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Booking Conditions
Your contract is with Interchange (Sole Proprietor: G. Burnett) which is fully bonded with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) under ATOL 2429.
General information
Even the most meticulously planned arrangements can, and do, go wrong. Conditions are such that there may be moments of discomfort, and delays are a way of life. Clients booking package or tailor-made travel arrangements implicitly accept the above. Interchange accepts no liability for the results of delays, or any loss, consequential loss or contingent liability arising from them. Clients, their baggage and property travel entirely at their own risk, acknowledging that in participating in the trip, certain risks may occur, including, but not limited to, the hazards of travelling in mountainous terrain, the forces of nature and the limited medical facilities of some regions. Passenger seat belt regulations are not widely enforced. In addition, most high
rise hotels have only 1 stairway to multiple floors; if you would like a room on a lower floor we can request this at the time of
booking but this cannot always be guaranteed.
Tour Prices
The prices shown for our suggested itineraries give you a guideline as to cost, though obviously this will vary with any
changes you decide to make. The journeys are in most cases very flexible. A full quotation will accompany our written
proposal for your itinerary.
Not included in the Tour Prices:
- Comprehensive travel insurance.
- Visa fees.
- Transport between your home and UK departure airport.
- Domestic airport taxes.
- International airport taxes (on the few occasions where these do not form an integral part of the cost of the ticket).
- Meals other than those specified as included.
- Porterage, laundry, drinks with meals or otherwise, telephone calls, items of a personal nature, gratuities, etc.
- Side trips or excursions shown as optional.
- Entrance fees to national parks or municipal taxes which cannot practically be collected at the UK end, and which must
usually be paid locally in cash. - In some locations the services of a representative are not included, and, particularly if you have so requested, you may have
only a driver who speaks little English.
Visas
Visas are not normally included in our prices and it is the client's responsibility to ensure that they have the relevant
documents/visas for entry to any country.
Passengers intending to enter or transit the United States of America must have a valid, machine-readable passport and
MUST complete the ESTA (Electronic Travel Authorisation System) form before departure, costing approximately £10.
Please visit the following website: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov (Beware, there are scam websites). Passengers who have not
completed the form will be denied boarding. If you are not the holder of a full British passport, you may be required to apply
for a visa. Your full passport must have at least 6 months' passport validity remaining after the date of return travel.
Tickets and vouchers
After you have paid in full, you will receive (usually a month before departure) your airline e-tickets and any domestic flight
tickets that are to be issued at this end. Most tickets are issued electronically, but traditional paper tickets may be necessary
on some routes. Our financial summary or itinerary is not a travel document, although you may be asked to show it as
evidence for your eligibility for the airfare you have paid. If you do not have a valid ticket or e-ticket, the airline will ask you to
pay again. You will receive an itinerary for the services we have contracted on your behalf. The normal procedure is for our
local handling agents to give you their own vouchers or tickets. A 24-hour emergency UK number, printed in your final
itinerary letter, will enable you to contact us quickly if something goes wrong.
Taxes and surcharges
With fluctuating oil prices, airlines are, as a matter of course, applying fuel surcharges, as well as taxes, to their normal fares.
All airport taxes which are pre-payable at this end are included in the airfare quoted to you.
Card payments
No surcharge will be imposed on payments you make to us by debit card; however if you wish to pay by credit or charge card
a fee of 3% of the value of the payment is levied to cover the cost of the transaction.
Booking Conditions
Please pay particular attention to the following paragraphs:
1 Deposits and interim payments
8 Cancellations by you
14 Insurance
15 Your responsibilities
Your contract is with Interchange and we are ATOL bonded under licence number 2429. When making a booking, you (the
lead name on the booking) guarantee that you have the authority to accept, and do accept for you and on behalf of your
party, that you are subject to the following conditions, and are deemed to have read, understood and accepted these as well
as the paragraphs above under the heading General Information. Your contract with Interchange is also subject to the terms
and conditions of carriage of any airline used.
1. Deposits and interim payments
A non-refundable deposit of £450 per person travelling, or appropriate amount as stated in our programme offer, is required
when the booking form is submitted. You must read our booking conditions before you pay a deposit. For certain destinations
and services a higher deposit may be required and you will be advised of this at the time of booking. We will also advise you
of any special booking conditions when we send a financial summary. Clients booking by telephone or email will be deemed
to have read the booking conditions and accepted them. We will issue a confirmation at which point we have accepted your
booking and a contract exists. We will normally confirm the proposed arrangements within 5 working days, but sometimes it
takes longer. However, in the case of certain bespoke arrangements, please allow time for us to communicate with our
partners - this sometimes takes a week or more.
