India's Supreme Court has issued a notice to a state-run airline asking it to explain why an air steward was sacked for wearing a big moustache.Victor Joynath De was grounded by Indian - formerly called Indian Airlines- in 2001 for refusing to shave off his handlebar moustache. He had earlier ...

According to the EU Press Room, "The Court of Justice today confirmed that Greece has failed to comply with a Commission decision adopted in 2005 finding that it had granted illegal and incompatible aid to Olympic Airways Services and Olympic Airlines, and asking for such aid to be recovered.Vice-President Jacques ...

The personal spaceflight business — also known as space tourism — will face high hurdles from the insurance business in its early years, according to several industry experts.Policy costs will be extremely high until companies fly without incident at least three times. And a string of early failures may well ...

Federal officials are working to finish a proposed rule that threatens to dramatically alter the itineraries of many foreign-flagged cruise ships, such as those operated by Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean and others, by requiring much longer port stays.The proposed change would require 48-hour stays, instead of the usual four- ...

As reported by Christopher Bodeen and Alan Scher Zagier at The Wenatchee World Online, "BEIJING — They're paralyzed from diving accidents and car crashes, disabled by Parkinson's, or blind. With few options available at home in America, they search the Internet for experimental treatments — and often land on Web ...

No ID? No problem. In Sweden, all the identification you need to board an airplane is now at your fingertips—literally. Scandinavian Airlines Sweden (SAS) now allows travelers with luggage to board domestic flights by providing a scan of their index fingerprint.The system is designed to address a European Union aviation ...

The Board of Airline Representatives in the Netherlands (Barin) is taking the Dutch government to court to challenge the environmental tax set to take effect July 1, an Air France-KLM spokesperson told Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad.The court case is expected to begin March 5, with Schiphol Group perhaps also slated ...

The commission published a summary on the basis of the contributions to the Working document that was published on the SANCO web page in July 2007. All replies sent in until mid November have been considered.65 responses were received of which 12 from Member States, 1 from an EFTA state, ...

The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) filed comments yesterday with the Department of Transportation (DOT) on the issue of Oversales and Denied Boarding Compensation. ASTA provided the DOT with numerous recommendations for updating the more than 20-year old rules that currently govern the process of Denied Boarding Compensation practices.In ...

Despite repercussions of the ongoing global credit crunch, Travel&Tourism; leaders revealed that the industry will moderately be impacted and signalled continued growth rates for 2008 at a reduced pace.According to the recent research produced by the World Travel&Tourism; Council (WTTC) and Oxford Economics (OE), Travel&Tourism; entered this recent period on ...

While Austrian Government is still struggling with a smoking ban in restaurants, the chairman of the Hotel Association on Wednesday hurried ahead with the proposal to introduce a general smoking ban in all Austrian hotels. The idea was immediately citisized by the tourism section of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, ...

According to the EU Press Room, "The European Commission has released a comprehensive compilation of existing studies on external costs in the transport sector. This handbook, jointly prepared by several transport research institutes, summarises the state of the art as regards the valuation of external costs. The Commission intends to ...

As stated by the EU Press Room, "Today, the European Commission has adopted an agenda for general and business aviation in Europe. For the first time since the creation of the EU internal aviation market, the Commission has studied this sector, quantified its value and identified the challenges that it ...

As reported by Ed Perkins, at the Chicago Tribune, "The law requiring surviving airlines to carry travelers with tickets on any failed line expired and Congress did not extend it. If you hold a ticket on a line that fails, you can usually get your money back. But other airlines ...

According to iafrica.com, "Rwandan companies using the country's famous mountain gorillas' image for marketing purposes will have to pay a tax aimed at financing the endangered species protection, officials announced this week.'We are launching this campaign to generate income earmarked for the species' protection,' said Fidele Ruzigandekwe, in charge of ...

As reported by Hemendra Singh Bartwal, of the Hindustan Times, "Rising Incidents of crimes against foreign tourists has pushed the Tourism Ministry to send a communication to all states asking them to speed up the process of creating a special tourist police force.The urgency was highlighted by an incident in ...

As reported by Colin Brown, at The Independent, "Airlines should be forced by a change in the law to provide two inches more leg room on board passenger jets, a cross-party committee of peers said in a report on air travel.The Lords committee on science and technology accused the Civil ...

As stated by the EU Press Room, "Today, the European Commission adopted a regulation allowing air passengers arriving from Singapore and transferring at an EU airport to take duty-free liquids on-board their connecting flights. When changing planes in the EU, these passengers will no longer be obliged to abandon liquids ...

Organized by IBCDTur - the Brazilian Institute of Tourism Sciences and Law, next week in Piracicaba SP, will take place the 5th Editur and the 1st Ibero-American Seminar of Tourism Law that will deal with the "Propedeutics and Tourism Law: epistemological foundations". Sponsored by the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism, this ...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport (Dulles). The change is part of the department's upgrade from two- to 10-fingerprint collection in order to enhance security and fingerprint matching accuracy.Department of State (DOS) consular officers and ...

According to the EU Press Room, "Every Union citizen travelling to or living in a third country where his or her Member State is not represented is entitled to protection by the diplomatic and consular authorities of any Member State on the same conditions as the nationals of that State. ...

As reported by Jane Kay, at the San Francisco Chronicle, "Air travel contributes to global warming, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should curb carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted from airplanes, according to petitions expected to be filed today by California, four other states and three environmental groups.California ...

The European Union agreed Friday new measures to make airline ticket costs more transparent by obliging companies to included all taxes and charges in the headline price first shown to consumers.The measures, agreed Friday by the EU's 27 member states in concert with the European Parliament, are based on the ...

As stated by the EU Press Room, "Today, the European Commission proposed to open negotiations with Israel on a comprehensive aviation agreement. As part of the process of creating a Common Aviation Area with its Eastern and Southern neighbours by 2010, the Commission's aim is to establish an open aviation ...

Airlines may be required to publish a detailed breakdown of their prices, in addition to a fully inclusive price, if a new law being considered by Europe's legislators gets the green light, risking further confusion for passengers. The 60-strong airline members of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) have been ...

According to the EU Press Room, "The European Commission adopted today a proposal to simplify and modernise the two-decade-old rules for computerised reservation systems (CRS). These systems are used by travel agents to book airline tickets on behalf of their customers. The revised rules will allow CRSs and subscribing travel ...

As reported by Patrick McGreevy and Jean-Paul Renaud, at the Los Angeles Times, "In December 2006, the average daily rate for a mid-size rental car booked via the Internet at Los Angeles International Airport was about $60. A month later, the rate had climbed to $79, according to a study ...

Airline passenger complaints to the U.S. Department of Transportation are rolling in by the thousands this year, but fliers waiting for government help may be disappointed.This year, the DOT's enforcement office has closed just 25 consumer protection investigations with so-called consent orders, or settlement agreements, with the violators. As part ...

Commercial Court Vienna has referred a case to European Court of Justice for preliminary ruling on the interpretation of Reg. 261/2004, specificly the differentiation between "cancellation" and "delay" as well as the term "extraordinary circumstances" in regard to technical defects of an aircraft.ECJ admitted the motion (file no. C-432/07) and ...

World Travel Market is hosting a major UNWTO Ministers' Summit on Tourism and Climate Change today, Tuesday 13 November. More than 100 Ministers will be asked to consider and ratify a Declaration recommended by environmental experts at the UNWTO's Summit on Climate Change in Davos, Switzerland in October.The Ministerial Declaration ...