Passenger rights law overturned in U.S. court

A U.S. federal appeal court on Tuesday rejected a New York state law obligating airlines to offer amenities including food, water and working toilets to passengers waiting in grounded planes for more than three hours.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said such a law, which took effect on Jan. 1, could only be enacted by the Federal Aviation Administration. The court said the law posed a direct challenge to the powers of the federal authority.

"If New York's view regarding the scope of its regulatory authority carried the day, another state could be free to enact a law prohibiting the service of soda on flights departing from its airports, while another could require allergen-free food options on its outbound flights, unravelling the centralized federal framework for air travel," the court said in its ruling.

The law also obligated airlines to power grounded planes with lights and adequate ventilation. Airlines were also ordered to provide passengers with consumer-complaint contact information.

Consumer calls for a passenger bill of rights followed a February 2007 snowstorm in which New York-based JetBlue cancelled more than 250 domestic and international flights. Some passengers were left stranded in grounded planes for more than 10 hours. Travellers later complained of overflowing toilets and bad ventilation.

In November 2007, a lower-court judge upheld the law on appeal. The Air Transport Association of America, a trade group representing U.S. airlines, appealed the ruling.