2. Presentation of Prices
It is not our practice to provide a detailed breakdown of costings where we are constructing a multi-sector itinerary. It is your
responsibility to check the confirmation and to let us know immediately in the event of any error. In the event that there is an
obviously incorrect price shown on your financial summary we will issue a new one and not be bound by the price quoted on
the incorrect one.
3. Final payments
Final payment is due not less than 10 weeks before departure, or immediately if you book within 10 weeks of departure.
However, it may be that to guarantee a price, we may have to ask you to pay in full for all or part of your holiday at an earlier
date. If full payment is not received accordingly, Interchange reserves the right to treat your booking as cancelled and apply
the appropriate charge as outlined in paragraph 8(a). This also applies to interim payments, where applicable, as stated in 1.
Deposits. Where we are aware that an increase in flight cost is imminent we will advise clients that immediate payment will
enable us to issue tickets so as to avoid passing any additional flight cost, tax or other surcharge on to the client. This also
applies to clients making flight arrangements which are allied to, but do not directly affect, tour arrangements we are making.
4. Children
Children over the age of 12 are treated as adults as far as pricing is concerned. Many of our tailor-made tours or extensions
are suitable for families and we suggest that you contact us to discuss the best options before booking. There are sometimes
reductions for one child (and sometimes two children) sharing the room of two accompanying adults, but these vary from
country to country and resort to resort. These arrangements usually involve placing an extra foldaway bed in a normal double
room.
5. Airline tickets
At the time of booking, if there is a lack of availability in the specified class on any particular flight, we will endeavour to offer
you alternative economy class seats and shall advise you of any additional flight supplement payable before you book. The
same applies when clients request alternative or extraordinary flight arrangements. We will not issue airline e-tickets until we
have received full payment for them. Many of the airfares we apply are negotiated as special arrangements and attract higher
than normal cancellation penalties. Certain airfares are only guaranteed at the time of issue and thus fares and taxes may
change without warning. As a general rule there is no penalty additional to those listed in para. 8 if an airline e-ticket is
cancelled before it is issued; once the ticket is issued, each airline imposes its own rules, and the cancellation penalty is
usually 100%. (Bear in mind that moneys paid for all services cancelled within 29 days of departure are non-refundable).
6. Independent arrangements and discontinuous itineraries
Clients may already have flight, accommodation or transport reservations in place when they book tailor-made arrangements
with us. Please note we accept no liability for dovetailing with these independent arrangements or where your booked
itinerary with Interchange is discontinuous. In these circumstances if, for example, you arrive late to join a trip or to make
onward connections, we shall endeavour to rearrange hotels and transfers, but we accept liability only for the elements of the
itinerary that we are contracted to provide.
7. Alterations by you before departure
If you decide to change any part of a confirmed booking up to 60 days before departure, we will try to assist but will charge
for additional holiday costs incurred, including cancellation charges that may be incurred for services cancelled. We reserve
the right to make in addition an administration charge of £25 per person, per sector. Whilst Interchange will do its utmost to
assist you with any changes this may not be possible. Any amendments must be made in writing by the lead passenger on
the booking. Alterations within the periods below in paragraph 8 before departure we may choose to treat as a cancellation,
and the penalties hereunder will apply. In circumstances where a client is unable to travel, Interchange will allow the
substitution of another suitable person on the same tour arrangements, dates and itinerary, if that person satisfies the
conditions applicable to the tour or excursion. For services which have already been purchased by Interchange and are nonrefundable,
additional costs of amending and/or acquiring these services for the replacement client must be paid by you.
Airlines normally consider name changes as a cancellation and any alteration may incur a full cancellation penalty in
reference to the airfare. Interchange must be given reasonable notice of the transfer request, which is considered to be at
least 30 days prior to the outward departure date.
