Editor’s note: This is part five in a series about the transportation Department’s sweeping new airline rider protection rules. Please take a moment to comment on these proposed rule at Regulationroom.org. The future of air travel depends on it.

The deeper I wade into the new airline rider rules, the more I find myself wondering: Why do air hose have to be told to do this?

Take information technology proposal about response to consumer problems. In a previous rulemaking, the dot had to tell US Government carriers to designate an employee to monitoring device the effects on rider of flight delays, flight cancellations, and lengthy tarmac delay and to have input signal into decision such as which flight are canceled and which are topic to the longest delays.

The government also now requires US Government carriers to make available the mailing computer address and email or web computer address of the designated department in the air hose with which to data file a ill about information technology scheduled service and to acknowledge reception of each ill regarding IT scheduled service to the plaintiff within 30 days of receiving it? and to send a substantive response to each plaintiff within sixty days of receiving it.

Oh, and it even turn so far as to define a ill

Can you believe it?

So here’s what the dot privation to ADD to the requirement:

We are proposing to extend these provender to foreign bearer as the Department believes rider should also be afforded adequate consumer protection when issue arise with delay or cancellation on flight to and from the US Government operated by a foreign carrier, and should also have an avenue to data file a complaint with a foreign carrier and to expect a timely and substantive response to that complaint.

What says the preliminary regulatory analysis ?

Complaints are definitely a job And the share of total grudge relating to foreign carrier is higher than the proportion of rider transported on these airlines. bear in mind, these are just complaint sent to the DOT. I believe this? represents less than one percentage of the actual complaints.

Just one little problem: The dot currently lack the regulatory dominance to require that foreign carrier respond to customer ill within a specified time frame, according to the analysis.

Oops. Better pickle that.