The Right Protection for Airline Passengers The Right Protection for Airline Passengers

RealClearPolitics: The Right Protection for Airline Passengers warns about upcoming legislation to protect airline passengers from carriers leaving them too long on the tarmac. Never mind that:

Incidents like the one at JFK make headlines because they are not only appalling but rare. From 2000 through 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, some 330 aircraft have been held on the tarmac for more than five hours awaiting takeoff. But as the Business Travel Coalition points out, there were 88 million flights during that time. On average, you can fly more than 260,000 times before your luck will run out.

It is more important for legislators to be seen doing something than that they actuall do something productive. Here, all that would result would ultimately slightly higher prices for no real gain.