1. YOUR PACKAGE TOUR CONTRACT:
When you make a booking you guarantee that you have the authority to accept and do accept on behalf of your party the terms of these booking conditions. On receipt of a signed booking form and deposit, we will issue a confirmation invoice. A contract will exist as soon as we issue our confirmation invoice. This contract is made on the terms of these booking conditions, which are governed by Scottish Law, and the jurisdiction of the Scottish Courts.
2. YOUR FINANCIAL PROTECTION:
The air holidays and flights in this website are ATOL protected, since we hold an Air Travel Organiser’s Licence granted by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is ATOL 0251. In the unlikely event of our insolvency, the CAA will ensure that you are not stranded abroad and will arrange to refund any money you have paid to us for an advance booking. For further information, visit the ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk
We are also a member of ABTA (No. 38953).
3. YOUR PACKAGE TOUR PRICE:
When you make your booking you must pay the deposit amount of £75.00 per person. The balance of the price of your travel arrangements must be paid no later than 8 weeks prior to departure. If the deposit and/or balance is not paid in time, we shall cancel your travel arrangements. If the balance is not paid in time we shall retain your deposit.
The price of your travel arrangements was calculated on 5/08/06 using exchange rates of €1.47 to £1.00.
The price of your travel arrangements can be varied due to changes in transportation costs such as fuel, airfares and any other airline cost changes which are part of the contract between airlines (and their agents) and the tour operator or organiser. Also government action such as changes in VAT or any other government imposed changes and currency changes in relation to an exchange rate variation.
In the case of any small variation, up to an amount equivalent to 2% of the price of your travel arrangements, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges, will be absorbed or retained. Larger variations in excess of 2% will be surcharged for increases or refunded for reductions. In either case there will be an administration charge of £1.00 per person together with an amount to cover agents’ commission. If this means that you have to pay an increase of more than 10% of the price of your travel arrangements, you may cancel your travel arrangements and receive a full refund of all monies paid, except for any amendment charges. We will consider an appropriate refund of insurance premiums paid if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy. Should you decide to cancel for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the issue date printed on your final invoice. Whether you cancel or not you will also be entitled, on the terms set out in respect of major changes in paragraph 6 below, to accept an offer of alternative travel arrangements from us if we are able to do so and compensation as set out below.
Please note that travel arrangements are not always purchased in local currency and some apparent changes have no impact on the price of your travel due to contractual and other protection in place.
4. CREDIT CARD CHARGE :
There is an additional 3% charge on all credit card payments. Debit card and payments by cheque are not subject to an additional charge.
5. IF YOU CHANGE YOUR BOOKING:
If, after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you wish to change your travel arrangements in any way, for example your chosen departure date or accommodation, we will do our utmost to make these changes but it may not always be possible. Any request for changes to be made must be in writing from the person who signed the booking form. For an amendment a charge will be made as follows:
6. IF YOU CANCEL YOUR PACKAGE TOUR:
You, or any member of your party, may cancel your travel arrangements at any time. Written notification from the person who made the booking or your travel agent on your behalf must be received at our office. Since we incur costs in cancelling your travel arrangements, you will have to pay the applicable cancellation charges up to the maximum shown in clause 7. We will endeavour to reimburse any monies due within 7 working days of receiving your written notification. All refunds will be made by cheque.
Note: If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.
7. IF WE CHANGE OR CANCEL YOUR PACKAGE TOUR:
It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your travel arrangements, but we do plan the arrangements many months in advance. Occasionally, we may have to make changes and we reserve the right to do so at any time. Most of these changes will be minor and we will advise you of them at the earliest possible date. We also reserve the right in any circumstances to cancel your travel arrangements.. However, we will not cancel your travel arrangements less than 8 weeks before your departure date, except for reasons of force majeure or failure by you to pay the final balance. If we are unable to provide the booked travel arrangements, you can either have a refund of all monies paid or accept an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard from us, if available (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value). If it is necessary to cancel your travel arrangements, we will pay to you compensation as set out in this clause.
Please note that carriers such as Airlines used in the brochure may be subject to change. Such a change is deemed to be a minor change. Other examples of minor changes include alteration of your outward/return flights by less than 12 hours, changes to aircraft type, change of accommodation to another of the same standard.
If we make a major change to your holiday, we will inform you as soon as reasonably possible if there is time before your departure. You will have the choice of either accepting the change of arrangements, accepting an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard from us if available (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value), or cancelling your booked holiday and receiving a full refund of all monies paid. In all cases, except where the major change arises due to reasons of force majeure, we will pay compensation as detailed below:
Period before departure within which notice of Cancellation or major change is received by us or notified to you If we make a major change to your package tour you will receive from us: If you cancel your package tour you will pay us a cancellation charge of:
The compensation that we offer does not exclude you from claiming more if you are entitled to do so.
Force Majeure: This means that we will not pay you compensation if we have to cancel or change your travel arrangements in any way because of unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control. These can include, for example, war, riot, industrial dispute, terrorist activity and its consequences, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions.
8. IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT:
If you have a problem or cause for dissatisfaction during your package tour, please inform the relevant supplier (e.g. your hotelier) and our local representative immediately. This will give us the opportunity to put things right on site. If you remain dissatisfied you must contact our Edinburgh office during working hours 09.00-17.30 on +44 131 555 5888 or alternatively contact our ‘out of hours’ contact number on +44 772 186 5179. We will then follow up with our local representative onsite to endeavour to resolve the issue. If your complaint is not resolved locally, please follow this up within 28 days of your return home by writing to our Edinburgh office giving your booking reference and all other relevant information. This will assist us to quickly identify your concerns and speed up our response to you.
