News

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) fined Virgin America USD 150,000 for failing to make its in-flight safety video accessible to passengers with hearing impairments. The airline also was ordered to cease and desist from further violations.An investigation by DOT’s Aviation Enforcement Office found that since October 2007, when the airline first began scheduled service, […]

The Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations provides that the liability of railway undertakings in the case of delay is governed by the Uniform Rules concerning the Contract for International Carriage of Passengers and Luggage by Rail, subject to the applicable provisions of the regulation.In accordance with the Uniform Rules, which

The European Commission brought a series of infringement proceedings against eight Member States for failure to comply with their obligations under the directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax. The actions relate to the special scheme for travel agents.The Commission considered that the special scheme for travel agents is applicable only to

In judgements issued yesterday in two parallel cases, the German Supreme Court (BGH) has held that a bird strike constitutes extraordinary circumstances and thus exempts the air carrier from the obligation to pay compensation to the passengers in case of a cancellation or a long delay if the air carrier can prove that it had

In a recent judgment, the German Supreme Court (BGH) reconfirmed that passengers who miss their connecting flight due to a delay of the feeder are entitled to claim for compensation if they reach their final destination 3 hrs or more after their scheduled arrival. The plaintiffs had booked a flight from Miami to Düsseldorf via

In two separate decisions of Aug. 29, 2013, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) ordered Air Canada and Porter Airlines to revise certain domestic tariffprovisions. A tariff is the contract between the carrier and the passenger which contains an air carrier’s terms and conditions of carriage. Tariff provisions are enforceable by the CTA.I a decision issued

In 2011, TripAdvisor rated Grand Resort Hotel and Convention Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee number one on its list of the “Dirtiest Hotels in America.” Grand Resort’s sole proprietor filed suit against TripAdvisor, alleging claims of defamation, false-light invasion of privacy, tortious interference with prospective business relationships and trade libel/injurious falsehood. The district court granted

On August 26, 2013, the Committee on Transport and Tourism of the European Parliament has published a Draft Report on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of

A group of 22 waitresses of the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City filed a law suit for gender discrimination. The hotel explicitly hires cocktail waitresses based on appearance and requires them to meet and maintain certain weight standards and wear short dresses while male servers are not held to the same standards. However,

Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd sought to recover damages exceeding £49,000,000 for the infringement of its flat bed airline seat patent. However, the Technical Board of Appeal (“TBA”) of the European Patent Office (“EPO”) found that in the form in which the patent was originally granted the relevant claims were invalid because they had been anticipated