TERMS AND CONDITIONS RELATING EXCLUSIVELY TO PACKAGES
YOUR PILGRIMAGE CONTRACT The contract is between The Noah Travel Group Limited a member of ABTA and the client being any person travelling or intending to travel on a tour operated by the company. A contract will exist as soon as we issue our confirmation invoice. By making a booking, the lead passenger confirms that all persons names in the booking (and their personal representatives) have agreed to be bound by these conditions and the terms of its suppliers.
YOUR FINANCIAL PROTECTION The Package Travel, Package Holiday and Package Tours Regulations 1992 require us to provide security for the monies that you pay for the package holidays booked through our company and your repatriation in the event of our insolvency. We provide this security by way of a bond held by the Civil Aviation Authority.
For injury and illness claims, you may like to use the ABTA /Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Mediation Procedure. This is a voluntary scheme and requires us to agree for mediation to go ahead the aim is to help you resolve your dispute in a quick and cost effective way. Details on request or from www.abta.com
OUR PRICE POLICY The price of your holiday will be confirmed at the time of making the booking. When you make your booking you must pay a minimum deposit of $130.00 per person (excluding infants under two years of age at the date of return). Should your booking include scheduled flights, cruises, budget flights or other special arrangements the deposit required may vary up to the full ticket price. You will be advised of the required amount at the time booking. The balance of the price of your travel arrangements must be paid at least 12 weeks before your departure date.
Balance due dates may vary where scheduled flights are included and where ticketing deadlines are unexpectedly brought forward this may result in a request for earlier payment. If the deposit and/or balance are not paid on time, we reserve the right to cancel your travel arrangements and retain your deposit. All monies you pay to the travel agent are held by them on our behalf at all times.
The price of your pimlgrimage may change after you have booked due to changes in transportation costs including the cost of fuel, dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and aboard The Genesis and exchange rates. However there will be no change within 30 days of your departure
We will absorb and you will not be charged for any increase equivalent to 2% of the price of your travel arrangements, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges. You will be charged for the amount over and above that, plus 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 will have the option of accepting a change to another holiday if we are able to offer one or cancelling and receiving 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.
Should the price of your holiday go down due to the changes mentioned above, by more than 2% of your holiday cost, then any refund due will be paid to you. However, 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.
IF YOU CHANGE YOUR BOOKING (excluding name changes) If, after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you wish to change your holiday in any way, for example your chosen date or accommodation, we will do our utmost to make these changes but it may not always be possible. Any request for changes must be made in writing from the person who made the booking or your travel agent. We will charge for any additional services facilities, or other items changed, at the price, which applies on the day the change is made.
In addition we will also charge an administration fee of $25 per person and any further cost we incur making this alteration. You should be aware that these costs could increase the closer to departure date that changes are made and you should contact us as soon as possible. Please note certain travel arrangements (e.g. apex tickets) may not be changeable after a reservation has been made and any alteration request could incur a cancellation charge of up to 100% of that part of the arrangements. Changes must be made with the Travel Agency you booked your holiday with and not with suppliers directly.
NAME CHANGES BEFORE TRAVEL Except for holidays including budget or scheduled flights if we receive notification of a change within 8 weeks of departure the charge will be $40 per name change. Any changes outside of 8 weeks will incur a charge of $30 per name change. For holidays including scheduled flights, please note that some scheduled airlines do not permit name changes for any reason. Such charges are likely to include the full costs of the flight and may be subject to space being available for a new reservation.
IF YOU CANCEL YOUR BOOKING Written notification from the person who made the booking must be received at our offices. Since we incur costs in cancelling your travel arrangements, you will have to pay the applicable cancellation charges up to the maximum shown in the table below:
Period before departure within which written cancellation is received by The Freedom Travel Group Limited Amount of cancellation charges shown as a percentage of the booking price.*
More than 84 days Deposit
57-84 days 30% or deposit if greater
29-56 days 50%
22-28 days 75%
8 - 21 days of departure 90%
7 Days or less 100%
Note: if the reason for cancellation is covered under the terms of an insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges. The full insurance premium is retained in the event of cancellation.
* Bookings that include Budget/Schedule Flights and/or cruise may incur different cancellation charges. Please enquire at the time of booking.
IF WE CHANGE OR CANCEL YOUR BOOKING
It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your travel arrangements, as we do plan the arrangements many months in advance. Occasionally we have to make changes and we reserve the right to do so at any time. Most of these changes are 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. For example, if the minimum number of clients required for a particular travel arrangement is not reached, we may have to cancel it. However, we will not cancel your travel arrangements less than 12 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 the table below.