8. Cancellations by you
Any client who wishes to cancel must do so in writing and the following fees or percentages will be charged based on the
date of receipt in writing or by email by Interchange of notification of cancellation. Cancellations will take effect the day said
written notification is received by us.
a) Standard conditions
| If cancelled: | Maximum charge |
| 60 days or more before departure | Deposit (and interim payment where appropriate) |
| Between 59-30 days before departure | 60% of tour cost or interim payment (where appropriate) whichever greater |
| 29 days or less before departure | 100% tour cost |
If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy you may be able to reclaim these
charges.
b) Alteration or cancellation after commencement of travel
Any alteration that you request after your tour has commenced, Interchange will do its best to implement, but we cannot
guarantee that it will be possible. In the event of such amendments being made you will be liable for any alteration or
cancellation charges that may be levied for the services originally booked, and for the booking of revised arrangements and
the arrangements themselves. All such charges are payable locally. As a basic principle, no refund will be paid to clients
who do not commence or complete a tour, extension, or sector but please see paragraph 11 Refunds.
9. Cancellations or alterations by Interchange
a) Alterations
We will of course aim to provide the services we confirmed. However, arrangements may be planned several months in
advance and rely on the services of independent airlines and other service providers over whom we have no direct control.
Therefore, Interchange reserves the right at any time to make changes to your holiday arrangements (including flights,
accommodation, transport or services) and if changes are made we will advise you or your travel agent where possible
before you depart. Flight timings and carriers in the brochure are subject to change as a result of airline procedures, and
details given on your Itinerary are for guidance only. Even details shown on your e-tickets may be subject to change locally
especially in respect of airline schedule changes or any other operational decisions.
In the unlikely event that there is a change to the actual airline after you have received your tickets you will be notified as
soon as possible. Such a change is deemed to be a minor change. Other examples of minor changes include, but are not
limited to, alteration of your outward/return flights by less than 12 hours, changes to aircraft type, change of accommodation
to another of the same or higher standard and changes of some scheduled destinations. In these circumstances, Interchange
will try to notify you where possible but will not pay any compensation in respect of minor changes. The flight number and
airline shown on your ticket may not be the one you actually fly with - this is called code-sharing. Usually, airport departure
information boards will reflect this, and 'toggle' between two flight numbers even though it's the same flight.
If we make a material change (examples of which are a change before departure involving a significant change of resort or
ground itinerary; a significant - usually more than 24 hours - change of outbound flight time), you may cancel your booking
and obtain a prompt and full refund of all money paid by you to Interchange provided that you have given us written
notification of cancellation within 7 days of the date on which we notified you of all alterations. Please note that where an
airline schedule change or disruption causes a potential material change, Interchange may choose to switch flight routings at
no additional cost to you, to enable us to fulfil our obligations to you. In these circumstances, if you choose to cancel, normal
charges will apply and insurance premiums cannot be refunded. If we make a material change within 8 weeks of departure,
you will also be entitled to compensation per person in accordance with the scale below.
Period before scheduled departure date within which a material change is notified to you.
Notification period Compensation
55-43 days £10
29-42 days £20
15-28 days £30
0-14 days £40
Payment of compensation shown above will not be made for any change or cancellation caused by events such as war or
threat of war, terrorist activity, insurrection, riots, strikes, civil action, decisions by governments or governing authority, natural
or nuclear disaster, health risks, epidemic or pandemic illness, bad weather, unavoidable technical or maintenance problems
with transport, cancellations, changes of schedules or any other operational decisions of air, land or sea carriers, closed or
congested airports, ports or stations, or similar circumstances beyond our control. For the purposes of this contract we define
the above as force majeure.
b) Cancellations
Interchange reserves the right in any circumstance to cancel all or part of your travel arrangements. We will not cancel within
8 weeks of our booking departure date, except in circumstances of force majeure, the clients' failure to pay the final balance
on time, or where the minimum number of clients required to run an integral excursion or element of the trip is not met. In
these circumstances, we will try to offer you alternatives (if available) but Interchange accepts no liability for compensation or
associated costs beyond a full refund of the deposit or other payments made to Interchange for the trip or excursion.
Where we are obliged to cancel all or a discrete module of your travel arrangements for reasons beyond our control, as
described in 9a (force majeure) or 9c, Interchange shall inform agents and clients who have booked direct as soon as
possible and offer alternative arrangements of comparable standard, if available, or a prompt refund of all moneys paid for
the tour or module. If the alternative is cheaper we will refund the difference. Any refund shall be sent to agents within 10
clear days and to direct clients within 14 clear days. Interchange accepts no liability for compensation beyond this full refund.
