Back in those lazy summer days of August, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer signed a “passenger bill of rights” into law—requiring airlines who keep passengers on a grounded airplane more than 3 hours to provide water, snacks, fresh air and a working toilet.

The airlines, horrified at the thought of being required to give people water and then provide a place where said water could be disposed of after it had served its intended purpose, tried to stop the law but lost when U.S. District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn ruled in favor of the bill of rights.

The law went into effect yesterday.

NY’s Airline Passenger Bill of Rights Goes Into Effect [Gothamist]
(Photo:balmes)

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