*For children invoiced at reduced rates, credit/compensation will be paid on a pro rota basis of the adult rate.
IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT
If you have a problem during your holiday it is of the utmost importance that you immediately bring it to the attention of the relevant person (for example the resort representative, hotel manager or transport agent) who will do their best to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved locally.
Please give your booking reference and all relevant information keeping your letter concise and to the point. This will assist us to quickly identify your concerns and speed up our response to you.
It is strongly recommended that you communicate any complaint to the supplier of the services in question as well as any resort representative without delay. 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.
OUR LIABILITY TO YOU If the contract we have with you is not performed or is improperly performed by us or our suppliers we will pay you an appropriate compensation if this has affected the enjoyment of your travel arrangements. However, we will not be liable where any failure in the performance of the contract is due to: you; or a third party unconnected with the provision of the travel arrangements and where the failure is unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised; or an event which we or our suppliers, even with all due care, could not foresee or forestall.
Our liability, except in cases involving death, injury or illness, shall be limited to a maximum of 3 times the cost of your travel arrangements. Our liability will also 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.
PASSPORT, VISA, IMMIGRATION AND VACCINATION REQUIREMENTS A full British passport (valid for at least 6 months beyond the end of your holiday) is required for travel 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 or if you are not in possession of the relevant vaccination certificates. It is also your responsibility to arrange adequate insurance cover for your trip and to take relevant details of the policy with you.
EXCURSIONS Land excursions are provided for you with The Genesis. A fast powered Jet that reaches its destinations in moments. Excursions or other tours that you may choose to book or pay for whilst you are on vacation are not part of your package holiday provided by us. For any excursion or other tour that you book, your contract will be with the operator of the excursion or tour and not with us. We are not responsible for the provision of the excursion or tour or for anything that happens during the course of its provision by the operator.
TRANSPORTATION During this cruise there are portions of land travel that will require you to board an extremely fast moving jet that will take you upon mountain ridges and hover over cities. It is your responsibility to ensure that you arrive in good time to board all flights or other methods of transportation. To assist you, we will notify you of the time by which you should arrive at all points of departure. If you miss a flight or other transportation we will try to arrange alternative transportation, but reserve the right to recover from you any costs we incur in making such arrangements.
ADDITIONAL TERMS FOR CRUISE BOOKINGS It is the customer’s responsibility to settle all of their on board accounts. Children under the age of 18 will not be carried unless accompanied by an adult over the age of 21 at time of boarding who accepts responsibility for their welfare conduct and behaviour. Infants younger than 6 months at point of boarding may not be accepted on some ships, full detail is provided at booking stage and we accept no liability for incorrect information that may have been provided by you.
You must declare any pregnancy to us at the earliest opportunity as on certain cruise ships carriage of advanced pregnant women is not permitted, typically if the pregnancy is more than 24 weeks at the anticipated return date. We reserve the right to refuse passage onboard to any person who appears to be in advanced stages of pregnancy
These booking conditions are our responsibility, as your tour operator. They are not issued on behalf of and do not commit any airline whose services are used in the course of your travel arrangements. Please note that in accordance with Air Navigation Orders in order to qualify for infant status, a child must be under 2 years of age on the date of its return flight.
B. SINGLE COMPONENTS 1. PRICE CHANGES Price increases may occur any time prior to full payment being received from you, and you will be liable to pay any such increases in full. 2. TRANSFER OF BOOKINGS Transfer of any type of booking is subject to the supplier's own terms and conditions and the applicable amendment or cancellation charges. 3. CANCELLATION/AMENDMENT Bookings for Single Components may be amended or cancelled in accordance with the relevant supplier's terms and conditions and subject to the supplier's amendment and cancellation charges. In respect of accommodation only bookings, changes can be made subject to the following conditions: CHANGES TO YOUR ACCOMMODATION ONLY BOOKING MADE BY YOU Changes to booking details will be accepted subject to the following charges:
Name changes: More than 56 days notice = $15 for each name change. Less than 56 days notice = $25 per name change.
Changes of accommodation: Changes of accommodation will be permitted at a charge of $15 per accommodation change, per booking (subject to availability).
Changes to departure date: Changes of departure date will be permitted at a charge of 415 per accommodation change, per booking (subject to availability).
