(a) As a carrier providing service using aircraft with 19 or more passenger seats, you must designate one or more CROs.

(b) As a U.S. carrier, you must make a CRO available at each airport you serve during all times you are operating at that airport. As a foreign carrier, you must make a CRO available at each airport serving flights you operate that begin or end at a U.S. airport. You may make the CRO available in person at the airport or via telephone, at no cost to the passenger. If a telephone link to the CRO is used, TTY service or a similarly effective technology must be available so that persons with hearing impairments may readily communicate with the CRO. You must make CRO service available in the language(s) in which you make your services available to the general public.

(c) You must make passengers with a disability aware of the availability of a CRO and how to contact the CRO in the following circumstances:

(1) In any situation in which any person complains or raises a concern with your personnel about discrimination, accommodations, or services with respect to passengers with a disability, and your personnel do not immediately resolve the issue to the customer's satisfaction or provide a requested accommodation, your personnel must immediately inform the passenger of the right to contact a CRO and then contact a CRO on the passenger's behalf or provide the passenger a means to do so (e.g., a phone, a phone card plus the location and/or phone number of the CRO available at the airport). Your personnel must provide this information to the passenger in a format he or she can use.

(2) Your reservation agents, contractors, and Web sites must provide information equivalent to that required by paragraph (c)(1) of this section to passengers with a disability using those services who complain or raise a concern about a disability-related issue.

(d) Each CRO must be thoroughly familiar with the requirements of this part and the carrier's procedures with respect to passengers with a disability. The CRO is intended to be the carrier's “expert” in compliance with the requirements of this part.

(e) You must ensure that each of your CROs has the authority to make dispositive resolution of complaints on behalf of the carrier. This means that the CRO must have the power to overrule the decision of any other personnel, except that the CRO is not required to be given authority to countermand a decision of the pilot-in-command of an aircraft based on safety.

[Doc. No. DOT-OST-2004-19482, 73 FR 27665, May 13, 2008, as amended at 74 FR 11472, Mar. 18, 2009; 75 FR 44887, July 30, 2010]

When a complaint is made directly to a CRO for a carrier providing service using aircraft with 19 or more passenger seats, the CRO must promptly take dispositive action as follows:

(a) If the complaint is made to a CRO before the action or proposed action of carrier personnel has resulted in a violation of a provision of this part, the CRO must take, or direct other carrier personnel to take, whatever action is necessary to ensure compliance with this part.

(b) If an alleged violation of a provision of this part has already occurred, and the CRO agrees that a violation has occurred, the CRO must provide to the complainant a written statement setting forth a summary of the facts and what steps, if any, the carrier proposes to take in response to the violation.

(c) If the CRO determines that the carrier's action does not violate a provision of this part, the CRO must provide to the complainant a written statement including a summary of the facts and the reasons, under this part, for the determination.

(d) The statements required to be provided under this section must inform the complainant of his or her right to pursue DOT enforcement action under this part. The CRO must provide the statement in person to the complainant at the airport if possible; otherwise, it must be forwarded to the complainant within 30 calendar days of the complaint.

[Doc. No. DOT-OST-2004-19482, 73 FR 27665, May 13, 2008, as amended at 75 FR 44887, July 30, 2010]

(a) As a carrier providing service using aircraft with 19 or more passenger seats, you must respond to written complaints received by any means (e.g., letter, fax, e-mail, electronic instant message) concerning matters covered buy this part.

(b) As a passenger making a written complaint, you must state whether you had contacted a CRO in the matter, provide the name of the CRO and the date of the contact, if available, and enclose any written response you received from the CRO.

(c) As a carrier, you are not required to respond to a complaint postmarked or transmitted more than 45 days after the date of the incident, except for complaints referred to you by the Department of Transportation.

(d) As a carrier, you must make a dispositive written response to a written disability complaint within 30 days of its receipt. The response must specifically admit or deny that a violation of this part has occurred.

(1) If you admit that a violation has occurred, you must provide to the complainant a written statement setting forth a summary of the facts and the steps, if any, you will take in response to the violation.

(2) If you deny that a violation has occurred, your response must include a summary of the facts and your reasons, under this part, for the determination.

(3) Your response must also inform the complainant of his or her right to pursue DOT enforcement action under this part.

[Doc. No. DOT-OST-2004-19482, 73 FR 27665, May 13, 2008, as amended at 75 FR 44887, July 30, 2010]

(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.

(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.