If any of the causes for cancellation or amendments occurs after the tour has commenced or after we are able to advise you,
we reserve the right to allow our local supplier or tour leader to amend the planned itinerary and accommodation on your
behalf and where these amendments are made as a result of force majeure, no compensation will be paid. Delays in
departure and failed transport connections will sometimes make it impossible for a client to use services contracted and paid
for, and in these circumstances Interchange shall be under no liability to pay compensation. However, where amendments
are within our control, you will be entitled to compensation of £30 per person.
c) FCO Travel Advisories
If the FCO (www.fco.gov.uk) offers advice against all or non-essential travel to a country or area Interchange will provide a
full refund of monies paid. Interchange will be as sympathetic as possible and will use common sense and information from
the appropriate British Embassy to make this judgement. For example, if we have information that advice against travel is
likely to be downgraded shortly, we may delay the offer of a full refund. Where your travel arrangements are tailor-made in
nature, you may decide still to travel against the FCO and Interchange's advice at your own risk; you should be aware that
this will affect your personal insurance cover. Please note that the above paragraphs do not apply if the FCO advice is to
consider postponing travel.
d) Group tours
Some of our tours are based on a minimum number of participants and in the unlikely event that these numbers are not
reached we reserve the right to cancel the tour and refund all payments made to us. Tours will not be cancelled due to lack of
numbers later than 8 weeks before departure.
10. Prices
a) Exchange rates
The tour prices and scheduled airfares in our quotations are based on exchange rates on at the time of providing the
quotation. The price of a tour may be varied at any time before we have accepted your booking, and thereafter if any
amendments are made by you to the original booking.
b) Surcharges
If you have paid in full, we guarantee to impose no surcharge within the last 30 days prior to the commencement of your
services with Interchange; however, we are entitled to pass on any additional charges in respect of alternative arrangements
requested by you.
Before this time we reserve the right to pass on to the customer any additional costs associated with currency fluctuation,
government action or government imposed taxes/ increases, overflying charges, fuel surcharges, increase in scheduled
airfares, or other transportation costs, airport taxes or embarkation or landing fees at ports. In this case we will absorb an
amount equivalent to 2% of the affected element of the holiday price, which excludes insurance premiums and any
amendment charges. Only amounts in excess of this 2% will be charged, but where a surcharge is payable, there will be an
additional amount to cover agent's commission where applicable. If this means paying more than 10% on the holiday price,
you will be entitled to cancel your holiday, with full refund only of all money you paid to Interchange only. Should you decide
to cancel your holiday because of this you must do so in writing within 14 days of the date of our notification of the surcharge.
11. Refunds and compensation
As a basic principle, no refund will be made for any unused hotel accommodation, service or transport. However, where we
ourselves are able to obtain a refund from hotels or principals for services not used, we will endeavour to pass this on to the
client, less reasonable administration charges. Interchange's responsibility will not extend beyond this refund (where
possible) and no payments will be made, or compensation given in respect of claims for contingent liability or inconvenience
experienced by clients. No refund can be made on lost, mislaid or destroyed e-tickets or vouchers.
12. Variation of conditions of contract
No employee, servant, agent or associate of Interchange may vary or omit any booking conditions without the written consent
of the Managing Director of Interchange.
13. Jurisdiction
All matters concerning the booking shall be governed and construed in accordance with English law and each party agrees to
submit all such matters to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
14. Insurance
It is a condition of booking with Interchange that you take out travel insurance at the time of, or prior to making your booking.
We recommend that you take out insurance early so that you get full value for money for cancellation insurance. The price of
policies varies according to age, pre-existing medical conditions, duration of travel and the amount for which you need to be
insured. It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance cover you buy is suitable and adequate to your particular needs
and especially in relation to personal accident, all medical expenses and repatriation costs. You must send us details of the
policy you do take including the insurers' name, policy number and 24-hour emergency telephone number. You are also
required to carry proof of insurance with you and produce it if reasonably requested by our tour leaders or local suppliers. If
you lose any personal items whilst on holiday you are advised to obtain a written police report and/or from a local
representative to assist with any insurance claim upon your return.
