The first wave of strikes at British Airways is only a few days away after Unite, the union representing its cabin crew, announced the dates just last Friday. The announcement came after negotiations broke down between the two parties yet again.

About mid-last week it looked as though British Airways and Unite would come to an agreement to avoid industrial action. But this hope was crushed abruptly with the strike dates being announced - 3 days starting March 20 and 4 days starting March 27. Then British Airways announced on Monday the flight schedule during the first wave of strikes, which would allow about 60% of their passengers to keep their travel plans. This, however, would leave about 30,000 passengers a day out of luck.

The move to announce strike dates caused Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Transport Secretary Lord Adonis to try their hand at helping to find a resolution. Both officials appealed to Unite to reopen negotiations and even called the strike deplorable.

Then on Tuesday, Unite joint general secretary Tony Woodley said that they are ready to return to serious talks, putting an offer on the table and making it public. He stressed their desire to make sure that all of British Airways’ flights operate. The union also said that the carrier will be deceiving the traveling public if they think that the industrial action can be avoided with a worse offer. They added that there needs to be a serious way to address the cabin crew’s worries over their cost-cutting measures.

These strike talks have been going on for months, after British Airways introduced new working conditions where 14 cabin crew instead of 15 would work on long-haul flights from Heathrow Airport. The carrier has already escaped one strike, which was overturned by a High Court ruling, but it doesn’t look like they will be able to avoid this one unless both sides finally back down a little.

Air France was ordered by a court judge on Thursday to pay over $1 million (2 million reais) worth of compensation to the family of a victim who died in the June 1, 2009 plane crash off the coast of Brazil. Flight 447 was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when is crashed into the Atlantic, killing all 228 people on board.

One of the passengers was prosecutor Marcelle Lima, 41, on whose parents were financially dependent. Her family sued Air France for compensation, and Judge Mauro Nicolau ruled that the airline has to pay 500,000 reais a month in the form of moral damage payments, which are to be made to Lima’s siblings.

However, Air France and their insurer Axa don’t agree with the order and are planning to appeal the ruling. Axa said in a statement that the committee created after the crash to define the criteria for fair compensation should make the decision on this case. The committee consists of Brazil’s government, insurers and associations of victims’ families.

Meanwhile, investigators still don’t know what caused the crash, as they haven’t found the aircraft’s black box yet. This is the first time in 3 decades that a black box hasn’t been found after a plane crashed, even though search teams from around the world have helped look for it.

For now the cause will remain a mystery, but they aren’t giving up yet. On March 25 they plan to have a team of robots scavenge the ocean floor where the crash occurred, which will be the third search. The area they will cover spans about 800 square miles.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a total of $787,500 in maintenance fines on American Airlines Friday over violations. The US carrier says that they will review the penalties being proposed and meet with the watchdog to talk about them.

In a statement, American Airlines also said that they are very proud of their safety record and the commitment to safety put forth by their employees every day. Safety is fundamental to the airline’s culture and their success, the statement added, as they are the only US airline to continue handling the majority of its own heavy maintenance with FAA certified mechanics.

The fines come from 3 incidents that started in March 2007, during which American Airlines didn’t follow a directive on inspecting rudder components of some of their Boeing 757s, says the FAA. They said that 4 of the aircraft didn’t comply with airworthiness requirements because of this. Then the following month, the carrier let one of their planes operate 10 passenger flights after mechanics found a problem with one of the central air data computers on the plane - the flight crew was led to believe that the computers were working right at the time. Finally, in May, mechanics returned a MD-82 aircraft to service although many of its maintenance steps weren’t checked off, and the plane was allowed to fly twice with passengers on board.

It was just last month that the FAA proposed $2.9 million in fines against American Eagle Airlines, which is an American Airlines sister company. The carrier is accused of operating over 1,000 flights with aircraft whose main landing gear doors weren’t repaired to the agency’s standards.

After over 3 weeks of trial, a jury awarded a hotel baker $3 million. Moises Mendez, a 46-year-old immigrant and Washington Heights resident, repeatedly filed complaints with Human Resources at the Times Square Westin Hotel about discrimination committed against him by hotel workers due to his Ecuadorian origin, Hispanic race and surgical scars. The claims alone weren’t what made the jury’s mind though.

