No way to fly

Friday, Aug. 14, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

It’s bad enough that one has to fight traffic to get to an airport, wait in long lines to check baggage at the ticket counter, and be subject to invasive searches at security checkpoints, all before boarding an airplane. Imagine how much more frustrating it is for passengers who then board the plane, only to learn that they will be sitting on a tarmac for hours in cramped quarters because of some unexpected issue involving the flight.

That’s what happened to 47 people who were stranded last week for nearly seven hours in a small plane on a tarmac in Rochester, Minn.

The plane, which was headed to Minneapolis from Houston and operated by a regional carrier for Continental Airlines, had been diverted to Rochester because of thunderstorms. But there was no excuse for leaving the passengers on the plane so long. Temporary accommodations inside the airport or at a local hotel should have been made.

The fact that no such thing was done is why Congress should pass legislation that would require airlines to make special provisions for stranded passengers.

Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, used the incident to call attention Tuesday to their proposed Airline Passenger Bill of Rights. The legislation, which they first proposed two years ago after several incidents in which passengers were stranded on planes for as long as 11 hours, would require airlines to allow passengers under safe conditions to leave the plane if it is sitting on the ground for more than three hours.

That and other provisions in the bill, including a requirement that passengers be provided food, water and comfortable cabin temperatures during plane delays, should be approved by Congress this session unless more stringent legislation is considered necessary.

We also agree with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s decision Tuesday to investigate whether the airline broke any laws in connection with the lengthy tarmac delay.

The public has grown accustomed to extra security after the 9/11 attacks, but passengers still expect a comfortable flight, not the mistreatment they experience when stranded in a cramped aircraft.