Airline Consumer Protections: Additional Actions Could Enhance DOT's Compliance and Education Efforts

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has the authority to issue and enforce certain airline consumer protection requirements. DOT conducts five key activities to ensure airlines' compliance with these requirements, including reviewing passenger complaints it receives and identifying potential violations. DOT uses a combination of guidance documents and on-the-job training to help analyst's code passenger complaints and properly identify potential violations of consumer protection requirements. For example, analysts use a coding sheet that helps them assign one of 15 high-level complaint category codes (e.g., "advertising" or "discrimination") to each complaint, as well as more specific lower-level complaint codes and codes indicating a potential violation of consumer protection requirements as necessary. However, in 2018, GAO reported that DOT's guidance for coding passenger complaints did not consistently include definitions and examples that illustrate appropriate use or help analysts select among the various complaint categories. For example, while DOT has a coding sheet that helps analysts determine how to code complaints and identify potential violations, 9 of the 15 complaint categories do not include definitions or examples that would illustrate appropriate use of a complaint code, a gap that could result in inconsistent coding. Moreover, DOT neither has established formal training materials to ensure all new analysts get the same information nor has provided formal training materials to ensure that senior analysts are conveying the same information during on-the-job training. DOT officials stated that the combination of the existing guidance, procedures, and hands-on training provides adequate assurance that analysts share a common understanding of the complaint categories resulting in complaints being consistently coded. Nevertheless, DOT lacked the additional procedures that would help ensure that analysts consistently code complaints and that potential consumer protection violations are properly identified. Therefore, GAO recommended that DOT assess its procedures and training materials for coding airline passengers' complaints, as appropriate, to help ensure that passengers' complaints are consistently coded and that potential consumer protection violations are properly identified. In 2020, GAO confirmed that DOT had assessed its procedures and developed a new training manual to help analysts code complaints and identify potential passenger protection violations. The training manual includes sections on processing and coding complaints, analyzing cases in regulatory and statutory areas, and running reports. For example, to help improve consistency, the manual includes detailed instructions for coding complaints and identifying potential violations for each of the 15 high-level complaint categories, as well as illustrative examples of what codes should be applied in various situations. The manual also includes an appendix that incorporates additional guidance documents issued by DOT. As a result of these efforts, DOT is in a better position to ensure that analysts consistently code passenger complaints and identify potential consumer protection violations.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has the authority to issue and enforce certain airline consumer protection requirements. DOT conducts five key activities to help airlines understand and comply with consumer protection requirements, including conducting investigations of airlines that may have violated these requirements. DOT attorneys can initiate an investigation of a potential consumer protection violation based on findings from trends in passenger complaints, compliance inspections, or monitoring of airline websites, among other things. Attorneys document investigations in DOT's airline case management system, which allows them to create, update, and close case records; link documents to case records; and create and monitor enforcement actions associated with investigations. However, in 2018, GAO found that DOT's case management system lacked functionality that would allow DOT officials to more efficiently use data from the system to inform other key compliance activities, such as making enforcement decisions. Specifically, GAO identified the following limitations: (1) key data fields were optional, (2) data entries were limited, and (3) the system had limited reporting capabilities. According to DOT officials, the case management system's capabilities were limited largely because the database was only designed as a mechanism for attorneys to manage ongoing investigations. The officials were increasingly using data from the case management system to inform other enforcement activities. In addition, DOT used data from the case management system to analyze the results of investigations and inspections. However, because of limited reporting capabilities, attorneys had to manually create summary documents from the case management system's data, work that could be time consuming and subject to manual errors, and that does not address the issue that some data cannot be entered into various data fields in the first place. Recognizing limitations with the case management system, DOT began working with a contractor to update the case management system's functionality. While DOT's planned updates may have helped DOT officials better examine trends in enforcement actions, the planned updates did not fully address the issues GAO identified. Therefore, GAO recommended that DOT assess the feasibility and cost of updating its airline case management system to address data and reporting limitations, and to undertake those updates that are cost effective and feasible. In 2020, GAO confirmed that DOT had made updates to its case management system to address data and reporting limitations. Specifically, DOT contracted with its information technology service provider to make updates and improvements to its case management system, which were completed by December 2020. Among other updates, the case management system now allows attorneys to identify multiple consumer protection violations for each investigation; key data fields-such as the outcome of the case and regulated area-are now required; and the system can run additional reports, such as by subject matter or enforcement action taken. As a result of these efforts, DOT is in a better position to track its airline investigations and use information from its case management system to inform other enforcement actions.