The Hotelstars Union which hasharmonised hotel classification in several countries and which provides criteria for 1 to 5 Star Hotels has been joined by the three Baltic CountriesEstonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Under the patronage of HOTREC – Hotels, Restaurants & Café in Europe already 10 countries are members of the ...

Some U.S. travel Web sites were found to have violated federal law by not identifying which airline is operating a flight for which they're selling tickets. The new law says that information must be displayed "in a format that is easily visible to a viewer". But seven of the 10 ...

When visitors to the US are treated to the "Pat-Down," it does little to encourage visitors to return and is likely to do just the opposite and keep them away from the US. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/12/09/Airport-search-angers-Indian-diplomat/UPI-50951291902798/ JACKSON, Miss., Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The Transportation Security Administration's patdown of India's ambassador to the ...

Plaintiiff had booked a journey from Bremen/Germany to Asunción/Paraguay via Paris and São Paulo. Departure from Bremen to Paris was delayed about 2:30 hrs. Plaintiff therefore missed the connecting flight to São Paulo, was re-routed and reached Asunción only 11 hrs after the originally scheduled arrival time. She sued for ...

In Cases C-585/08 (Pammer vs Schlueter) and C-144/09 (Hotel Alpenhof vs Heller) [remark: not joint but decided together] ECJ had to decide whether a so called passive website of a Hotel respectively a travel agent meets the requirement of 'directing professional activities' to the (other) EU member state where the ...

In Cases C-585/08 (Pammer vs Schlueter) and C-144/09 (Hotel Alpenhof vs Heller) [remark: not joint but decided together] ECJ had to decide whether a so called passive website of a Hotel respectively a travel agent meets the requirement of 'directing professional activities' to the (other) EU member state where the ...

A French court ruled on Monday, that the Concorde crash of July 25, 2000 which left 113 passengers dead was partially caused by criminal negligence of Continental and a mechanic who works for the company. Both were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.The French judge also found aircraft manufacturer EADS partly ...

Representatives of the United States and Brazil have agreed to implement an Open-Skies aviation regime, which will significantly liberalize U.S.-Brazil air services for airlines of both countries over a transition period by removing restrictions on pricing and on the routes between each country that can be served by U.S. and ...

Scientists and lawyers get together A group aimed at fostering knowledge transfer between Scotland's life science cluster and the country's legal professionals has been launched. The Life Sciences and Law Network (LSLN) follows the successful collaboration of the Writers to the Signet Society, the oldest law society in Scotland (established ...

Legal ethics training for Law students The Law Society, in light of the review of legal services education and trainingin England and Walesannouncedby the legal regulators(the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board and the Institute of Legal Executives Professional Standards have launched the review), calledfor a greater focus on ...

This is the first time that a the UNWTO Volunteers initiative is integrated by a team of technicians and local volunteers. The objective of this projectis to support the development of tourism products based on the existing cultural, natural and human resources that would generate a model of tourism management ...

The active 2010 Atlantic hurricane which produced 19 named storms (tied for third with 1995 and 1887), 12 of which became hurricanes ended Tuesday. While the U.S. was spared but other destinations were hit severely, including St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Barbados. Only 1933 (21 storms) and 2005 (a record ...

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) acknowledged that it had yet to levy any penalties in any of the dozen cases since May involving tarmac delays of at least three hours. Some investigations have been closed because they occurred under circumstances excepted by the tarmac delay rule, such as instances ...

Plaintiff (a Russian tour operator) assigned defendant (an Austrian incoming agent) to make hotel bookings in Austria. In 2008 when bookings were made on the occasion of the European Football Championship, plaintiff cancelled some of the hotel reservations which led to a dispute over cancellation fees. Finally defendant cancelled some ...

The European Commission has adopted the sixteenth update of the list of airlines banned in the European Union. All air carriers certified in Afghanistan and Mauritania Airways are banned. One air carrier certified in Kyrgyzstan and one in Gabon are also added to the list whilst nine Kazakh operators were ...

TUI Travel Plc, British Airways, Easyjet and IATA (Claimants) requested the British Civil Aviation Authority (Defendant) to confirm that it would not interpret the Regulation 261/2004/EC as imposing an obligation on air carriers to pay compensation in the event of delay. The Defendant has refused to provide this assurance, stating ...

Udo Voigt, chairman of the extreme right wing German NPD ("Democratic Party of Germany") and his wife booked a private vacation at a wellness resort in Brandenburg (Germany). Ten days before the scheduled arrival, the hotel director informed them that Voigt was banned from entering the hotel as his extreme ...

The Hyatt hotel chain has been sued in Los Angeles County Court by a woman who returned to her room to find a male employee wearing his Hyatt uniform shirt along with her skirt, high heels and underwear. The claim includes emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and negligent hiring, supervision ...

The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the industry trade association for the leading U.S. airlines, submitted its public comments to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in response to the agency's Flightcrew Member Duty and Rest Requirements Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), calling for significant revisions to the existing proposal.ATA ...

Grassroots airline boycott effort "We Won't Fly" is organizing mass x-ray scanner opt outs at airports around the nation for National Opt Out of the Airport Scanners Day, November 24 in order to highlight the health and privacy dangers of the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) backscatter x-ray airport scanners.Source: wewontfly.com

Ryaniar passengers who were supposed to land at Beauvais (near Paris) after returning from holidays in Morocco were rerouted to Liege, because the Beauvais airport had closed already after the aircraft had left Fes three hours late. Furious as they were, they refused to disembark and stayed in the plane ...

An Air Baltic flight from Copenhagen to Riga was delayed due to a breakdown of the radar and air navigation system and a partial closure of the air space above Malmö. After more than two hours though the air space was open again, the airline decided to cancel the flight ...

Upon reference by a Hungarian court (Budapesti II. és III. kerületi bíróság) the ECJ decided on Nov. 12, 2010 that a national court must investigate of its own motion whether a term conferring exclusive territorial jurisdiction in a contract concluded between a seller or supplier and a consumer, which is ...

The European Union has agreed to lift its visa requirement for citizens of Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina by mid-December. The EU decision means holders of biometric Bosnian and Albanian passports can travel freely for up to three months in the "Schengen zone", which includes all EU member states with the exception ...

All the main political parties in Scotland agree that the country needs to tackle its long unhealthy relationship with alcohol and on 10th November the Scottish Parliament approved the Alcohol etc (Scotland) Bill. However, the Scottish National Party (SNP) Government was disappointed that the main opposition parties failed to back ...

On October 29,2010, two suspicious packages originating in Yemen were found in the United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates. Following this incident, the Canadian Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and the Canadian Minister of Public Safety announced new aviation security measures to further enhance the safety and security of ...

The watchdog groupElectronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has filed a law suit in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals urging the court to suspend the advanced imaging technology (AIT) body scanner program. Well-known consumer advocate Ralph Nader has also joined EPIC in urging Senate hearings on full body scanners ...

A New York State Supreme Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of online travel agencies, ASTA and the U.S. Tour Operators Association challenging the legality and constitutionality of New York's amended hotel occupancy tax.The lawsuit targeted a city law, enacted in September of last year, introducing ...

Italy was unanimously elected to the presidency of World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) during the 89th council meeting on the island of Kish (Iran) and will exercise its mandate, renewable, for the entire 2011. The ceremony of installation in office of Ms. Brambilla, as chairman of the executive council will be ...

UNWTO has called on delegates attending the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) in Nagoya, Japan, to recognize tourism's role in safeguarding biodiversity as they shape and agree on a global strategy to save the world's ecosystems. As part of the ...