Passenger bill of rights.

• Author: Holland, Mike

"Passengers on Commercial Aircraft in the United States have less [sic] rights than prisoners of war."(1)

In December of 2006, after severe weather conditions hit the Southwest, passengers on a flight from San Francisco to Alabama were forced to remain on the aircraft for nine hours with no food, no running water, and overflowing toilets. (2) Similar fates awaited the passengers of JetBlue Airways Flight 751 on their way to Cancun, Mexico on Wednesday February, 14, 2007. The passengers were trapped on the tarmac for eight hours at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. (3) Indeed, the airline passengers involved in these incidents might have felt as if they had fewer rights than prisoners of war.

The most recent episode occurred on July 29, 2007, when a Continental flight bound for Newark from Venezuela was diverted to Baltimore The passengers had to sit on the tarmac for more than four hours. Food and water had run out, and toilets had begun to overflow when passengers finally started clapping in unison to protest. They were allowed to get off the plane, taken to an airport transit lounge escorted, as reported in the press, by "overzealous officers with attack dogs and treated as criminals. (4)

1. Proposed Federal Legislation

   The Airline Passenger Bill of Rights Act of 2007 (the "Bill") was created in response to these incidents. The Bill was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Barbara Boxer and Olimpia Snowe on February 17, 2007 (as S.687) and in the House of Representatives by Representative Mike Thomson on March 1, 2007 (as H.R. 1303).

   S.678 was introduced to amend title 49, United States Code, to ensure air passengers have access to necessary services while on a grounded air carrier and are not unreasonably held on a grounded airplane before or after a flight. (5) In cases when the plane is delayed, air carriers must provide food, water, and adequate restroom facilities. (6) Moreover, if more than three hours have elapsed after the passengers have boarded an airplane and the airplane has not departed, the air carrier must give passengers the option to deplane. Such an option must be provided to passengers at least once every three-hour period. (7) The exception to this rule applies only if the pilot reasonably determines that after three hours of delay the plane will depart within 30 minutes or if permitting a passenger to deplane would compromise safety or security. (8)

   The House bill (H.R. 1303), known as the "Airline...