Bipartisan legislation establishing an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) have authored a bill to ensure that travelers can no longer be unnecessarily trapped on airplanes for excessive periods of time or deprived of food, water or adequate restrooms.
A similar bill has been introduced in the House. The measures are in response to highly publicized incidents of passengers held aboard an American Airlines plane in Austin, Texas, in December and the Valentine's Day ice storm that resulted in a similar fate for JetBlue passengers at New York's JFK Airport.
"Occasional delays may be unavoidable, but no one should be held hostage on an airplane for hours without food, safe drinking water or functioning restrooms. This bill ensures passengers the right to deplane after being in a closed aircraft for three hours, and it requires airlines to attend to the basic needs of passengers."
"Millions of Americans depend on the airline industry for safe travel throughout the country and the world each year," Snowe said.
"Every passenger understands that delays and cancellations might happen from time to time due to weather and other extraordinary circumstances. During those frustrating delays, however, the airlines have a responsibility to treat passengers with dignity and give them the right to de-plane an aircraft and prevent the type of misery that too many passengers have recently experienced," Snowe said.
The legislation requires airlines to offer passengers the option of safely leaving a plane they have boarded once that plane has sat on the ground three hours after the plane door has closed. This option would be provided every three hours that the plane continues to sit on the ground.
The measure would also require airlines to provide passengers with necessary services such as food, potable water and adequate restroom facilities while a plane is delayed on the ground.
The legislation provides two exceptions to the three-hour option. The pilot may decide to not allow passengers to deplane if he or she reasonably believes their safety or security would be at risk due to extreme weather or other emergencies.
Alternately, if the pilot reasonably determines that the flight will depart within 30 minutes after the three-hour period, he or she can delay the deplaning option for an additional 30 minutes.
