News

The plaintiffs (a German couple) sued a Vienna 4 star hotel company for compensation of more than EUR 160.000 of valuables stolen from the safe in their hotel room. When they had asked at the reception where to keep their valuables, the receptionist had told them to use the safe in their room. This safe […]

Following a huge number of complaints by hotels that the travel website did not check its reviews and many of them were misleading, fake or defamatory, TripAdvisor is to be investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Under its remit the ASA cannot investigate the veracity of the reviews, but TripAdvisor will be forced to

International tourism grew by almost 5% in the first half of 2011 totalling a new record of 440 million arrivals. Results confirm that, in spite of multiple challenges, international tourism continues to consolidate the return to growth initiated in 2010.All world (sub)regions showed positive trends with the exception of the Middle East and North Africa.

On 28 June 2011, Juzgado de lo Mercantil de A Coruña (Spain) lodged a reference for preliminary ruling of the ECJ with regard to the following question:May the definition of ‘denied boarding’ contained in Article 2(j), in conjunction with Article 3(2) and 4(3), of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, be regarded as including a situation in

On 8 July 2011, the Tribunal de Pequena Instância Cível de Lisboa (Portugal) lodged a reference for prelimiary ruling of the ECJ questioning the “Sturgeon” judgement of the Court as follows:As a result of the judgment of the Court of Justice of 19 November 2009 in Joined Cases C-402/07 and C-432/07, in which it was

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) fined JetBlue Airways USD 50,000 for violating federal aviation laws and the Department’s rules prohibiting deceptive price advertising in air travel.The Department’s Aviation Enforcement Office found that for a period of time in early 2011, JetBlue displayed fare advertisements on several websites that did not provide any information on

New rules from Ecuador’s Galapagos National Park limiting the number of visitors to ecologically sensitive sites will ease stress on the native animals, and alter cruise ship schedules. The regulations, which take effect Feb. 1, directly involve the 50 cruise companies that operate in the marine park. The new system forbids ships from visiting most

The second edition of our new “IFTTA Law Review” is now available in the members area of the website. It contains the following articles:Message of the Co-Presidents – Harry Manuel, Michael WukoschitzPolicy and Technical Issues regarding including of Dynamic Packages in the Package Travel Directive – Marc McDonald Case: U.S. Department of Transportation, Consent Order

The Dutch Rechtbank Breda on June 27, 2011 lodged a reference for preliminary ruling of the ECJ with regard to the following questions:Is a right to compensation in case of delay, as described in Article 7 of Regulation No 261/2004, consistent with the last sentence of Article 29 of the Montreal Convention, given the fact

The U.S. Department of Transportation(DOT) said new consumer protections for airline passengers are now effect starting Aug. 23. The new rules includerequirements that airlines refund baggage fees if bags are lost, increased compensation to passengers bumped from overbooked flights, and greater protections from lengthy tarmac delays.Additional measures under the new rule are set to take