It is strongly suggested that you communicate any complaint to the supplier of the services in question as well as to our representative without delay and complete a report form whilst on tour.
If you fail to follow this simple procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were in resort and this may affect your rights under this contract.
9. WHAT HAPPENS TO COMPLAINTS:
We will endeavour to resolve any complaints on an amicable and fair basis. In the unlikely event any disputes arising out of, or in connection with, this contract cannot be amicably settled, these may be referred to arbitration, if you so wish, under a special Scheme arranged by the Association of British Travel Agents, and administered independently by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. The scheme provides for a simple and inexpensive method of arbitration on documents alone with restricted liability on the customer in respect of costs. Full details will be provided on request or can be obtained from the ABTA website (www.abta.com). The Scheme does not apply to claims for an amount greater than £5,000 per person. There is also a limit of £25,000 per booking form. Neither does it apply to claims which are solely in respect of physical injury or illness or their consequences. The Scheme can however deal with compensation claims which include an element of minor injury or illness subject to a limit of £1,000 on the amount the arbitrator can award per person in respect of this element. The application for arbitration and Statement of Claim must be received by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators within nine months of the date of return from the holiday.
10. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU:
(i) We accept responsibility for ensuring that your travel arrangements, which you book with us, are supplied as described in the booking form. If any part of your travel arrangements are not provided as promised, due to the fault of our employees, agents or suppliers we will pay you appropriate compensation if this has affected the enjoyment of your travel arrangements. Subject to paragraphs (ii) and (iii) below our liability in all cases shall be limited to a maximum of the cost of your tour package, any directly attributable expenses and £50 per person .
(ii) We accept responsibility for death, injury or illness caused by the negligent acts and/or omissions of our employees or agents, our suppliers and sub-contractors, whilst acting within the scope of, or in the course of their employment in the provision of your travel arrangements. We will accordingly pay to you such damages as might have been awarded in such circumstances under Scottish Law or the law you have chosen under clause 1 above and subject to clause (iii) below.
(iii) The amount of compensation to which you are entitled will be limited in accordance with and/or in an identical manner to:
(a) The contractual terms of the companies that provide the transportation for your travel arrangements. These terms are incorporated into this contract; and
(b) Any relevant international convention, for example the Montreal Convention in respect of travel by air, the Athens Convention in respect of travel by sea, the Berne Convention in respect of travel by rail and the Paris Convention in respect of the provision of accommodation, which limit the amount of compensation that you can claim for death, injury, delay to passengers and loss, damage and delay to luggage. We are to be regarded as having all benefit of any limitation of compensation contained in these or any conventions.
You can ask for copies of the transport companies' contractual terms, or the international conventions, from our office.
(iv) Under EU law you have rights in some circumstances to refunds and/or compensation from your airline in cases of denied boarding, cancellation or delay to flights. Full details of these rights will be publicised at EU airports and will also be available from airlines. However reimbursement in such cases is the responsibility of the airline and will not automatically entitle you to a refund of your holiday cost from us. Your right to a refund and/or compensation from us is set out in clause 6. If your airline does not comply with these rules you should complain to the Air Transport Users' Council on 020 7240 6061 www.auc.org.uk
11. FLIGHT DELAYS:
In the event of a flight being delayed we will arrange for the following to be provided, whenever practical, and subject to the airport being able to cater for this: - over 3 hours delay, passengers will receive light refreshments and for delays exceeding 6 hours, passengers will receive a main meal. In the event of a longer delay, wherever possible, passengers will receive meals and accommodation appropriate for the time of day.
12. PASSPORT, VISA AND IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS:
Your specific passport and visa requirements, and other immigration requirements are your responsibility and you should confirm these with the relevant Embassies and/or Consulates. We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel because you have not complied with any passport, visa or immigration requirements.
You must ensure that all names provided on the booking form are as shown on each individuals passport.
13. HEALTH & SAFETY:
Online medical advice for travellers can be found at www.doh.gov.uk. Otherwise for advice regarding your journey please contact your GP or the Department of Health, Health Literature Help Line on freephone 0800 555777.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) issues up to date information on safety issues for many countries worldwide. Contact the FCO Travel Advice line on 020 7238 4503 or online at www.fco.gov.uk/travel.
14. DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998:
In order to process your booking and to ensure that your travel arrangements run smoothly and meet your requirements we need to use the information you provide such as name, address, credit card details, any special needs/dietary requirements etc. We take full responsibility for ensuring that proper security measures are in place to protect your information. We must pass the information on to the relevant suppliers of your travel arrangements such as your tour operator, airlines, hotels, transport companies etc. The information may also be provided to security or credit checking companies, public authorities such as customs/immigration if required by them, or as required by law. Additionally, where your holiday is outside the European Economic Area (EEA), controls on data protection in your destination may not be as strong as the legal requirements in this country. We will not however, pass any information onto any person not responsible for part of your travel arrangements. This applies to any sensitive information that you give to us such as details of any disabilities, or dietary/religious requirements. (If we cannot pass this information to the relevant suppliers, whether in the EEA or not, we cannot make your booking. In making this booking, you consent to this information being passed on to the relevant persons.) Usually your tour operator or other principal will pass this information onto their suppliers once we have provided it to them. The tour operator or other principal’s use of your information is subject to their policy, both in respect of your booking and any future marketing, and is their responsibility. Please ask either us or them for a copy of this if you would like to see it. You are entitled to a copy of your information held by us. If you would like to see this please ask us.
15. MARKETING INFORMATION:
We will hold your information, where collected by us, and may use it to inform you of offers in the future, but will not pass your details onto any 3rd parties for marketing purposes. If you do not wish to receive such approaches in the future, please contact us stating that you do not want to receive information, detailing your name/company name and address