Apparently, after making the allegations to Human Resources, Starwood Hotels, the Westin Hotel’s parent company, secretly installed a hidden camera near Mendez’s workstation in the Westin Hotel kitchen. The baker told the court that the company spied on him and wanted to find ways to get rid of him, adding that it just shows what he went through. The jury found that the company unlawfully retaliated against the baker, who they saw as a dedicated and hardworking employee.

Mendez was awarded $1 million for his pain, suffering and emotional distress, while Starwood is being made to pay another $2 million in punitive damages because of their unlawful actions. After the trial, the baker said that he put his faith in the American justice system, and he looks forward to going back to work, adding that it’s like a big building has been lifted off his shoulders. Ken Thompson, the baker’s lawyer, said that Starwood was outrageous for secretly installing the camera in retaliation for the filed discrimination allegations to Human Resources.

However, not everyone is ready to let the issue go. The lawyers representing Starwood Hotels say that they will seek to have the ruling overturned, as they claim the camera was suppose to be protection for Mendez and his union approved it.

Officials say that the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and Casino’s chief operating officer, Randy Kwasniewski, was found dead at his home Tuesday. Police are said to have been dispatched to respond to reports that a man was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In a statement the casino released, they expressed sadness and offered prayers for his family. However, they didn’t give any details about what happened.

Bill Cassell, a Las Vegas police officer, says that officers went to the house just before 10am after reports of a man found dead from a gunshot wound. Detectives were called to Kwasniewski’s home later, according to Lt. George Castro. No other details were available.

David Chesnoff, a family attorney and friend, asked for privacy for the family. He said that Kwasniewski was loyal to his friends and family, hardworking and kind. The family asks that everyone respect their privacy, he added.

The Hard Rock property is owned by Morgans Hotel Group, a New York-based company, and an equity partner. The group’s chief executive, Fred Kleisner, said that Kwasniewski was a dedicated father and husband and a valued colleague. He continued that he had worked with Kwasniewski since 1995, saying that they were more than just colleagues; they were friends. Kleisner praised him for his focus, work ethic and knowledge, adding that they will all mourn his loss.

Kwasniewski, 55, started his career with Hyatt Hotels in 1974 and also worked at Starwood Hotels & Resorts as an executive. He had been president of the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, as well as Morgans Hotel Group’s Las Vegas division president, since late 2006.

Marriott International said on Tuesday that they plan to double their European presence. The group operates 174 hotels and 40,000 rooms in Europe already, but they want to have 80,000 rooms by 2015. Chief operating officer Arne Sorenson says that they are very happy to see the growth to continue into emerging markets and secondary cities in Europe after they already have hotels in gateway cities. The company has about 30 projects in the pipeline already, including hotels being constructed in Budapest, Moscow and Ankara.

Marriott International is planning to introduce two new European hotel brands. The Edition brand will be a boutique hotel brand created by both hotelier Ian Schrager and Marriott. Amy McPherson, president and managing director for Europe, believes that their new Autograph Collection will be rather attractive to travelers. This brand will give independent hotels the ability to access the company’s customer database and reservation system without having to change their names or go through expensive renovations.

The decision to focus on Europe comes after the outlook on growth in the US has declined significantly due to a rise in reluctant lenders and a fall in room rates. Hotels are having to look at other countries to build their new properties in now. Overall, there is a 36% decline of new hotels in the US from the same time last year. Even Hilton Worldwide has 37% of their pipeline going up outside the US compared to just 15% two years ago. McPherson noted that about 20% of their new hotels rooms in Europe came from 2009 conversions, while the rest are new hotels.

The World Center Hotel, which is a new hotel opening near ground zero, is trying to use the views of the World Trade Center rebuilding site as a way to attract customers. The hotel calls itself 4-stars and is still being constructed. However, they started accepting guests on the floors that are finished last month.

Club Quarters is the company opening the World Center Hotel. Vice president Cheryl Palmer sees this venture as a rebirth, and in her opinion, the location of the site is a selling point. She says that people want to be there, because they want to be near ground zero. They want to feel and celebrate it, she continued, adding that they have a very accessible view of it.

The hotel offers some rooms with windows reaching from the floor to the ceiling and open directly on the construction site. Members and guests will have access to the patio restaurant, which features views of metal scaffolding, jackhammers and giant cranes.

