Booking Conditions

RESERVATIONS may be made by telephone, in person or by mail without obligation. An initial non-refundable deposit, £100 per person or 10% of the total value (whichever is greater) is required within 4 days to confirm the reservation. For bookings made over the Internet, full payment is normally required at time of booking unless specifically stated in the booking process.
RESERVATIONS MADE OVER THE INTERNET Full payment is normally required at time of booking unless specifically stated in the booking process. In the unlikely event of an administrative error resulting in an incorrect price being displayed, we reserve the right to correct the price. In these circumstances, you will not be bound to continue with your purchase, and will be asked to email us to confirm that you wish to proceed. No contract will exist between you and FlightsAfrica.co.uk for the sale of products by us to you until your credit/debit card has been charged. This will be deemed to be our acceptance of your order and to have been effectively communicated to you. Please note that the only language in which the contract can be concluded is English.
CLASS: First class services are designated by the letters P or F and Business/Club Class by J, C or D. Any other letter usually indicates Economy Class or Premium Economy travel.
PROVISIONAL FARES: Should any fare be designated provisional against an itinerary line, this means the airline, tour operator or hotel has yet to confirm the exact fare to be charged. so subsequently this fare may be subject to change.
EXCHANGE RATES: If all or part of your itinerary includes prices quoted in a foreign currency the amount payable is subject to the rate of exchange in force at the time of final payment.
BOOKING CONDITIONS
These conditions apply to all bookings - please take the time to read and understand them fully. The conditions are split into 3 parts. ‘Part 1’ applies to all bookings. In addition to ‘Part 1’, ‘Part 2’ also applies to all bookings classified as ‘Packages’ by the terms in ‘Your Holiday Contract’ and ‘Part 3’ applies to bookings classified as ‘Other Travel Arrangements’.
PART 1 - ALL BOOKINGS
YOUR HOLIDAY CONTRACT: Your booking is made with FlightsAfrica.co.uk Limited. When booking a holiday you guarantee that you have the authority to accept and do accept on behalf of your party the terms of these booking conditions and the booking conditions of any contract principal where we are acting as agent. It should be noted that the conditions vary slightly dependent on whether you are booking a ‘package’ or ‘other holiday arrangements’. The term ‘package’ is defined as a pre-arranged combination of at least two of: (a) transport; (b) accommodation; (c) other services not ancillary to transport or accommodation and forming a significant part of the package booked together for an inclusive price and for which full payment is made to us. All remaining products, including transport and accommodation booked at separate times or not at an inclusive price constitute ‘other travel arrangements’, which we arrange as your booking agent. Please note that different terms and conditions may apply between you and any of the airlines, hotels, tour operators involved in providing your travel arrangements. These terms and conditions will be provided to you on booking. By making this booking you agree that we may pass any information you provide on to the relevant suppliers of your travel arrangements such as 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), you should note that controls on data protection in your destination may not be as strong as the legal requirements in this country. A contract will exist as soon as payment has been accepted and a confirmation invoice has been issued. These booking conditions form part of your contract with us. This contract and any matters arising from it are governed by English Law and we both agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the English courts. You may, however, choose the law and jurisdiction of Scotland or Northern Ireland if you wish.
DEPOSITS AND BALANCE PAYMENTS: When you make a booking a deposit of £100 per person or 10% of the total value (whichever greater) is required (plus insurance premiums if applicable). The exact deposit due will be confirmed to you at the time of booking and will depend on the services booked. Please note deposits are nonrefundable, unless we are unable to confirm your original booking request and an alternative is not accepted. For bookings made within 10 weeks of departure immediate full payment is required. The balance of your holiday must be paid 10 weeks prior to your departure; this date will be shown on your confirmation invoice. Please note we do not send reminders. If the balance is not paid by this date we reserve the right to cancel your holiday, retain your deposit, and apply the cancellation charges set out in the paragraph headed ‘Cancellations by you’. Please note that all airfares are subject to increase until full payment is received and tickets issued, it is therefore to your advantage to finalise payment as soon as you can after booking. If full payment is accepted at the time of booking, the deposit will be deemed to have been included. Where FlightsAfrica.co.uk is acting as the agent for the Tour Operator you should refer to the booking conditions contained in the Tour Operators brochure. A copy of these will be given or sent to you at time of booking.
