May 24, 2007 6:34 pm US/Eastern
N.Y. Taking Bold Steps Toward Ending Tarmac Woes
Proposed Law Would Help Angry Stranded Passengers
by Sean Hennessey
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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JetBlue planes wait at terminal gates at JFK Airport, New York Feb 16, 2007. (File)
AP
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JetBlue Airways passengers wait for flights, John F. Kennedy Airport, New York Feb 15, 2007. (File)
AP
Passengers flying in and out of tri-state area airports may soon have a new set of rights to lean on. This after hundreds were trapped on planes this past winter.
New York is on the verge of becoming the first state in the country to send a serious message to the airlines about this agonizing problem.
On Thursday, inside a packed hearing room at JFK Airport, lawmakers sent the message loud and clear. If an airline strands passengers, for whatever reason, it better be prepared to make them very comfortable.
"We are here today because of incompetence in the industry," a Port Authority spokesperson said.
It was a Valentine's Day venting over the ice storm that ruined vacations when a thousand flights were cancelled.
"We had aircraft that was frozen to the ground," the spokesperson said.
Along with stuck planes were stuck passengers.
"We were in there until 10:00 so we were there almost 15-16 hours," one passenger said in reference to massive delays that put airlines like JetBlue and Delta under the nation's largest microscope.
At least those in the terminals could move around, but as home video shows, people were trapped inside a plane that sat on a tarmac for more than 10 hours.
"Nobody could tell us anything about the flight," one passenger said.
David Merelis and Frances Corrado were among the miserable and said basic comforts were tough to come by.
"They didn't offer us anything to eat or drink for at least six hours at which point people started to insist," Corrado said.
Like so many flights that February day, state lawmakers want to cancel that kind of action and attitude. A passenger's bill of rights circling the legislature says if a plane sits on a New York tarmac for three hours or more, passengers must have access to snacks, water, fresh air and working bathrooms, with penalties for non-compliance.
"The state will be able to go after the airlines financially and passengers stranded on the plane will be able to benefit from some of those penalties," said Kate Hanni of the Coalition for Passenger Bill of Rights.
As much as this legislation is putting the airlines on notice, the one thing it can't do is force those airlines to get passengers off the plane.
"We'd like to be able to say after two or three hours you have to allow individuals to deplane or get off the plane," 8th District Sen. Charles Fuschillo said. "The federal government has that jurisdiction."
Airline delays and cancellations may not change, but flying the friendly skies may be more bearable, even if the plane never gets off the ground.
The bill has passed the State Senate and his heading for the Assembly. CBS 2 HD has been told Gov. Eliot Spitzer supports the idea.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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