Reduction in number of persons in party: If the number of persons in your party is reduced, an amendment charge of £15 per person will be payable for each person who has been taken off the booking. The accommodation charges will be re-calculated. Please note that reductions in the number of persons in a booking party may result in accommodation under-occupancy supplements and higher per person price.
In addition to these charges, the accommodation proprietor may make additional charges. These will be notified at the time we are instructed to make the change to your booking. Also, if the changed arrangements are more expensive than those on the original booking you must pay the price difference. If you wish to make any further changes, other than those listed above, if the changed arrangements are more expensive than those on the original booking you must pay the price difference, plus a £15 administration fee per change, per booking. Any of the above changes made within 48 hours may incur full cancellation charges. 4. PLEASE CHECK YOUR DETAILS ARE CORRECT Please check your booking arrangements carefully to ensure that your flight timings and/or date of travel/accommodation check-in coincide with the dates of any other components you have booked. We will not be liable for any costs incurred as a result of your failure to do so. 5. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU We act solely as a booking agent for the relevant supplier, and as such, have no liability whatsoever to you for any death, personal injury or loss of whatever nature you may suffer unless caused by our own negligence.
C. FLIGHTS
1. PRICE CHANGES Price increases may occur any time prior to full payment being received from you, and you will be liable to pay any such increases in full.
2. TRANSFER OF BOOKINGS Transfer to another person will be subject to availability, the airline's own terms and conditions and any applicable amendment or cancellation charges. Please note that scheduled airlines do not allow changes and full cancellation charges may apply.
3. CANCELLATION/AMENDMENT Bookings for Flights may be amended or cancelled in accordance with the relevant supplier's terms and conditions and subject to the supplier's amendment and cancellation charges. Please note that scheduled airlines do not allow changes and full cancellation charges may apply.
4. FLIGHT AND OTHER TRAVEL TIMINGS Flight timings are provided by airlines and are subject to Air Traffic Control restrictions. All means of transportation are subject to weather conditions and the need for constant maintenance and the ability of passengers to check in on time. There is no guarantee that flights will depart at the times stated on any itinerary or tickets which you receive. All timings are estimates only, and we do not have any liability to you for any delay, which may arise, or for any schedule alterations.
5. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU Our responsibility is to make arrangements for the provision by the air carrier of air transport but we do not have any responsibility for the operation of the air transport itself. Our liability to you is restricted only to events arising from our own negligence.
6. DENIED BOARDING Where a flight ticket is downgraded or a flight cancelled, delayed, or boarding is denied by any carrier in circumstances which would entitle you to compensation under the Denied Boarding Regulations 2004, then you are obliged to claim the appropriate sums pursuant to those Regulations from the carrier. Any sums received by you in this respect constitute the full amount of your entitlement to compensation for all matters flowing from the carrier's actions and which fall within the scope of the Denied Boarding Regulations. If, for any reason, you do not claim against the carrier and make a claim for compensation from us, you must, at the time of payment of any compensation to you, make a complete assignment to us of the rights you have against the carrier in relation to the claim that gives rise to that compensation payment.
1. PAYMENT TERMS If your booking is made more than 12 weeks before the intended departure date, you must pay either:- (i) Packages - a deposit of £130 is required. Where a package includes a scheduled flight (including no frills), the full cost of the flight plus the value of the 1st night’s accommodation will be required on booking or (ii) Flights - the full fare (depending on the carrier's conditions for the travel arrangements in question), or (ii) For accommodation only a deposit to cover the value of the 1st nights accommodation or (iii) other components - if booked with accommodation these will be included within your accommodation deposit, if any component is booked without accommodation then the deposit will be £25 or full payment, whichever is less. or (iv) such other deposit as may be required by the supplier of the services for the arrangements in question. You will be advised at the time of booking what payment is required for your particular arrangements. The balance of the cost of your travel arrangements must be paid within 12 weeks before the departure date. If your booking is made within 12 weeks of your intended departure date, the total cost of your travel arrangements must be paid at the time of booking. PLEASE NOTE FAILURE TO PAY ON TIME MAY RESULT IN CANCELLATION
2. METHOD OF PAYMENT Credit Cards: We accept Barclaycard/Visa, Access/MasterCard and American Express. Customers choosing to use this method of payment will be subject to a credit card handling fee of which will be advised at the time of booking.
