Update: Court strikes down New York’s airline passenger rights law

In December, I reported on New York’s Airline Passenger Bill of Rights, which required airlines to provide basic amenities for passengers stuck on delayed aircraft.

Although a federal district court upheld the law in December, an appeals court overturned the lower court’s verdict yesterday. The appellate court ruled that New York’s statute pre-empted a federal law that provides for the uniform regulation of the airline industry.

Like many major court decisions, this one wasn’t about the substance of the law at issue. The appellate court certainly doesn’t like delayed flights, and doesn’t want passengers to have to sit for hours without water or bathrooms. The problem was that, by passing this law, the state of New York was trying to regulate something that, according to the appellate court, only the Congress has the power to control. Congress has passed on its power to the Federal Aviation Administration, allowing it to create uniform national regulations for the airline industry. As the court said, if each individual state could pass its own specific laws to regulate airlines:

“…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, unraveling the centralized federal framework for air travel.”

So the court didn’t have a problem with a law protecting passengers – it has a problem with an individual state usurping federal interstate commerce power.

The State of New York can still appeal this case to the US Supreme Court. If they do, and the Court hears the case, it will have to decide between two competing interpretations of the case. The State of New York considers this an application of its police power to regulate for the “health, morals, safety, and general welfare” of its people, but the airline industry is arguing that this case is actually about a state trying to infringe on the Congress’ power to create uniform national rules for interstate industries.

Some member of Congress are actually trying to pass a federal law that would be similar to New York’s. That’s a great election-year move, but until such a law passes, passengers may be forced to “sit back, relax, and enjoy” hours of sitting on the taxiway without food, water, or restrooms.