PRE-PAID TAXES: Your tickets will show the pre-paid taxes known at the time of booking. If any Government Body, Airport Authority or Airline increases or introduces a tax this will have to be paid on occasion, even if it is after your tickets have been issued. If your flight is part of a package please see “your holiday price” in Part 2. Local taxes: it is not always possible to include all departure taxes on your ticket - in some cases departure taxes must be paid locally and these are payable to the Government of the country departed and are non-refundable. Please check these amounts with the airline when you are reconfirming. Where scheduled airlines are booked, Scheduled Airline Failure Insurance will be added to your booking.
AMENDMENTS BY YOU: If, after a confirmation invoice has been issued, you wish to change your holiday arrangements we will do our utmost to make these changes. Any change to an itinerary prior to receipt of your final payment will be treated as an amendment. Depending on the amount of work involved, each change will incur an amendment charge which will not exceed £50 per person, in addition to any further costs or charges that we incur from our suppliers in making the alteration. If full payment has already been received amendments are treated as cancellations and the cancellation charges detailed below will apply. Please note that some suppliers, in particular airlines, do not allow a name change and may consider this as a cancellation and re-booking with a 100% cancellation charge.
CANCELLATIONS BY YOU (Flights): Should you for any reason have to cancel your booking you must give us a written notice of cancellation signed by the person who originally made the booking. Refund of Flight Tickets - Some tickets are non-refundable. Certain types of airline tickets (eg Apex Tickets) cannot be changed after a reservation has been made and any alteration request will incur a 100% cancellation charge. Tickets returned will be submitted to the respective airline, or their agent, for assessment. As soon as we are reimbursed by the issuing airline or their agent we will forward a refund to you, less loss of deposit, applicable cancellation and/or administration charges. Please note that airline refunds or part used tickets and the return half of the airfare are always less than the pro-rata rate and may have no refund value whatsoever. Refunds usually take 8 - 12 weeks but in certain cases may take longer.
CANCELLATIONS BY YOU (Services other than Flights): Should you for any reason have to cancel your booking you must give us written notice of cancellation signed by the person who originally made the booking. Cancellation charges are dependent on the supplier’s terms and conditions vary accordingly. These charges vary according to whether you have booked a package or other travel arrangements. In the case of a package the following scale of charges apply plus any additional charges passed onto us by airlines and suppliers (e.g. non refundable airlines) depending on the date of cancellation.
Prior to 71 days: deposit forfeited
70-60 days: 20% of total holiday cost
59-42 days: 30% of total holiday cost
41-28 days: 60% of total holiday cost
27-2 days: 90% of total holiday cost
Less than 48 hours: 100% of the total holiday cost
After departure there will be no refund of any unused component of your holiday. If you are booking other travel arrangements the cancellation charges will be shown on your invoice immediately below the details of your itinerary. In addition all bookings for other travel arrangements (e.g. flight only) will be non-refundable within 48 hours of departure. We must be advised of any decision to cancel in writing and signed by you. The cancellation will take effect from the day the written confirmation is received.
ROUTINGS AND TIMINGS: Unless otherwise stated, the routing on your air ticket cannot be changed, once the balance has been paid. Please note that the timings of air, sea, road and rail depar tures are estimates only. These timings may be affected by operational difficulties, weather conditions or passenger failure to check in on time. Flight timings are subject to change as a result of airline procedures and latest available times will appear on your final itinerary. Please note that direct flights can have a scheduled stop en route. Most airlines reserve the right to alter their schedule, destination airport and type of aircraft. Such changes will not entitle you to compensation nor to cancel or change your arrangement without paying normal charges. Please also note carriers have conditions of carriage which will apply to you and which limit or exclude liability. We do not make any arrangements if there is a delay at the outbound or inbound points of departure. Most airlines however do make provisions in such cases (dependent on the length of time).
RECONFIRMATION: You must reconfirm all onward and return flight reservations with the relevant airline at least 72 hours prior to departure. This allows the airline to inform you of any unforeseen delays/changes to your itinerary, and provides the airline with contact details for you.