The Millenium Hilton, which is also close by, offers views similar to this from many of its rooms. However, general manager Jan Larsen believes that it’s too soon to incorporate the ground zero site into a marketing plan. She said that people are still sensitive to being perceived as taking advantage of the tragedy by using it as a promotion. They get customers that didn’t know how close the hotel is to the site, she added, and they get emotional - some of them say they wouldn’t have booked the hotel if they had known.

The World Center Hotel is the first hotel in the area to use the 9/11 location as a selling point to attract guests. We will see soon if their marketing strategy works or if it’s simply too soon.

A group of armed robbers raided the Grand Hyatt hotel in central Berlin on Saturday at around 1:30pm GMT. The hotel had been hosting a poker tournament, which started on Wednesday and is organized by the European Poker Tour.

According to reports, the robbery is thought to have been an attack from a German gang - 4 men and 2 lookouts who were armed with hand grenades and assault rifles. Some witnesses even claim that they had machetes. Police spokesman Carsten Mueller described the robbers as cloaked, while spokeswoman Heidi Vogt said that they were masked as well. They didn’t say how much the jackpot was that the robbers got away with, but the organizer’s website posted that it was £726,000 ($1.1 million or €800,000).

There were up to 1,000 poker players at the 5-day tournament, yet many of them had already dropped out. A lot of people that were left were injured during the panic, but none of them were serious injuries. n-tv, a private television station, was broadcasting the poker tournament live and caught the chaos on tape. It wasn’t until 4 hours later that the games were resumed.

Tobias Reinkemeier, who was participating in the poker tournament, said that panic broke out when the robbers entered the hotel where the games were being held. He said that he heard them yell armed robbery, and nobody knew what was happening. Then everyone went into a panic, he described, saying that they were jumping under tables and then trying to escape through the emergency exit.

At least three lives were not spared when a huge luxury cruise liner crashed into the pier while it was manoeuvring itself at an Egyptian Red Sea resort. The cruise liner was carrying about 1,500 passengers when the incident happened. Passengers were then given hotel accommodation and assistance in arranging their return to their home countries.

Eye witnesses of the incident assumed that the hard-hitting winds caused the massive boat to rock, causing it to bang the pier. The vessel suffered a huge two-meter wide hole in one of its sides.

The cruise ship had been on an 18-day cruise from Dubai to Savona. Police and rescuers identified the three deceased as Brazilian, Indian and Honduran nationals, though the cruise line company did not give further confirmation. The deceased are believed to be crew members of the cruise ship.

It was moreover reported that four people were hurt from the accident, three Britons and an Italian. It was not however sure whether one of those injured was a liner crew.

The vessel weighs approximately 55,000 tons and was built in 1986. It was refurbished in 2008 and resumed its cruise service with Costa Cruises in 2002. The sea vessel is one out of the 16 ships owned and operated by Costa Cruises.

Experts in the marine industry meanwhile believed that it was unlikely that strong winds could have caused the mishap. Others however said that gales could move massive vessels when they are in water. An official investigation is now underway to determine the real cause of the accident.

The Langham Hotel in London has had a rather fortune last 10 days since Amy Winehouse has been staying there. The singer has spent much than £70,000 at the hotel while she waits to move into her new £2.5 million home in Camden.

A source says that Winehouse has very expensive taste and is staying in a 2 bedroom suite with her security team. The suit is decked out with a lobby and cloakroom, 2 dressing rooms, flashy furniture, a big 4-post bed and even an Infinity bath - all for just £7,000 per night.

This isn’t all she’s been paying for at the hotel though, as she has been paying £1,250 per night per junior suite for her friends to stay there with her, according to the insider. Winehouse apparently doesn’t like to be alone, so she’s making her friends keep her company. None of them have spared any expense either, ordering drinks from the posh cocktail bar and an endless amount of stuff from room service.

Meanwhile, Blake Fielder-Civil is telling Winehouse to go to rehab. The Back to Black singer and former video production assistant got back together earlier this year after getting a divorce last year. A source says that she repeatedly tells him that she wants to marry him again, but he says he won’t do it until she cleans up her act.

In further Winehouse news, she reportedly turned Robbie Williams down flat after finding out that he wanted to do a duet with her. Her alleged response was to ask if whoever told her was f***ing joking.