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has the authority to issue and enforce certain airline consumer protection requirements. DOT conducts five key activities to ensure airlines' compliance with these requirements: (1) providing compliance assistance to airlines, (2) processing complaints from passengers, (3) conducting compliance inspections of airlines at headquarters and airports, (4) conducting airline investigations, and (5) enforcing airlines' compliance with consumer protections. Collectively, these key compliance activities are intended to help airlines understand and meet consumer protection requirements and deter noncompliance. However, in 2018, GAO reported that while DOT has established objectives for each of its five key compliance activities, it lacked quantifiable performance measures for three of these objectives. Federal internal control standards state that agencies should define objectives clearly to enable the identification risks and define risk tolerances. They further state that management defines objectives in measurable terms, so that performance toward these objectives can be assessed. Specifically, GAO found that DOT lacked performance measures for providing compliance information and assistance to airlines; conducting compliance inspections of airlines at headquarters and airports; and enforcing airlines' compliance with consumer protections. DOT officials stated that they have not developed performance measures to monitor progress toward achievement of these activities because, among other things, it is difficult to develop quantifiable performance measures. For example, DOT officials told GAO that they have not developed performance measures for enforcement actions because they would not want to have performance measures that were punitive or reactive by, for example, requiring the agency to collect a certain penalty amount from airlines. Therefore, GAO recommended that DOT establish performance measures for each of its five key airline-compliance activities. In March 2021, GAO confirmed that DOT had established performance measures for its three key compliance activities, which previously lacked these measures. DOT established a performance measure to assess performance in providing compliance information and assistance to airlines. This performance measure involves DOT hold at least 10 meetings with airlines per calendar year. During these meetings, DOT plans to discuss concerns it may be seeing, provide information to airlines, and answer airlines' questions. Similarly, DOT established a performance measure related to conducting compliance inspections, for which the agency will conduct at least two inspections at airlines' headquarters per calendar year and one inspection of airline operations at airports per calendar year, to the extent resources permit. DOT has also established a performance measure related to enforcing airlines' compliance with consumer protections. Specifically, DOT established that when it conducts an investigation of an airline's compliance with consumer protections, it will make a determination about whether and what type of enforcement action to pursue within one year for 75 percent of open investigations. Because of these efforts, DOT will have a better understanding of the extent to which it is achieving its goal of airlines' compliance with consumer protection requirements and whether any programmatic changes may be warranted.

Airlines have been under scrutiny for their treatment of passengers. DOT has the authority to issue and enforce certain airline consumer protection requirements. DOT also educates passengers about their rights. According to DOT officials, passenger education is a key effort to ensuring airlines' compliance with consumer protection requirements. In 2018, GAO reported that DOT had taken steps to educate airline passengers about their rights, primarily through its revamped aviation consumer protection website and other educational resources. However, DOT's passenger education efforts did not fully align with four of the nine key practices for conducting consumer outreach education that GAO identified in prior work. For example, DOT had not fully researched its target audience. Specifically, GAO found that while DOT solicits input from stakeholder groups such as those representing passengers with disabilities to conduct audience research, it did not solicit feedback directly from passengers. For example, DOT officials conducted focus groups with stakeholders' representatives to update materials to assist passenger with disabilities when traveling, but not passengers directly. According to DOT officials, they have not sought such feedback because they have not identified a method for doing so that would be statistically generalizable and not cost prohibitive. While costs are always an issue when considering budget priorities, GAO has previously reported on other agencies' direct consumer outreach efforts that while not statistically generalizable were nonetheless useful for understanding the effect of the agencies' efforts. For example, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection has used focus groups to understand its outreach efforts. Obtaining input from passengers directly on what information they want or what they know about their rights would provide DOT with greater assurance that educational materials are appropriately tailored to meet a wide range of passengers' needs. Finally, DOT officials said that they receive informal input from stakeholders on the quality of passenger education materials and track website traffic to understand whether materials are reaching passengers. Officials said they believe that these mechanisms provide them with some assurance that the materials are meeting passengers' needs and that passengers are accessing and using the materials. While these mechanisms may provide DOT with some information on how often materials are accessed online, they do not help it understand the quality of the materials and measure the success of its passenger education efforts. Therefore, GAO recommended that DOT capture feedback directly from airline passengers or identify other mechanisms to capture passengers' perspectives to inform DOT's education efforts. In 2023, GAO confirmed that DOT had implemented additional mechanisms