SPECIAL REQUESTS: If you have any special requests (e.g diet, room location, room type, twin or double bedded room or a specific facility at a hotel) we will do our utmost to ensure that these are passed on to the supplier. We will also be happy to request preallocated seating where airline policy allows. However you should note that we can not guarantee that suppliers will accept these requests and that they therefore do not form any part of your contract with us.
DESPATCH OF TRAVEL DOCUMENTS: We aim to send out your travel documents to you at least 10 days before departure, unless you make a late booking. In peak times this may not be the case. No tickets will be sent out unless final payment has been received and cleared. Travel documents, unless collected from our offices, will be sent by Royal Mail Services. However, we recommend that customers use Royal Mail ‘Special Delivery’, a similar service or a courier and these can be arranged provided that you cover the additional costs involved. We cannot accept responsibility for items lost in the post and additional charges may be applied for any documents that are reissued.
LOST OR STOLEN TICKETS: Should tickets become lost or stolen, it is necessary to complete a form of indemnity to be passed to the airline. Some carriers are then prepared to issue replacement tickets immediately but may impose a fee for this. Other airlines require full payment to issue replacement tickets and will refund the amount paid for the original documents at a later date. This process can take up to 18 months. We will charge an administration charge of £35.00 per person if we have to reissue your tickets, in addition to any charges applied by the airline or supplier concerned, should we have to reissue your travel documents for whatever reason.
IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT: If you have a problem during your holiday, please inform the relevant supplier (e.g. your hotelier) so that they can endeavour to put things right. If your complaint cannot be resolved then you must contact your FlightsAfrica.co.uk branch by telephone, email or fax. If your complaint is not resolved locally, please follow this up within 28 days of your return home by writing to Customer Services at our Head Office address, giving your booking reference and all other relevant information. This will assist us to quickly to address your concerns and speed up our response to you. If you fail to do this we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint and this may affect your rights under this contract.
YOUR FINANCIAL PROTECTION: We are a member of ABTA. The air holidays in our brochure are ATOL Protected since we hold an Air Travel Organisers’ Licence granted by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is ATOL 5581. 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. Schedule Airline Failure Insurance (SAFI) will be added to your invoice if scheduled airline flights are booked. For full details of the financial protection in place for your booking, please enquire at the time of making a booking.
TRAVEL INSURANCE: We strongly recommend that you purchase comprehensive travel insurance when making your reservation. In certain cases cancellation charges, if incurred involuntarily, may be covered by insurance taken out at this time. FlightsAfrica.co.uk offers a comprehensive policy, which covers medical and repatriation expenses, personal baggage and personal effects, loss or theft of money, personal liability and cancellation or curtailment charges. FlightsAfrica.co.uk will not accept responsibility for any person who fails to be properly insured for their journey. Once the 14-day cooling of period built into the Insurance Policy has expired, we are not able to refund the insurance premium. This is a condition of the insurance company.
PASSPORTS, VISAS AND HEALTH: Passengers must be in possession of a full passport and visas if required. Many countries require that your passport be valid for at least 6 months after your departure date from that country. Please contact your local doctor who can provide immunisation requirements. Advice can also be obtained from DoH leaflet ‘Advice on Health for Travellers’. We can advise generally on Visa and Health requirements. It is your responsibility to ensure that you satisfy all applicable requirements in respect of passport, visa and health matters. We cannot be held liable if you fail to ensure this, and if as a result, we suffer any loss or expense because of such a failure on your part, you will be obliged to reimburse us. In addition, it is your responsibility to ensure that you do not behave in any way which causes offence or which risks causing offence or danger to other holidaymakers or which risks damaging property belonging to others. Hotel managers and pilots do have legal powers to remove unruly holidaymakers from their hotel and/or aircraft. Should this happen, we cannot be held liable in any way to you and you will be obliged to meet the cost of purchasing replacement hotel accommodation and/or air tickets.
PRE-TRAVEL ADVICE: The Foreign and Commonwealth Travel Advice Unit may have issued information about your holiday destination. You are advised to check this information on BBC (Ceefax page 470) or on the internet at www.fco.gov.uk/travel. Alternatively you can contact the ABTA Information Department on: 0901 201 50 50 (calls charged at 50p per minute).
