News

In a 2-1 split decision, the California court of appeal for the appellate district that includes Los Angeles expanded the class of restaurant employees who can participate in an employer’s tip pool. Following the decison in Etheridge v. Reins International California, Inc. the tipping pool is no longer dedicated only to restaurant employees, such as […]

Plaintiff had filed a lawsuit against American Airlines over a Dec. 29, 2006 flight diverted from Dallas-Fort Worth to Austin because of weather issues. After landing, passengers sat in the plane for 9.5 hours, unable to leave despite overflowing toilets and little food or water.US District Judge Robert T. Dawson said airlines are not legally

As stated by the EU Press Room, “The European Commission today adopted the update of the so-called blacklist of airlines that are banned from flying into the European Union due to safety concerns. The Commission has imposed a ban on six airlines from Kazakhstan, one airline certified in Thailand, one additional Ukrainian air carrier and

United States District Judge Nicholas Garaufis of United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, denied British Airways’ motion to dismiss a consumer class action, filed in 2007, which seeks to recover travelers’ actual losses rather than a US$1,500 cap the airline uses to limit damages. The court noted and rejected the

An Austrian hotelier let some parts of his hotel to a doctor to run her surgery. The doctor offered health treatments related to cardiovascular diseases to the hotel guests as well as outsiders whereas the appointments were to be made through the hotel recpetion and – as far as hotel guests were concerned – treatments

According to the EU Press Room, “More and more European air passengers are being offered the choice to use their normal mobile phone to send text messages, browse the web or even make calls on board airplanes. One year after the European Commission put in place common rules for safe use of mobile phones on

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomed the decision by the Dutch Government to abolish the recently introduced departure tax as part of its economic stimulus package. The tax added a cost of between EUR 11.25 to EUR 45 for every passenger departing from Dutch airports.Source: IATA press release No 12 of 27 March 2009;

China says it will reopen Tibet to foreign tourists in early April. The region has recently been closed to travellers because of security fears in regard to a number of sensitive anniversaries. The Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted Tibet’s head of tourism as saying the region was now “harmonious and safe”. However, there is still

An attorney for a former United Airlines pilot says her client’s lawsuit against the U.S. airline over pornographic items found on flights has been settled, preventing it from going to U.S. District Court. Due to a related nondisclosure agreement no specifics were given.The lawsuit alleged the former United Airlines pilot routinely found pornographic photographs in

The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday revived a hotly contested lawsuit by the city of Atlanta against online travel companies that claims the firms are illegally pocketing millions of dollars in hotel tax revenue. The city filed suit in 2006 against 17 Internet travel reservation companies, including Expedia, Travelocity.com, Hotels.com, Priceline.com and Obitz. The suit