(a) Each reporting carrier must file O&D data with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Office of Airline Information (BTS/OAI) on a monthly basis for each of its reportable O&D tickets as follows. Collect the ticket information once there is an indication that the ticket has been flown, i.e. first known Flown Lift Usage. Report routing (and other ticket information) As Sold. Reporting carriers must determine the points ticketed and integrate the ticketed information required for reporting. It is at each reporting carrier's discretion whether to use a third-party provider to manage their O&D data submissions. The use of a third-party provider will not remove the responsibility of the reporting carrier to ensure that their data is reported accurately and on schedule.

(b) A statistically valid sample of flight coupons must be selected for reporting purposes. Flight coupons should only be sampled from tickets:

(1) issued for scheduled service itineraries;

(2) issued to revenue passengers who are individually ticketed (i.e. no group tickets, no infants flying without their own tickets); and

(3) that involve a U.S. airport or a U.S. air carrier operation at some point in the scheduled itinerary. The sample must consist of 40 percent of the total lifted ticket flight coupons for all domestic and international markets. Partially reissued tickets, which are tickets issued for changes to an itinerary after the first segment is flown, should not be included in the total lifted ticket flight coupons for all domestic and international markets from which the sample is drawn.

(c) The data recorded and reported from selected lifted flight ticket coupons must include the following information elements:

(1) Reporting Carrier,

(2) Reporting Month and Reporting Year,

(3) Record Identification Number (RIN),

(4) Issuing Carrier,

(5) Total Amount,

(6) Tax Amount,

(7) Airport code,

(8) Operating Carrier code,

(9) Marketing Carrier code,

(10) Scheduled Flight Year,

(11) Scheduled Flight Month,

(12) Dwell Time,

(13) Via Airport (if any),

(14) Purchase Window Group.

(d) Report Total Amount and Tax Amount in United States Dollars (USD) rounded to two decimal places.

(e) A Reporting Event evaluation occurs when a Reporting Carrier's revenue accounting system recognizes that any portion of a ticket has been flown, i.e., first known lift usage. This evaluation will inform the Reporting Carrier if a ticket in their system has been recognized that meets criteria that may require the ticket be reported. Situations may occur where the Reporting Carrier's revenue accounting system identifies a ticket from a flight that occurs after the first flight in the ticket sequence. This may occur when the first flight in the ticket sequence is not used for travel, or the Reporting Carrier's revenue accounting system does not recognize the first flight in the ticket for some other reason. When this occurs, the second (or subsequent) flight is the first known lift usage and becomes the Reporting Event. The Reporting Carrier is responsible for reporting the complete ticket information as it appears at the time of the Reporting Event which should correspond with the information at the time the ticket was sold. Reporting carriers should not report ticket information as flown if the ticket information changes after first known lift usage.

(f) Ticket reporting. (1) A ticket will be reported when:

(i) The criteria of the sampling process are met, and

(ii) The ticket meets either the criteria of a Category One or Category Two ticket.

(A) Category One ticket reporting process. Tickets issued by a Reporting Carrier are known as Category One tickets. These tickets will be reported by the Reporting Carrier if the sampling process criteria conditions are satisfied. The carrier that issues the ticket remains the Reporting Carrier regardless of which flight from the ticket is first recognized by the revenue accounting system as the first flown lift usage.

(B) Category Two ticket reporting process. Tickets issued by carriers that do not appear on the published Reporting Carrier List but are recognized by a carrier that participates on the ticket and is on the Reporting Carrier List are known as Category Two tickets. The examining Reporting Carrier must apply the “First Reporting Carrier” rule: The first carrier in a ticket's sequence of travel that also appears on the Reporting Carrier List is responsible for submitting the ticket to the O&D if the sampling criteria are also met. The first Reporting Carrier in the sequence of a Category Two ticket remains the Reporting Carrier regardless of which flight from the ticket is first recognized by the revenue accounting system. For the purposes of the First Reporting Carrier Rule, any carrier that appears on the Reporting Carrier List is considered a Reporting Carrier.

(iii) Additional provisions for Category Two tickets. Reporting Carriers should use all reasonable efforts to determine the required information from Category Two tickets. If the information for Operating Carrier, Via Airports, Dwell Time, Tax Amount, and Purchase Window Group is unavailable to the Reporting Carrier, however, then leave the fields for which information is unavailable blank. In cases where a carrier is unable to determine Dwell Time between coupons insert a “B” (for Break) in the appropriate dwell time slot where the reporting carrier provides an estimate of where in the itinerary the trip break occurs. Record a surface segment indicator (--, dash dash) where two consecutive stops within the itinerary have no air carrier operator. Record surface segments at the beginning and end of itineraries when the segments are designated with an airline flight number, appear on the ticket, and have a designator code that appears in an airline schedule source.

(g) The primary ticket's right-most digit of the standard ticket document number forms the basis for the random sample size. All required information associated with a primary ticket must be reported, which may include information from a related conjunction ticket. A conjunction ticket is a ticket that is a continuation of a primary ticket itinerary. Conjunction tickets should not be included in the sample process on their own. Any Reporting Carrier that does not assign ticket numbers to passenger journeys, does not assign ticket numbers such that the final, right-most digit is not randomly assigned, or otherwise seeks to use an alternative method must develop an alternative method of creating a valid 40 percent sample. Those Reporting Carriers would need to submit their alternative sample methods to DOT for approval within 90 days of the date that the Reporting Carrier recognizes that it must make use of the alternative sample selection method to comply with the proposed reporting regulation for determining a Reportable Ticket.