kalyx522

http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=9795

New York passes 'passenger bill of rights,' first of its kind in US
Tuesday August 7, 2007
The New York legislature passed and Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed into law last week a "passenger bill of rights" outlining requirements for airlines during extended ground delays, making the state that is home to busy New York JFK and LaGuardia the first in the US to act on passenger complaints of poor customer service.

Largely in response to the much-publicized incident in which JetBlue Airways passengers were forced to stay on parked aircraft at JFK for up to 10 hr. during an ice storm (ATWOnline, Feb. 21), the new law claims to cover flights at New York airports and mandates fines of as much as $1,000 per passenger for carriers that fail to comply, although airlines question whether it is enforceable under federal law.

The law requires carriers to provide food, water, clean restrooms and fresh air to passengers stranded on aircraft for more than 3 hr. It also requires airlines to provide passengers with a phone number to register service complaints and establishes an "office of airline consumer advocate" within the New York state government.

"This law establishes much-needed consumer protections that will help guarantee greater passenger safety and comfort when severe delays impact their travels from New York airports," Spitzer said. New York State Sen. Charles Fuschillo, the bill's primary sponsor, added: "This first-in-the-nation law will ensure that stranded passengers are. . .not held hostage on delayed flights without basic amenities."

An ATA spokesperson said the organization is "disappointed" by the new law and believes it is "preempted" by federal statutes, adding, "We will review our options, including possible legal challenge."

The Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights, which is lobbying the US Congress to include passenger rights provisions in FAA reauthorization legislation, praised "New York's tough new airline passenger rights law" and called on Congress "to finish the job for all travelers nationwide." The group wants Congress to mandate that airlines allow passengers to leave aircraft after a ground delay of more than 3 hr., something the New York bill does not do and that carriers have opposed strenuously.

"Legislating something with fixed time limits is just unpractical in terms of day-to-day operations," Delta Air Lines COO James Whitehurst told reporters last week in Washington.


by Aaron Karp

cfiguy11

being based in JFK is the best invention for the paycheck.....ever!!!!!!!!!!

ToiletDuck

They already have all this. It's called a Lav, crackers, bleed air, and customer service.

This is a bunch of BS. What exactly does NY actually expect to gain from this? Perhaps they should find a way deal with weather.

cbire880

A start would be not dispatching aircraft with a deferred APU to the penalty box in the extreme temperatures.

Killer51883

or they could try and build more runways so more airplanes can get in and out of there

The Chow

I wonder if this "new law" holds the other cogs responsible as well.....like maybe ATC??? No not the controllers, but when you are put in the penalty box waiting for a new clearance, how is exactly will that be addressed?

SharkyBN584

This is the greatest damn thing EVER! I can't WAIT to fly into JFK, get to the very end of the runway 3 hours later and say "Sorry ladies and gentlemen, according to New York State Law we have to return to the gate...this process will take approximately 2 hours. Thank you for your patience."

dbo861

Oh yea, because there is SO much extra land available to around each of the New York airports to build new runways.

deadstick35

Like the article said, isn't there a jurisdiction problem?

What do they hope to gain? Votes. I think it's window dressing.

TristarJS30

It isn't the amount of runways. It's three large airports in a tiny space with all runways seemingly pointed directly at each other. It's all about the airspace, or lack there-of. If they were going to build something though, it should be more gate space. But again, no place to put them.