Thursday, June 3, 2010

Proposed Rule on Airline Passenger Rights

Traveling this summer by air? Worried about being bumped or sitting in the airplane on the tarmac in the hot sun during a delay? The Department of Transportation has a new proposed rule that seeks to "improve the air travel environment for consumers...." This document includes a link to the Federal eRulemaking Portal that permits you to submit an official comment to the agency about the proposed changes.

But, would you perhaps prefer a shorter summary of the proposed changes and a more "Web 2.0" way to comment?

Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute also covers the proposed changes in its Regulation Room, part of the Cornell eRulemaking Iniative (CeRI). The CeRI is

a pilot project that provides an online environment for people and groups to learn about, discuss, and react to selected rules(regulations) proposed by federal agencies. It expands the types of public input available to agencies in the rulemaking process, while serving as a teaching and research platform.

When you visit the site, note on the left the Rule Dashboard, which lists and summarizes the proposed changes in the official proposed rule. You can vote on which changes are important to you, and submit your own comments. The comments are then summarized by the moderators of the site (a team of faculty and students working on a particular rule) and submitted to the agency.

So, if air travel is in your future, consider taking this opportunity to tell the Department of Transportation what consumer protections you think should be implemented!

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