Airline Group Wants to Block Passenger Bill of Rights
A trade group for the airlines plans to ask a federal judge to block a New York law requiring food, water and other services to passengers sitting in a grounded airplane for more than three hours.
The law requires airlines in such situations to give the waiting passengers “fresh air and lights, waste removal services and adequate food and drinking water,” the New York Times reports. Failure to comply could result in fines of up to $1,000 a passenger.
The law is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.
The Air Transport Association contends the law is pre-empted by the federal Airline Deregulation Act, which regulates airline services. The New York law is “precisely the danger that Congress sought to prevent, the prospect of overlapping and/or inconsistent regulation of air carriers by the federal government and each of the 50 states,” the suit says.
