Interstate commerce
Passengers Have No Rights
A federal appeals court has decided that when you fly you have no rights to fresh air, water, food and bathrooms.
Following several incidents where planes were delayed for many hours, and passengers were stuck on these planes, sitting on the tarmac, without all the amenities listed above, Assembly Member Michael Gianaris sponsored a bill that would require all flights leaving airports in New York to provide these things if the flight is delayed long enough. Governor Spitzer signed the bill into law last August.
Now the law has been struck down, based on the airlines' claim that the "interstate commerce clause" of the U.S. Constitution gives the federal government, and only the federal government, the power to regulate the airline industry. They also used a 1978 law, the "Airline Deregulation Act," to bolster their argument.
The fight over control of interstate commerce goes back to 1824, when
Airline travel | Interstate commerce | Michael Gianaris
