U.S. court rejects airline passengers rights law

NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. state law seeking better treatment of passengers stuck on grounded airplanes was thrown out on Tuesday by an appeals court, which said air travel is already regulated by the federal government.

While New York's so-called Passenger Bill of Rights was laudable, "only the federal government has the authority to enact such a law," the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals said in a written ruling.

New York was the first U.S. state to pass a law for passenger rights, according to the Office of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The law, which went into effect on Jan. 1, required airlines to provide passengers who are confined to a grounded airliner for more than three hours with basic necessities, including food, drinking water and clean bathrooms.

The law was challenged by the Air Transport Association of America, which represents major U.S. airlines. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn in Albany had dismissed the group's lawsuit, but the 2nd Circuit reversed his ruling.

"If New York's view regarding the scope of its regulatory authority carried the day, 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," the appeals court ruled.

The decision "vindicates the position of ATA and the airlines -- that airline services are regulated by the federal government and that a patchwork of laws by states and localities would be impractical and harmful to consumer interests," the Air Transport Association said in a statement. (Reporting by Martha Graybow; Editing by Andre Grenon)