Debit Cards: We welcome payment by Maestro, Delta or Connect debit cards, Cheques, Bank and Building Society Drafts. The initial deposit for any telephonic or electronic booking must be paid by a credit or debit card. We will accept final payment of the balance by cheque. Cheques should be made payable to The Freedom Travel Group. Please note that we require 7 working days to clear cheques before tickets can be issued.
Cash: Please note we do not accept payment by cash for telephonic or electronic bookings.
3. INSURANCE It is a condition of our contract with you that you have suitable insurance cover for the journey. Even where we do not make insurance a condition of our contract with you, we strongly recommend that you arrange appropriate cover. Where insurance is obligatory, you must provide us with the name and address of the insurance company from which you have purchased suitable alternative cover.
4. FLIGHT RECONFIRMATION It is your responsibility to ensure that you reconfirm the departure date and times of all your flights at least 72 hours prior to departure. This is particularly important in respect of subsequent journeys after you have left the USA. Please refer to your invoice for airline contact details.
5. TICKETING Your tickets and any other documents relating to your booking will be sent to the address which you give us at the time of booking. Provided you have paid the total cost of the travel arrangements, we will dispatch your tickets to you at least 2 weeks prior to departure. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU CHECK ALL DETAILS OF YOUR TRAVEL DOCUMENTS BEFORE LEAVING THE USA. IF THERE ANY INACCURACIES OR YOU HAVE ANY OTHER QUERY PLEASES CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY. For bookings made within 5 days of departure, it is necessary for us to use a courier company which guarantees next day delivery and you will be charged a $10 delivery charge. In such cases, tickets will either be sent to you or to the departure airport, and this will be advised at the time of booking, Please note that the delivery charge is non-refundable.
6. LOST/STOLEN FLIGHT TICKETS If you lose your flight tickets or it is stolen before you leave the UK, certain airlines will not authorise us to issue a replacement. You would then be required to purchase a new ticket and there may be a delay of up to 12 months before we receive authority from the airline to make any refund to you. If the airline concerned does allow us to issue a replacement ticket, we will require payment from you of $35 per ticket administration fee. It is most important that you contact us as soon as you realise that your ticket is missing. If your ticket is lost or stolen after you have left the UK, certain airlines will not issue a duplicate. You will need to purchase a new ticket locally, at the local fare. When you return to the UK you can apply to us for a refund on your lost ticket, but any refund will be entirely at the discretion of the airline and it can take up to 12 months before we receive authority from the airline to make any refund.
7. AIRLINE REFUND PROCEDURES The refund policies operated by airlines vary greatly. If you return your unused ticket to us we will present it to the relevant airline for assessment. If the airline agrees to issue a refund, we will forward such refund to you less cancellation or administration charge. If you paid us by credit card, we will refund the amount due to you on your credit card, otherwise the refund will be made by cheque. Please note that any refund for part used/return halves of tickets is always less than pro-rata rate. Refunds usually take 10-12 weeks to process, but in some cases may take longer. Tickets returned more than one year from their date of issue are classed as expired by the airline and generally have no refund value at all. We recommend that tickets being sent to us for a refund are sent by recorded delivery post.
8. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS If any international convention applies to or governs any of the services or facilities arranged or provided by us, or provided by any of our suppliers, and you make a claim against us of any nature arising out of death, injury, loss or damage suffered during or as a result of the provision of those services or facilities, our liability to pay you compensation and/or the amount (if any) of compensation payable to you by us will be limited in accordance with and/or in an identical manner to that provided for by the international convention concerned (in each case including in respect of the conditions of liability, the time for bringing any claim and the type and amount of any damages that can be awarded).
9.COMPLAINTS If you have a problem during your holiday it is of the utmost importance that you immediately bring it to the attention of the relevant person (for example the resort representative, hotel manager or transport agent) who will do their best to put things right.
OUR LIABILITY TO YOU If the contract we have with you is not performed or is improperly performed by us or our suppliers we will pay you an appropriate compensation if this has affected the enjoyment of your travel arrangements. However, we will not be liable where any failure in the performance of the contract is due to: you; or a third party unconnected with the provision of the travel arrangements and where the failure is unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised; or an event which we or our suppliers, even with all due care, could not foresee or forestall.
Our liability, except in cases involving death, injury or illness, shall be limited to a maximum of 3 times the cost of your travel arrangements. Our liability will also 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.
