The 47 passengers who endured sitting overnight for six hours on a crowded plane with crying babies and smelly toilets last month may not have suffered in vain.

That incident involving a regional jet diverted from Minneapolis to Rochester appears to have provided the momentum needed for Congress to enact rules requiring airlines to give passengers the option of getting off a plane if there are extensive delays.

It's about time.

For years, airlines have said they could police themselves. For years, they haven't.

It was 10 years ago that outrage was first ignited when Northwest Airlines passengers were kept on a plane on the ground for eight hours without food, water or working toilets.

In February 2007, passengers on a JetBlue flight grounded by an ice storm were kept on a plane for 11 hours.

Those are only a few of the more outlandish incidents, but they can't be called isolated incidents.

Last year, more than 1,200 flights that pulled away from the gate sat on a tarmac for more than 3 hours before finally taking off or returning to the gate.

That figure does not include delays suffered by passengers on diverted flights, like the incident in Minnesota. The federal government didn't start keeping those statistics until last October.

And while such lengthy delays represent less than 1 percent of all flights, that's small consolation to the people trapped onboard.

Passengers' rights advocates are pushing for legislation that would require airlines to allow passengers to get off any plane that has been delayed more than three hours on the ground. Exceptions would be made if deplaning would be unsafe or take off is expected within the next half hour.

Consumer groups have been working on a "passenger bill of rights" for years. The latest incidents have caused business groups to join them in pressing for time limits on ground delays.

It's being seen as a health and safety issue, not just a matter of inconvenience.

Enacting the rule might result in more flight cancellations, which could delay passengers even longer than if they'd stay on the plane. But we suspect a longer delay, sitting in a reasonably cozy terminal, would be preferred by most rather than several hours without food, water or toilets in a crowded aircraft.

Airline executives who insist they can police themselves and that strict time limits imposed by the government are unnecessary should be made to sit in a plane under the same conditions faced by the passengers on that diverted Continental flight.

How long would they last before agreeing to the restrictions in exchange for being freed from their aircraft prison? We suspect many would cry "Uncle!" at well under the three-hour mark.