Travel Laws

(Dive Travel Business News - March 13, 2011) -- Travel attorney and consultant Jeff Miller has launched a blog for travel agents and consumers with a mix of travel industry commentary and tips for travelers. Miller’s Travel Musings covers a cross-section of timely issues such as the unrest in Egypt, Cuba travel and weather-related travel woes.

Miller represents travel agents, corporations, suppliers and consortia in diverse matters related to the travel industry, including minimizing risks (of what you sell and to whom), incorporation matters, mergers and acquisitions, contract negotiations, and creation of strategic marketing and business plans. He also speaks before industry audiences, both in smaller workshop sessions as well as keynote venues on timely travel topics. Miller is also the legal editor of Agent@Home magazine. For more information, visit Miller's Travel Musings.

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(Dive Travel Business News - May 11, 2010 ) -- You've now heard of the "3-hour rule". With a few security-related exemptions, an airline must allow customers to get off the plane — or risk receiving fines of up to $27,500 per passenger to be paid to the government — at the three-hour point of a tarmac delay. 

But it's not just the tarmac delay rule that took effect April 29, 2010, but one of a series of new DOT regulations designed to protect commercial airline passengers.The Department of Transportations' new rule on tarmac delays is part of an 81-page document detailing DOT’s new Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections.  In the document, other regulations are found that apply more broadly and require carriers to be more truthful about flight delays and take more responsibility when things go wrong.

Here are some highlights of the DOT legislation. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - May 6, 2010 ) -- On Thursday April 29, 2010, new US Transportation Department legislation was put into effect that requires all U.S. airlines to deplane passengers after 3 hours or face potential fines of up to $27,500 per passenger. International airlines are not subject to the 3-hour delay rule, even if they land or takeoff from U.S. airports. The rule applies only to domestic flights and will not affect international flights. 

It all started last August when a Continental Express jet with 47 passengers was diverted from Minneapolis due to bad weather and was stranded overnight in the plane Rochester, Minn. some 50 yards from the terminal gate:   The horror stories emminating from that incident - airline passengers young and old, stranded on the tarmac for hours without food or water, without access to their medications or sanitary bathroom conditions - prompted  the Transportation Department to draw up the new 3-hour tarmac delay rules, which were approved in December 2009 and are now in effect.

Here's is a Summary of the 3-Hour Rule: read more »

(DiveTravelBusinessNews.com - Nov 30, 2009) -- UK Telegraph reporter Gill Charleton recently caused a stir in the travel world when he reported that the popular TripAdvisor website was promoting questionable tour operators. While the ground tour operators cited were located in Florence Italy, the story raises questions about unlicensed tour operators using trusted sites on the Internet to advertise their services. These ground operators lack basic public liability insurance and should something unfortunate happen, travelers using such tour operators are usually not covered under their own travel insurance.

The source of the problem lies with reviewers at the TripAdvisor.com website, and travelers in general, who are unaware that many guided ground tours are operating outside the law and without insurance. Many of these tours are picked up outside a hotel, the traveler pays cash and the company works from a cellphone, not a bricks and mortar operation. Travelers should check to see if a company is legitimate and has insurance before booking.

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(Sydney Morning Herald - May 29, 2009) -- The travel industry has been warned there will be no grace period for changes to the Trade Practices Act to outlaw component pricing, by which a supplier advertises a price that doesn't include additional taxes and charges.

The changes were enacted last week but had been in the pipeline for three years, since they were first proposed by the previous federal government.

Two industries travel and automobiles were singled out as the biggest users of component pricing in Australia, even though three of the four domestic airlines have voluntarily observed a pricing-transparency code for most of the past three years.

Now, the agency that will enforce the new legislative changes, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, says no mercy will be shown to lawbreakers.

"It's not as if it has crept up on people without notice, without warning," says ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel. read more »

(June 3, 2009 - DTN) - Travel Agent Central - 

Regardless of destination, purpose, or price range, every traveler has the same goal for their trip: they want it to be perfect. Oftentimes, however, despite the best effort of a travel agent to plan and prepare the ideal itinerary, something unexpected happens. If the result of this unintended event is personal injury or property damage to the client, he or she will look for someone to blame. Suddenly, the travel agent becomes a convenient target for litigation and the friendly client turns into an angry claimant. Although the law recognizes the responsibility of an agent to a client under the proper circumstances, the law also recognizes the right of the agent to disclaim certain liability. read more »

(May 22, 2009 - DTN) - Travel Weekly - This month, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration officially rolled out the first public phase of its Secure Flight program, which requires domestic airlines to start collecting more precise passenger name identification information.

That, of course, means that travel agents, GDSs, online travel companies and myriad other links in the distribution chain must fall into compliance, though when and how are not really clear.

The TSA says it needs the precise names of passengers to expedite checking travel documents for security screening measures. At the moment, though, it’s all something of a fire drill. There’s no need to worry if names fail to match up exactly on various travel documents, because the TSA isn’t actually checking yet — and it won’t be checking for a while, though no one is really sure how long a while might be. read more »

(April 17, 2008 - LA Times) -- Airlines were ordered Wednesday to pay passengers who are involuntarily bumped from flights as much as $800, the latest sign of a get-tough attitude toward the nation’s air carriers.

The new rule doubling the maximum compensation for bumped passengers, to take effect next month, is part of a package of measures announced by the Transportation Department to strengthen consumer protections and ease flight delays.

Ticket prices are expected to spike, again, as a result of another rule designed to ease congestion tied to the New York area’s clogged airports. Transportation officials also announced plans to add new routes out of the New York area.

The bumping rule, in the works for months, will take effect at a time when U.S. airlines are caught in a storm of bad news concerning aircraft safety, maintenance, flight cancellations and poor treatment of passengers. read more »

(May 28, 2008 - OSSN) -- The rules governing travel ID for international trips to and from the United States have changed frequently since the 9/11 attacks. The best advice to your clients is to recommend that they secure valid passports as soon as possible.  As the new rules might change down the road, the passport will continue to be the gold standard for travel ID to and from America’s borders.

Here is an overview of the New Passport Rules:

Passengers traveling by air: Now, all U.S. citizens (including children) must present a passport or another approved type of secure travel document when they enter any U.S. gateway via air. Don’t worry about the “secure travel document” comment, unless your clients serve in the military or meet other special conditions; the basic rule now is presenting a passport when clients return to the U.S.A. via air. read more »

(April 23, 2008 - USA Today) -- If there was ever a time when airline passengers wished they had a secret weapon in case the carrier leaves them stranded, it’s now.

Fliers could see more disruptions, similar to those experienced by more than 300,000 people on American Airlines two weeks ago, as the Federal Aviation Administration finishes a second phase of maintenance records audits through June 30. United, Delta and Southwest have also grounded planes within the past month.

Rule 240 supposedly offers fliers a remedy. When invoked, the rule is believed to make ticket agents automatically rebook a stranded passenger on another flight — even on another airline. 

But it’s more complicated than that, say travel agents, travel law experts, frequent fliers and airline officials.

While veteran airline agents usually know the term, mentioning Rule 240 by itself won’t “produce any effect whatsoever,” says Tim Wagner, spokesman for American Airlines. “That’s an urban legend.” read more »