PROMPT ASSISTANCE IN RESORT If the contract we have with you is not performed or is improperly performed as a result of failures attributable to a third party unconnected with the provision of the services, or as a result of failures due to unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised, or an event which we or our suppliers, even with all due care, could not foresee or forestall, and you suffer an injury or other material loss, we will offer you such prompt assistance as is reasonable in the circumstances.
11. PASSPORTS and VISAS AND HEALTH REQUIREMENTS It is your responsibility to ensure that you and all those travelling with you have a valid passport and any necessary visa and that you have obtained any necessary vaccinations to gain entry to any country you are visiting. It can often take some time to obtain a passport or visa therefore you should apply well in advance. However, passport and visa regulations and health requirements can change at any time, therefore, we recommend that you check passport/visa requirements with the Embassy or Consulate of the country you intend to visit and that you consult your GP or the Foreign Office regarding health requirements. We will have no liability to you if you or any member of your party travel without the correct passport and visa or without the necessary vaccinations, and you will have to pay to us any costs which we incur through helping you because of any such failure on your part.
12. GENERAL INFORMATION Joint Services: Please note that two airlines may share the same services, therefore a flight may not be operated by the airline whose designated code is shown on your itinerary and ticket.
Smoking: Many flights are now non-smoking or are in the process of implementing a no-smoking policy. We can request smoking seats at the time of booking, but such requests cannot be guaranteed and seat allocation is entirely at the discretion of the airline. We cannot accept liability, if your specific seat request is denied by the airline or if the airline introduces a no-smoking policy after you have confirmed your booking.
Taxes: We will advise you of all mandatory taxes, which you must pay before departure. However, many countries charge departure taxes that can only be paid locally. It is therefore recommended that you retain sufficient local currency to meet such charges. Details of departure taxes can be obtained from the relevant airline when you reconfirm your flight details.
13. SPECIAL REQUESTS If you have a special request for anything that is not automatically part of your Holiday, please check when you book your Holiday and we will pass this information on to the companies we work with. Our note of your request on your invoice/receipt confirms we have received it and does not guarantee that we, or the relevant supplier, can meet with your request. Where possible they will try to help you, but we cannot guarantee any request unless it is noted on your invoice/receipt and we also confirm the request separately in writing. We must emphasise that, verbal confirmations of special requests cannot be taken as a guarantee that they will be met e.g. special meal types on flights.
14. FLIGHT DETAIL It is possible, at the time of booking, to provide details of the type of aircraft, which will be used. However, it is not possible to guarantee that this is the type of aircraft which will be used because this may change. The land excursions will be provided by a high powered jet that goes at extremely high speeds.
15. YOUR RESPONSIBILITY We want all our customers to have an enjoyable and carefree trip. But you must remember that you are responsible for your actions and the affect they may have on others. If we (or another person in authority) believe your actions could upset other customers, our suppliers or our own staff, or put them in danger, we may end your holiday arrangements and this could mean we may either ask you to leave your booked accommodation, or prevent you from boarding the aircraft. We will deny boarding or impose additional conditions of carriage on any passenger who, for example, is intoxicated and/or disruptive or found to be smoking on board the aircraft. If this happens, we will not pay compensation, make refunds, or cover any expenses you suffer as a result.
We reserve the right to alter these booking conditions and you should check our website at the time of booking.
Behaviour: You must not behave in a way that may cause distress or annoyance to others or may create the risk of danger or damage to property. If you are subject to arrest or prevented from traveling at the discretion of an airline or other transport providers, or if you are evicted from a hotel at the discretion of the hotel management.
ADDITIONAL TERMS FOR CRUISE BOOKINGS It is the customer’s responsibility to settle all of their on board accounts. Children under the age of 18 will not be carried unless accompanied by an adult over the age of 21 at time of boarding who accepts responsibility for their welfare conduct and behaviour. Infants younger than 6 months at point of boarding may not be accepted on some ships, full detail is provided at booking stage and we accept no liability for incorrect information that may have been provided by you.
You must declare any pregnancy to us at the earliest opportunity as on certain cruise ships carriage of advanced pregnant women is not permitted, typically if the pregnancy is more than 24 weeks at the anticipated return date. We reserve the right to refuse passage onboard to any person who appears to be in advanced stages of pregnancy.
These booking conditions are our responsibility, as your tour operator. They are not issued on behalf of and do not commit any airline whose services are used in the course of your travel arrangements. Please note that in accordance with Air Navigation Orders in order to qualify for infant status, a child must be under 2 years of age on the date of its return flight.