PART 2 - PACKAGES:
In addition to the conditions in ‘Part 1’, these conditions apply specifically to those bookings classified as ‘packages’ in accordance with the statement in ‘Your Holiday Contract’.
IF WE CHANGE OR CANCEL YOUR HOLIDAY (Packages only): It is unlikely that we will make any amendments or changes to your travel booking after it has been confirmed. However because travel arrangements are often made many months in advance and because we have no control over some of the products featured in this brochure changes and cancellations may occasionally be necessary. We reserve the right to make changes or cancel your travel arrangements in any circumstances and at any time. A change may be ‘major’ or ‘minor’. A major change would be considered to be a change in accommodation to a lower standard, or to a different resort, or the cancellation of a tour, a rescheduling of your flight departure time by more than 12 hours, or a change of your departing airport (excluding a change between Heathrow or Gatwick or an airport which is more convenient to you). We reserve the right to make a minor change and we will tell you as soon as possible. If there is a major change to your travel arrangements we will inform you as soon as is reasonably possible. You will have a choice of either accepting the change of your package, accepting an offer of a comparable package (paying the difference if the alternative is more expensive) or cancelling the package and receiving a full refund. Please note that some tours require a minimum number of bookings to operate. In the unlikely event that a tour is cancelled due to low bookings you will be told as soon as is practical. If we are unable to provide you with a significant element of the package after you have departed we will make alternative arrangements for you at no extra charge. Package bookings are not cancelled less than 8 weeks prior to departure unless in cases of ‘Force Majeure’ or failure to pay your balance on the specified date. This means that we will not have to pay compensation if we have to cancel or change your travel arrangements in any way because of war, riot, industrial dispute, terrorist activity, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions, unforeseen operational decisions of air carriers such as changes of schedule, or other unforeseen or unavoidable circumstances beyond our control. If the cancellation has not been caused by force majeure or low bookings we will pay you compensation as set out below: (Period before departure within which a major change is notified to you); followed by: Compensation per person: more than 56 days - Nil; 55-29 days- £10; 28 days or less - £20.
YOUR HOLIDAY PRICE (Packages only): The price of your travel arrangements can be varied due to changes in transportation costs such as fuel, scheduled 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, 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. For larger variations this 2% will still be absorbed for increases but not retained from refunds. In either case there will be an administration charge of £1.00 per person. 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, to accept an offer of alternative travel arrangements from us if we are able to do so and compensation as indicated. 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.
OUR LIABILITY (Packages only): We accept responsibility for ensuring that the travel arrangements which you book with us are supplied as described in our brochures and that the services offered reach a reasonable standard, or if you suffer personal injury, illness or death as a result of any improper performance by us of the obligations we owe you under your holiday contract, we will pay you reasonable compensation. Taking into account such factors as the cost of your package any action you could have taken to minimise the inconvenience suffered. We will not be liable for any compensation if the personal or psychological injury, illness or death does not result from any fault on our part, or on the part of our suppliers but is due to your fault or the actions of someone unconnected with your holiday, or to an unusual and unforeseen circumstance beyond our control, which neither we, nor our suppliers could have anticipated. Our liability is limited in accordance with relevant international convention. You can ask for copies of these international conventions from our office allowing 28 days for delivery. If you or any member of your party, suffer death, illness or injury whilst overseas arising out of an activity which does not form part of your package travel arrangements made with us, we shall at our discretion, offer advice, guidance and assistance to help you in resolving any claim you may have against a third party, provided we are advised of the incident within 90 days of its occurrence. Where legal action is contemplated our written consent must be obtained prior to commencement of proceedings and our consent is subject to your undertaking to assign any costs received or any benefits received under any relevant insurance policy to ourselves. Our costs in respect of the above on behalf of you and any member of your party shall not exceed £5,000.
PART 3 - OTHER TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS
In addition to the conditions in ‘Part 1’, these conditions apply specifically to those bookings classified as ‘Other Travel Arrangements’ in accordance with the statement in ‘Your Holiday Contract’.
OUR LIABILITY (Other holiday arrangements): Because we are acting as booking agent we have no liability for any of the travel arrangements, and in particular no liability for any illness, personal injury, death or loss of any kind.
