Remember the nightmarish stories of airline passengers being stuck on grounded airplanes for more than 10 hours with no food, insufficient bathrooms and no fresh air? Well under a new New York law, those days are over or airlines will be facing hefty fines.

New York State’s “Airline Passenger Bill of Rights” took effect on Tuesday, mandating airlines to provide water, snacks, fresh air and working restrooms for departing passengers delayed on planes at New York airports for more than three hours.

Airlines found to have broken the “Consumer Bill of Rights” for airline passengers would face penalties of up to $1,000 per passenger.

New York is the first state in the United States to adopt such a measure.

Inexplicably, the new law does not apply to tarmac delays that happen while planes wait for gates after they land, which is when many delays occur in bad weather.

Thanks for reading,

Jim Reed, NY accident lawyer