15. Your responsibilities
Before booking, please refer to the FCO website to ensure that you're comfortable with the travel advice to the places you're
going to http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/
It is incumbent upon clients to behave in a responsible, restrained and sober manner when dealing with our local suppliers
and representatives, with local authorities and with fellow travellers. If you are affected by any condition, medical or
otherwise, that may affect you or other people's enjoyment of the holiday, you must advise us at time of booking. Clients
agree to accept the authority and decisions of Interchange's employees, tour leaders, and local suppliers whilst on holiday
with Interchange. If, in the opinion of such persons, the health, level of fitness or conduct of a client at any time before or after
departure appears likely to cause danger, distress or loss of enjoyment to others or to the client him/herself, the client may be
excluded from all or part of the tour or excursion without refund or compensation. Similarly, you must meet any expenses
Interchange incurs as result of your behaviour. The behaviour and well-being of minors is the responsibility of parents or
accompanying adults. You must ensure that all your travel documents, full passport, visas, inoculation certificates, credit
cards, currency and travellers' cheques are in order. No credit or refunds will be given as a result of lost, misplaced or
destroyed travel documents. If your hotel has a safe, keep your passport there (but always carry a photocopy of the important
pages for identification purposes). Use your common sense to judge whether hotel safe-boxes are indeed 'safe', since, even
if we have booked the hotel for you, Interchange will accept no responsibility or claims for contingent liability for theft from
hotel rooms or safekeeping. Yellow fever, typhoid inoculations and prophylactics against malaria should be considered for all
countries within the tropics, please consult a qualified medical practitioner. We are able to give general advice, but cannot be
held responsible for any information not stated in writing as indicated below. Use your common sense to decide whether food
is safely edible.
The name on your airline e-tickets should be the name that appears on your full passport, so where we are booking flights on
your behalf, we will use the name exactly as given on your booking form. If the name given is not as it appears in your
passport, any penalties or charges incurred by airlines will be your responsibility, including the purchase of a whole new
ticket if necessary.
Please note that if you believe that we have stated orally that a particular facility or service would be available, we ask you
make a brief reference to it in writing so that we may confirm it to you when accepting your booking. The same applies to
requests for special diets, flight seats, room/cabin allocation and other sleeping arrangements, facilities for the disabled, all of
which we must be made aware of in writing at time of booking. If Interchange or any local supplier reasonably feels unable
properly to accommodate the particular needs of the person(s) concerned we reserve the right to decline the booking. Whilst
every effort will be made to meet requests for special diets and disabled facilities, they cannot be guaranteed, nor can we
accept claims for compensation associated with their non-provision. Similarly, any special request for flights seats and
room/cabin allocation is at the discretion of the airline or service provider and all special requests are subject to availability,
and cannot always be guaranteed. We will pass on any special dietary requirements to airlines but we recommend that you
confirm this directly with the airline once your e-tickets have been issued.
16. Our responsibilities
We accept responsibility for death, injury or illness caused by the negligent acts and/or omissions of our employees or agents
together with our suppliers and sub-contractors whilst acting within the scope of, or in the course of their employment, as
accepted under English law. We accept responsibility for ensuring the holiday you book with us is supplied as described. If
any part is not provided as promised, other than as a result of force majeure (see 9a) we will pay you appropriate
compensation if this has affected your enjoyment of the holiday. Our liability in such cases shall be limited to a maximum of
two times the value of the element not supplied excluding flights. We cannot accept responsibility for any services and
arrangements which do not form part of the booking with us.
Our obligations, and those of our suppliers providing any service or facility included in your holiday, are to take reasonable
skill and care to arrange for the provision of such services and facilities. You must show that reasonable skill and care has
not been used if you wish to make any claim. In many destinations, standards of quality, safety and hygiene may often be
lower than those which would be expected to be found in the UK. Indeed the allure of some of our destinations is to
experience relatively untouched parts of the world and thus facilities and infrastructure in some areas may be of a basic
nature and more appropriate to the local culture than to foreign tourists. The nature of the prevailing conditions may also give
rise to events or entail risks beyond those either planned for or usually encountered. All bookings are accepted on the
understanding that such differences are appreciated by clients and that they undertake all tours and excursions of their own
volition. The services and facilities included in your holiday will be deemed to be provided with reasonable skill and care if
they comply with any local regulations which apply (for example those of a civil aviation authority) or, if there are no
applicable local regulations, if they are reasonable when compared to the local standards and customs.
