Once the airplane's cabin door closes, the clock will start ticking. Beginning today, the Department of Transportation's newMoncler passenger protection rules allow the government to fine airlines up to $27,500 per passenger if passengers sit aboard a plane on the ground for more than three hours. And after two hours, airlines must provide food and waterMoncler outlet, operable toilets and medical attention if necessary, according to the new rules. But because airlines sometimes clear just a few hundred dollars profit for moncler clothinga flight, many will cancel flights rather than risk fines, predicted Darryl Jenkins, an airline industry consultant. Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel.com, warned passengers to prepare for moncler jacketcancellations, especially during the busiest travel periods. Pilots will carefully watch the clock and likely will return to jacketsa gate long before the 180-minute deadline. Continental Airlines' CEO Jeff Smisek said last month that passengers could take days to Moncler Hoodyget to their destinations if flights are canceled rather than delayed a few hours. “The government is inconveniencing more passengers by passing whatMoncler T-shirt is candidly a very stupid rule,” Smisek said at a New York investor conference. As of April 1, Continental instructed its pilots to determine after Moncler Polo shirttwo hours whether the flight will take off before the three-hour mark. If it won't, they're to activate a contingency plan including finding a gate. Earlier this month, US Airways began sending its planes back to Moncler Jacketsthe gate after 2? hours on the taxiway to “knock out the kinks” before the rule took effect. Several airlines have asked the government for exemptions atMoncler Vest Jackets New York's already congested airports because of delays likely during reconstruction of John F. Kennedy International Airport's runways this summer. Spreading the blame Moncler Down Jackets The new rules were prompted by much-publicized incidents in which passengers sat trapped for hours, but airline analysts said it is rare for a plane to sit on the tarmac that long. “The real serious delays are few and far between,” said Jenkins,moncler coat who lives near Washington. In February, 61 flights sat on the tarmac for three hours or more, and 12 of those flights waited more than four hours, according to the Department of Transportation. A spokesman for Houston-based Continental Airlines said none of moncler onlineits planes has had a tarmac delay exceeding three hours since August 2009, when passengers sat for nine hours on a Continental Express plane in Rochester, Minn. Pilots and others in the industry said the nation's outdated air traffic control system needs upgrading and is part of the problem. Nearly 75 percent of flights arrived on time in February but almost 7 percent arrived late because of system delays, according to the Department of Transportation. “Fix the issues in the National Airspace System and you go a long ways toward not only improving capacity and removing bottlenecks that are responsible for delays, but enhancing safety and efficiency as well,” said Jay Pierce, chairman of the unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, International that represents Continental pilots. Booking too many California resident Kate Hanni, who founded the group FlyersRights.org after she and her family sat on an airplane in Austin for more than nine hours, said airlines are also to blame for over-scheduling flights traveling in and out of airports, especially busier facilities. “That's the primary problem,” said Hanni, who pushed for moncler salethe new rules. She said that until now, airlines' incentive was to keep passengers on the tarmac awaiting takeoff to avoid having to pay refunds for canceled flights. Bill Mosley, a Transportation Department spokesman, said the agency is considering additional rules that it hopes will encourage airlines to “publish more realistic schedules.”