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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

SES II is a package of regulations aiming to improve the performance of the European aviation system in key areas such as safety, capacity, flight, cost efficiency and environmental sustainability, through the coordination and supervision of Member States' air traffic and the implementation of common rules and performance targets.Binding targets ...

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, ...

In a recent decision of March 5, 2009 (6 U 221/08) German appelate court Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main held that it is lawful to run an internet portal which uses a webcrawler to search the online offers of an airline, displays destinations, flight details and prices and provides for online ...

The state Supreme Court ruled last Monday that a law allowing Superferry to operate before completion of a related environmental study was unconstitutional because of being written specifically for Superferry. The court said the state Constitution prevents the Legislature from favoring a single entity. However, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle announced ...

During the Southeast Asian Conference on Child Sex Tourism in Bali, last week ASEAN countries promised greater efforts to free the region from child sex tourism.As reportesd by the Jakarta Post, over 60,000 children in the region are being exploited in commercial sexual businesses.

According to the EU Press Room, "The lost luggage phenomenon when travelling by air has been brought to the attention of the European Commission. Some recent figures published by the UK Air Transport Council (AUC) confirm the concerns expressed by Vice-President Tajani's, in charge of Transport. Vice-President Tajani decided today ...

Case C‑345/06 (Gottfried Heinrich), Judgment as of 10. March 2009Preliminary ruling in the course of an action brought by Mr Heinrich against the Austrian authorities after they had refused him access on board an aeroplane on the ground that he was carrying tennis racquets in his cabin baggage, those objects ...

Upon decision of Canadian Supreme Court, refusing to consider the carriers' appeal of a federal order, Canada's two largest airlines have to give disabled and morbidly obese passengers an extra free seat on domestic flights. The Supreme Court, by convention, gave no reason for the refusal to intervene in the ...

According to the EU Press Room, "The European Commission adopted today a Regulation on the introduction into the EU of animal products by travellers. The Regulation will enter into force on 1 May 2009 and replace the rules that are currently in place. This new legislation intends to clearly explain ...

Four passengers on a Continental Airlines jet that veered off a Denver runway in December have filed suit against the jet's maker. The lawsuits filed in federal court in Denver allege that Boeing Co. negligently designed and manufactured certain parts of the plane, including its "directional control mechanisms." The complaints ...

The U.S. Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and State (DOS) announced on Feb. 26, 2009 that their efforts have enabled the departments to jointly certify to Congress that all statutory criteria have been met prior to implementing the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) at land and sea borders on June ...

Plaintiff took a package tour to Mauritius. Upon return on Aug. 18, 2005 he immedaitely complained with the tour operator about malperfomance of the package tour contract. About one year later, on Aug. 11, 2006 he filed a law suit claiming for (partly) repayment of the package tour price and ...

A key sticking point in negotiations over Open Skies II, which are set to resume in May, is the issue of foreign ownership of U.S. airlines.The competing views of Europe and the U.S. seemed to drift further apart this month: while in the U.S., Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of ...

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof (Germany) lodged on 2 Dec 2008 - Sylvia Bienek v Condor Flugdienst GmbHCase C-525/08Questions referred1. Does a change in reservation to another flight constitute a situation covered by Article 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance ...

After years of underpaying transient occupancy taxes on hotel rooms, U.S. top online travel companies are being forced to pay the City of Anaheim the difference, plus penalties and interest, said a spokesman for the city's legal counsel. The US$21.3 million ruling is expected to influence a host of similar ...

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), a forum for business leaders in the Travel & Tourism industry issued an official statement setting out the vision and commitment of Travel & Tourism industry leaders to tackle Climate Change as one of the single biggest threats to the world.The report entitled ...

The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) has called for stronger controls after the grounding of an expedition cruise ship in Antarctica this week, the fourth such accident in that region over the last three years. ASOC said said Tuesday's grounding of Quark Expeditions' Ocean Nova was cause for concern. ...

Due to a report by The Sunday Times, British government is building a secret database to track and hold the international travel records of all Britons. The intelligence centre will store names, addresses, telephone numbers, seat reservations, travel itineraries and credit card details for all passenger movements in and out ...

The Florida attorney general's office has reached an agreement with Oceana Cruises and Classic Cruise Holdings in which the cruise lines will refund a total of more than $3 million to cruisers who were charged fuel surcharges. The agreements were reached after the Attorney General's Economic Crimes Division received several ...

Legislation that would ban smoking on Waikiki Beach advanced in Hawaii Legislature Supporters say the bill could help boost tourism, while opponents say it will hinder an already struggling industry. "The beach is littered with cigarette butts, and this will make a statement that we want to keep one of ...

On Nov. 6, 2008 Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) decided to file a reference for Preliminary Ruling to European Court of Justice in regard to interpretation of Reg. 44/2001 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, asking whethera journey on a cargo ship (including ...