Everyone knows someone with an airplane delay horror story. For years, getting stuck on the tarmac for hours has been a risk one takes when flying, especially during the holidays. Today, though, the Obama administration took a stand and created a bill of rights for passengers. Domestic airlines will now be required to let passengers deplane after a delay of three hours. They will also be required to provide functioning bathrooms, medical care and food and beverages within two hours. If airline companies don't comply, they'll be forced to pay $27,500 per passenger who was kept on the plane after three hours.

Although these rules may seem obvious, tarmac delays are a much bigger issue than one might think. In the first seven months of 2009, 613 flights were kept on the tarmac, with passengers onboard, for more than three hours. These new laws come after a groundbreaking case where the Transportation Department fined several airline companies a total of $175,000 for keeping 47 passengers onboard a delayed flight overnight instead of letting the passengers get off and sleep in the terminal. This was the first time the department fined an airline for tarmac delays. In 120 days, the new rules will go into effect and, hopefully, will make travelers' lives a little easier. Despite airline companies protests that these rules could compromise safety for all involved, the Transportation Department hopes to send a message to airline carriers that they cannot keep passengers onboard for an indeterminate amount of time.