Mail eligible for priority rate service consists of Express Mail®, Priority Mail®, and First-Class Mail® items.
All air carriers (mainline and bush) are required to board mail eligible for priority rate service as follows:
- Priority rate service mail is tendered to a specific flight and must be transported on that flight after accommodation has been made for passengers and their baggage.
- Once enplaned, priority rate service mail must not be removed at an intermediate point to accommodate any other traffic, including passengers.
- Priority rate service mail preempts freight, even if the freight must be off-loaded.
- Priority rate service mail preempts non-priority rate service mail at origin, even if non-priority rate service mail must be off-loaded.
Sensitive non-mail items such as human remains, urgent medical supplies, and organs for transplant are classified as freight. If transporting such items affects the movement of mail, the air carrier must notify the administrative official before the operation of the flight that it will be transporting sensitive material and should indicate the following:
- The type of sensitive material to be transported.
- The flight impacted by this sensitive material.
- Whether any mail intended for dispatch on the identified flight will not be enplaned.
When all priority rate service mail cannot be boarded on the specified flight, the boarding priority of this mail is as follows:
- Registered Mail™ items.
- Express Mail items.
- Priority Mail items.
- First-Class Mail items.
Air carriers must notify the local Postal Service official whenever priority rate service mail is not transported on the flight for which it is intended. The air carrier must make this notification no later than 30 minutes after the scheduled departure time of the flight on which the mail should have been carried. Notification is required regardless of the reason for the delay — cancellation of a flight, mechanical problems, mail exceeding aircraft capacity, weather delays, etc. After being notified about the backlogged mail, the administrative Postal Service official directs the air carrier concerning the disposition of the mail, which may include transferring it to another air carrier or holding it for a later flight.
Non-priority rate service mail consists of bypass mail (see chapter 8) and in-house non-priority mail.
The boarding accommodations for non-priority rate service mail are as follows:
- Non-priority rate service mail is transported on a space-available basis.
- Once non-priority rate service mail is enplaned, an air carrier must not remove it at an intermediate point to accommodate any other traffic, including passengers.
- An air carrier encountering mechanical or weather problems requiring deplaning of mail must notify WADN, Denver of the circumstances requiring deplaning. If the problem arises during normal business hours, the air carrier must provide notification before offloading the mail. If the problem arises outside normal business hours, the air carrier must provide notification at the start of the next business day. The Postal Service grants enroute de-planements related to weather only if the air carrier has an approved facility on site and obtains approval in advance. In all cases, the air carrier must also promptly notify local Postal Service officials at the site of the deplaning.
- All notifications of mail deplaning must include the reason for the requested action and a detailed recovery plan explaining how the air carrier will safeguard the mail while it is deplaned and how and when the air carrier will transport and deliver the mail to its destination.
- An air carrier must transport non-priority rate service mail within the transit times identified in 6-2.4.2.5.
- An air carrier must transfer non-priority rate service mail within the time parameters defined in Appendix K.
The boarding priority of non-priority rate service mail is as follows:
- Special handling mail.
- Perishables.
- Newspapers.
- Parcels.
- Any other non-priority rate service mail.
An air carrier must notify the administrative official or designee immediately upon becoming aware that mail will not be transported within the transit window. An air carrier that is unable to transport all mail on hand must notify the administrative official or designee at the serving hub point and provide an estimate of the approximate volume of mail not transported. After being notified about the backlogged mail, the administrative official or designee directs the air carrier concerning the disposition of the mail, which may include transferring it to another air carrier or holding it for a later flight.