IF WE CHANGE OR CANCEL YOUR HOLIDAY: (Other holiday arrangements) In the unlikely event there are any changes made to other holiday arrangements, we will try to tell you before you go, although we are not obliged to do so, nor are we obliged to compensate you. If your booking for other holiday arrangements are cancelled we will do our utmost to ensure you receive a full and prompt refund of the holiday price.
SCHEDULED AIRLINE FAILURE INSURANCE: will be added to your invoice if scheduled airline flights are booked. This cover is provided by Templeton Insurance Limited through Ashbourne Tilley (Special Risk) Ltd. Master policy 2988 (Master Policy Holder: FlightsAfrica.co.uk Limited).
EXTRA EXPENSES INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE FAILURE OF A SCHEDULED AIRLINE FAILURE: To pay up to £1,500 in all, for each Insured Person in respect of their Net Ascertained Financial Loss arising as a result of the cancellation or curtailment of a Scheduled Airline Flight arising solely as a result of the insolvency of the Scheduled Airline.
Definitions:
A. Scheduled Airline Flight. One flight on a regular systematic service operated in such a manner that the benefits thereof are available to the general public.
B. Scheduled Airline. An Airline operating Scheduled Airline Flights as all or part of its business.
C. Insured Person. Such Person who has booked a ticket or tickets within the United Kingdom for one or more Scheduled Airline Flights through the Master Policy Holder and who is named in the confirmation. invoice and/or deposit receipt for bookings relating hereto provided the Scheduled Airline is not bonded nor the risk insured elsewhere.
D. Insolvency. Where the Scheduled Airline enters into ‘insolvency winding up” as defined by Rule 4.151 of the Insolvency Rules 1986 or any statutory modification thereof or an equivalent formal insolvency process under any competent jurisdiction.
E. Net Ascertained Financial Loss. The amount paid by the Insured Person for the purchased price of the Scheduled Airline Flight on the airline suffering insolvency or where insolvency occurs after the tip has commenced the sum equivalent to the purchased price of the unused tickets on the Scheduled Airline suffering insolvency.
Exclusions:
1. Where the insurance was effected after the date of the first threat of insolvency.
2. Recoveries and/or refund from credit cards and charge cards.
3. As more fully defined in the Master Policy
GENERAL INFORMATION: Please note that air fares are constantly changing and usually increasing. Very often there is little or no notice of these increases, but very rarely do increases apply to tickets already issued. It is therefore to your advantage to finalise payment as soon as you can after booking, and so reduce any risk of surcharge. Please remember your deposit only secures the reservations, not the price.
AIRLINE PASSENGER INFORMATION: Please note that airlines are now required by laws introduced in the United States and other countries to give border control agencies access to passenger data. Accordingly any information that the airline holds about you and your travel arrangements may be disclosed to the customs and immigration authorities of any country on your itinerary.
E&OE: Please note that the details shown are stated Errors & Omissions Excepted.
METHODS OF PAYMENT:
PERSONAL & COMPANY CHEQUES to be made payable to FlightsAfrica.co.uk Limited. Please note we require ten working days for cheque clearance before tickets can be issued. Should insufficient time be available to allow this we can arrange special clearance with our bank at an additional cost of £15. We are unable to accept foreign currency cheques.
IF ANY CHEQUE IS RETURNED TO US BY OUR BANK UNPAID, A £15 CHARGE WILL BE LEVIED.
BANK & BUILDING SOCIETY DRAFTS will be accepted and treated as cash as long as they are received when the issuing office is open and We to verify the same, i.e. before 4pm on weekdays.
CREDIT CARDS are acceptable as a form of payment. FlightsAfrica.co.uk accepts Visa, MasterCard, JCB, American Express and Diners Club. However, FlightsAfrica.co.uk will levy a 3% surcharge on such payments, except for American Express and Diners Club Cards which will incur a 3% surcharge. If the card is in a name other than the traveller we will require written or faxed authorization from the card holder, including a photocopy of both sides of the card itself, before any tickets can be released.
DEBIT CARDS: FlightsAfrica.co.uk accepts Delta and Maestro Cards.
CASH: Do not send cash to us through the post.
Please quote your booking number and name every time you send a payment.