developing and reviewing the design and language for the disclaimer notice, as well as developing, testing, and deploying the code that provides this notice to Web site visitors. However, none of these initial costs involves recordkeeping or reporting activities under the meaning of the PRA. The incremental labor hours associated with providing the required disclaimer may vary depending on the number of links on the Web site to which this requirement applies. The revised FRA estimates that it will take an average of 6 labor hours per carrier to develop, test, and deploy the disclaimer notice.

The title, a description of the respondents, and an estimate of the annual recordkeeping and periodic reporting burden are set forth below for each of these information collections:

1. Requirement to make a disability accommodation service request function available on the primary Web site.

Respondents: U.S. and foreign air carriers that own or control a primary Web site that markets air transportation within, to, or from the United States, or a tour (i.e., a combination of air transportation and ground or cruise accommodations), or a tour component (e.g., a hotel stay of a tour) that includes air transportation within, to, or from the United States, and that operate at least one aircraft with a seating capacity of more than 60 passengers.

Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: 32 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 3,552 hours.

Frequency: One time.

2. Requirement to provide a disclaimer notice to users when clicking a link on a primary Web site to embedded third-party software or an external Web site.

Respondents: U.S. and foreign air carriers that own or control a primary Web site that markets air transportation within, to, or from the United States, or a tour (i.e., a combination of air transportation and ground or cruise accommodations), or a tour component (e.g., a hotel stay of a tour) that includes air transportation within, to, or from the United States, and that operate at least one aircraft with a seating capacity of more than 60 passengers.

Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: 6 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 666 hours.

Frequency: One time.