to capture passengers' perspectives. For example, DOT established a practice of holding regular meetings with disability, civil rights, and consumer advocates to discuss air travel interest of the groups' members and some of these meetings are open to the public. According to DOT officials, these meetings have informed some of DOT's most recent consumer education initiatives, such as the air passengers with disabilities bill of rights and the airline customer service dashboard. DOT is also surveying passengers who visit the consumer protection website through a pop-up, asking them to rate the success of their overall visit on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being "Not successful at all" and 5 being "Very successful."). If the participant's visit was not as successful as it could have been, various follow-up questions are asked to help DOT understand the reasons why. Collectively, these actions help provide DOT with greater assurances that its educational efforts are meeting passengers' needs and leading to improved understanding of whether any adjustments are needed.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has the authority to issue and enforce certain airline consumer protection requirements through a number of activities. DOT also conducts activities aimed at educating passengers about their rights and the services provided by airlines. In 2018, GAO reported that DOT had taken steps to educate airline passengers about their rights, primarily through its revamped aviation consumer protection website and other educational resources. However, DOT's actions did not fully align with four of the nine key practices for conducting consumer outreach education that GAO identified in prior work. Specifically, DOT's actions did not align with the key practice to "identify short- and long- term resources for education efforts." According to DOT officials, DOT had not identified budgetary resources because, while important, DOT's educational efforts are secondary to the office's other efforts. The officials also noted that it had been difficult for the agency to develop a budget and identify resources when the agency has been operating under a continuing resolution for some part of the fiscal year for the last decade. Nevertheless, GAO reported that without identifying short- and long-term budgetary resources and planning activities accordingly, DOT was missing an opportunity to plan educational efforts or prioritize needs based on available resources. Therefore, GAO recommended that DOT identify available short- and long-term budgetary resources for its airline-passenger education efforts. In 2019, GAO confirmed that DOT had taken steps to identify both short and long-term budgetary resources. Specifically, DOT has signed various contracts, ranging from one to five years, allocating budgetary resources toward its consumer protection efforts. Among other things, these contracts fund contractor support for aviation consumer protection advisory meetings; operate and maintain the consumer protection website; and assess the security of the website. These contracts demonstrate DOT's ability to identify and secure funding for shorter-term efforts-such as those encompassing one fiscal year-as well as some longer-term efforts requiring funding for multiple fiscal years. As a result of these efforts, DOT is in a better position to plan educational efforts and align them available resources.

Airlines recently came under scrutiny for their treatment of passengers. DOT has the authority to issue and enforce certain airline consumer protection requirements and educates passengers about their rights. According to DOT officials, passenger education is a key effort to ensuring airlines' compliance with consumer protection requirements. In 2018, GAO reported that DOT had taken steps to educate airline passengers about their rights, primarily through its revamped aviation consumer protection website and other educational resources. However, DOT's actions did not fully align with four of the nine key practices for conducting consumer outreach education that GAO identified in prior work. For example, DOT had not established performance measures to understand the quality of its passenger education materials or the effectiveness of its efforts. Instead, officials said they received informal input from stakeholders on the quality of the materials and tracked website traffic to understand whether materials were reaching passengers. Officials said they believed that these mechanisms provide them with some assurance that the materials were meeting passengers' needs and that passengers were accessing and using the materials. While these mechanisms may provide DOT with some information on how often materials are accessed online, they do not help it understand the quality of the materials or measure the success of its passenger education efforts. A number of different measures could be used to track processes and outcomes related to the use of its website, including the time consumers spend on the website, number of website pages viewed, or user's perception of the experience of their visit. Therefore, GAO recommended that DOT develop performance measures for its efforts to educate airline passengers. In 2022, GAO confirmed that DOT had developed two performance measures to evaluate its website's performance, one measuring user's perception of the website and one measuring the number of users accessing the website annually. First, DOT is surveying passengers who visit the consumer protection website through a pop-up, asking them to rate the success of their overall visit on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being "Not successful at all" and 5 being "Very successful."). DOT considers its website successful if 75 percent or more of survey participants rate their experience a 3, 4, or 5 immediately after visiting the aviation consumer protection website or after indicating they were seeking information related to aviation issues. Second, DOT is measuring the total annual number of visitors to its website and considers this a success if visitors remain at or above 1,259,139-the number of visitors in 2018. DOT has begun tracking these performance measures and will assess its performance annually moving forward. Collectively, these measures provide DOT with greater assurances that its educational efforts are meeting passengers' needs and leading to improved understanding of passengers' rights.