The Department of Transportation has ordered airlines to allow passengers in stranded airplanes to deplane after three hours.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood just released a statement detailing the three-hour limit and other passenger rights issues long sought by consumer advocates. The rules are effective in 120 days.
These new rule require that airlines provide food and water for passengers after two hours of a tarmac delay and keep airplane lavatories operational. Any necessary medical attention must also be provided when necessary.
We will publish news as it develops.
SUMMARY: The Department of Transportation is issuing a final rule to enhance airline passenger protections in the following ways: by requiring air carriers to adopt contingency plans for lengthy tarmac delays and to publish those plans on their websites; by requiring air carriers to respond to consumer problems; by deeming continued delays on a flight that is chronically late to be unfair and deceptive in violation of 49 U.S.C. §41712; by requiring air carriers to publish information on flight delays on their websites; and by requiring air carriers to adopt customer service plans, to publish those plans on their websites, and audit their own compliance with their plans. The Department took this action on its own initiative in response to the many instances when passengers have been subject to delays on the airport tarmac for lengthy periods and also in response to the high incidence of flight delays and other consumer problems.
