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

Applicability to Carrier Web Sites

Comments: Overall, the majority of commenters favored our proposal to apply the Web site accessibility requirements to primary carrier Web sites that market air transportation to the general public in the United States. Despite their disagreements with the proposed technical standard, the scope of covered Web site content, and the implementation time frame, both U.S. and foreign carriers were nearly unanimous in supporting the concept of carrier Web site accessibility. There were some comments, particularly among industry commenters, in favor of limiting applicability of the Web site accessibility requirements based on carrier size or Web site function.

The carrier associations who commented jointly urged the Department to apply the accessibility standard only to carrier Web sites that offer and sell air transportation. In their view, carrier Web sites that advertise air transportation but do not sell airline tickets should be excluded from coverage. Condor Flugdienst noted that foreign carriers operating a small number of weekly flights to and from the United States should be permitted an alternative means of compliance rather than having to make an investment in Web site accessibility similar to that of foreign carriers that operate more frequent covered service. All Nippon (ANA) concurred with the notion that basic information on carrier Web sites should be accessible to consumers with disabilities but stated that revising its Web sites targeting only U.S. consumers is impractical because all its Web sites (e.g., targeting Japan, Asia, Europe) draw on common data sources. The Regional Airline Association asserted that compliance costs for smaller carriers operating aircraft with 60 or fewer passenger seats would far outweigh the benefits but did not explicitly support excluding Web sites based on carrier size. One industry commenter suggested that DOT should exclude small or very small carriers with inaccessible Web sites from the accessibility requirements as long as the large partner carriers handling online ticket sales, check-in, etc., on their behalf also host on their own accessible Web sites the core air travel information and services available on the smaller airlines' inaccessible Web sites. There were very few comments by individual members of the public and none by commenters representing the disability community in favor of excluding any primary carrier Web sites from coverage.

Carriers raised no objections to the provisions to require disclosure of Web-based discounts and amenities and waiver of reservation fees not applicable to other customers for individuals with disabilities who notify the carrier that they are unable to use a Web site due to their disability. Some pointed out that this service is already required by Part 382 so compliance would not pose any additional burden. Others expressed the view that this provision by itself would meet the service needs of customers with disabilities without imposing the cost of compliance with the WCAG standard.

Several disability commenters, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the disclosure and fee waiver measures currently required by the Department when a carrier's Web site is not accessible. These commenters maintained that carriers frequently do not provide the discount information or do not waive reservation fees even when the individual identifies as having a disability. In 2010, Dr. Jonathan Lazar and students at the Department of Computer and Information Sciences of Towson State University conducted a study involving test calls to major carriers to determine how consistently carriers comply with these requirements. Their findings suggested that there are compliance problems. After placing a series of 60 phone calls (15 calls to each of 4 major carriers), students who self-identified as blind and specifically stated that they were unable to access the carrier's Web site noted at least one instance per carrier of price discrimination (e.g., discounted Web-based fares offered online were not disclosed to the caller or the agent refused to waive the telephone reservation fee). The rate of compliance failure was as high as 33 percent and 40 percent respectively for two carriers. ⁽²⁹⁾

DOT Decision: After carefully considering the concerns and compliance alternatives proposed by commenters, the Department has decided to require U.S. and foreign carriers that operate at least one aircraft with a seating capacity of more than 60 passengers to apply the WCAG 2.0 Level AA standard to their primary Web sites that market air transportation to the general public in the United States regardless of the carrier's type of passenger operations (e.g., charter or scheduled), or in the case of foreign carriers, the frequency of covered flights. We note here that whenever we reference aircraft passenger seating capacity in this or other economic or civil rights aviation rulemakings, we are referring to an aircraft's seating capacity as originally designed by the manufacturer. This requirement includes the primary Web sites of any such carriers that advertise on that site but do not sell air transportation there. For carriers that only advertise air transportation or their role as providers of air transportation (e.g., contract carriers) on their Web sites, compliance will be less technically complex and costly than for carriers that also sell airline tickets. For foreign carriers for whom air transportation to and from the United States is a small percentage of their overall operations, some additional complexity may be involved to convert data drawn from databases that are not covered by Part 382. But as we discussed earlier, the data conversion involved does not, in our view, constitute an undue burden.

On the other hand, we have decided to exclude small carriers (defined as those exclusively operating aircraft with 60 or fewer seats) from the requirement to make their primary Web sites accessible because of concerns about cost burden. When we proposed to require all carriers, regardless of size, to make their Web sites accessible, our research indicated that the majority of small carriers operated fairly simple Web sites that do not offer online booking, check-in or flight status updates. In updating our research for the final regulatory evaluation, we found that the Web sites of many smaller carriers have added online booking engines, one of the more difficult Web site functions to make accessible. As such, we believe that the additional cost to comply with the accessibility standard and maintain their Web site's accessibility would be substantial for small carriers. At the same time, the benefit for consumers would be small as only a few carriers exclusively operate aircraft with 60 or fewer seats. We therefore agree with the Regional Airline Association that the additional compliance costs for these small carriers are likely to outweigh the additional benefits to consumers from slightly increasing the number of carriers subject to these requirements.

To address carrier sites that are inaccessible to an individual with a disability before or after the Web site accessibility deadline, we retain the provisions requiring carriers to disclose Web-based discounts applicable to the individual's itinerary and waive fees applicable to telephone or ticket counter reservations for individuals who contact them through another avenue to make a reservation and indicate they are unable to access the Web site due to a disability. If the carrier charges a fee for Web site reservations that applies to all online reservations, the carrier may charge the same fee to a passenger with a disability requesting a reservation for a Web-based fare. We have noted earlier the commenter assertions and the Lazar study findings that some carriers do not consistently make Web-based discounts available or waive telephone or ticket counter reservation fees for those unable to use an inaccessible Web site. Therefore, we encourage carriers to ensure that their customer service staff is properly trained to comply with these requirements, as failures in this regard could result in enforcement action. We also encourage individuals with disabilities to immediately request a complaints resolution official (see 14 CFR 382.151) when they encounter any difficulties obtaining the required accommodation.