The snowstorm that battered the Midwest and Northeast on Valentine's Day and beyond resulted in some air passengers being stuck on airplanes for several hours — nearly 11 hours in one instance — and once again has travelers and officials calling for a passenger bill of rights.

Currently, there are no government regulations limiting the time an airline can keep passengers on grounded aircraft.

The airlines' voluntary code of conduct simply says that during such extraordinary delays, they will make "reasonable efforts" to meet passenger needs for food, water, restroom facilities and medical assistance.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she will introduce a bill to give passengers the right to get off the airplane if it's been on the ground for more than three hours past its scheduled departure time.

Additionally, Rep. Michael Thompson, another California Democrat, said he planned to introduce a bill that would address delayed flights, time on the tarmac, cancellations, and lost or damaged luggage.

“A lot of my colleagues who have heard about it have contacted me and expressed an interest” in the legislation, both in the House of Representatives and Senate, said Thompson in a telephone interview.

One of Thompson’s constituents, Kate Hanni, launched a drive for a passenger bill of rights after she was stranded on an American Airlines flight in Texas on Dec. 29.

Hanni and others want a passenger bill of rights to cap the time any delayed flight can languish on the tarmac without letting passengers get off. They also want the bill to specify compensation when airlines fail to deliver services as promised.

The Air Transport Association, a trade group of major U.S. airlines, said inflexible standards could do more harm than good.

“We think that one size doesn’t fit all,” said ATA spokesman David Castelveter. “We think the best solution continues to be to allow the flight crews and their operational experts to make these types of decisions.”

NBC VIDEO When planes get stuck on runways Feb. 16: TODAY host Matt Lauer talks with Janet Libert of Executive Travel magazine about what you can do if you're on an airplane that is on the runway for hours. Your Money

Thompson said his legislation would provide a greater degree of comfort in air travel and do it without putting the airlines out of business.

“I think passenger anxiety is an all-time high,” partly fed by what he described as the drudgery of post-9/11 security measures.

Airlines have blocked attempts to set minimum legal standards for customer service by agreeing to a voluntary code of conduct that they have not always followed.

“When enough consumers complain long enough and hard enough about this problem, there will be a policy that will take care of this,” said airline expert Steve Danishek.

On Wednesday, hundreds of JetBlue passengers were stuck for as long as 11 hours in parked jets at John F. Kennedy International Airport during the winter storm.

Sean Corrinet of Salem, Mass., spent almost nine hours aboard a JetBlue flight for Cancun, Mexico, that never got off the ground.

"It was like — what's the name of that prison in Vietnam where they held McCain? The Hanoi Hilton," Corrinet said, referring to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Slide show   Treacherous travel A storm that blasted the Midwest blew snow eastward, paralyzing travel. Click to view images.

He said the crew passed out bags of chips — the only food available — and periodically cracked the hatch to let in fresh, cool air.

The airline apologized and acknowledged it hesitated nearly five hours before calling for a fleet of buses to unload at least seven jets that spent the day sitting on runways because of the weather and congestion at the gates.

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