If any client suffers death, illness or injury whilst overseas arising out of activity which does not form part of the foreign
inclusive holiday arrangement or excursion arranged through 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 the occurrence. Where legal action is contemplated our authority must be obtained prior to commencement
of proceedings and be subject to your undertaking to assign any costs recovered or any benefits received under an
appropriate insurance policy to ourselves. Our costs in respect of the above on behalf of you and your party shall not exceed
£5,000 in total.
17. Carriage by air and sea
This is subject to the terms and conditions of the carrier with whom you travel. In respect of carriage by air, sea, rail and road,
as well as the provision of accommodation our liability will be limited in all cases by the carrier's conditions of carriage and by
the relevant international convention, namely the 1929 Warsaw Convention (as amended) or the 1999 Montreal Convention
(air travel); the 1961 Berne Convention (rail travel); the 1974 Athens Convention (carriage by sea); the Geneva Convention
1973 (carriage by road) and the 1962 Paris Convention (hotel accommodation). The terms and conditions of these
conventions may limit or exclude liability for death or personal injury, delay to passengers and loss of, damage or delay to
luggage. We are regarded as having all benefit of any limitation of liability contained in these or any other conventions or
regulations. Therefore, where a carrier or service provider would not be obliged to make any reimbursement or payment to
you under the applicable convention on conditions of carriage, Interchange is similarly not obliged to make any payment to
you.
EC regulation 261/2004 relates to all flights departing from the EU, or departing from outside the EU but with an EU carrier. It
sets down rules governing compensation and assistance which must be provided to disrupted passengers and specifically
covers cancelled flights, long delays, denied boarding and downgrades. Affected passengers should ask at the airport for
details of their rights under the legislation; however, the legislation taxes the most agile of legal minds, and an airline check-in
clerk cannot expected to offer, without guidance, a definitive view on your rights. It is possible that 261/2004 will be amended
to make matters clearer. Air travel is also subject to operational decisions of government bodies, carriers and airports which
may result in delays or diversions. Please note that airlines sometimes change the departure time of flights at short notice,
and in some instances, schedules shown in the computers of carriers differ from those actually flown by smaller local
carriers. We advise you that it is your responsibility to be meticulous in locally reconfirming directly with the carrier operating
the flight. Interchange accepts no liability for the consequences of flights missed owing to the passenger's failure to reconfirm
both the reservations and timings. Clients flying in economy class to long haul destinations should be aware that flights are
often full; you may not be able to get seats together. We also recommend that you check in early for a long flight, and in any
case, not less than three hours before scheduled departure time. Our brochures and website are the responsibility of the tour
operator, and do not commit the airlines mentioned herein or any other airline used in the course of your travel
arrangements.
18. If you have a problem on holiday
We are committed to delivering the highest level of service at all times. If you have a complaint, please bring it to the
attention of Interchange's tour leader or local agents immediately to enable them to do their best to rectify the situation. It is
sensible to expect a client to be reasonably resourceful if things go wrong; this does not mean spending limitless money and
expecting us to pick up the tab, or doing nothing at the time, and writing a letter of complaint on return. If your local agent is a
few minutes late in meeting your flight, give him a chance to put things right on the ground – this is far the best solution for
you, for us and for our agent. If all else fails, call Interchange in London on our 24-hour emergency line provided in your final
documents. If you have a problem during your holiday, it is a condition of this contract that you communicate this to the
supplier of the services (e.g. hotel) and to our tour leader or representative locally, and put your complaint in writing. If you
fail to follow this simple procedure, we will have been deprived of the opportunity to take remedial action whilst you are away.
This may also affect the outcome of the complaint and your rights under this contract. If the problem remains unresolved
please write to us within 28 days of your return to the UK with all the relevant information. Please keep your correspondence
concise and to the point so as to assist us quickly to identify your concerns and respond accordingly. We will acknowledge
and investigate, and reply in full as soon as possible. However, please allow for the fact that we have to deal with countries
worldwide, and delays of several weeks are not altogether uncommon.
19. Rooming – singles and triples
On group holidays Interchange has allowed for a certain number of rooms to be occupied by clients travelling alone. These
rooms will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and the single supplement shown on the individual tour will apply.
We also reserve the right to charge the single supplement to any client travelling alone who books within one month of
departure, if no willing sharer is available.
For tailor-made itineraries it will be evident that many of the arrangements we offer may be undertaken by one person
travelling alone. The tour prices for one person take into account the considerable extra cost of transfers, transport and
excursions that would be met by a client travelling alone. This single-traveller rate is considerably higher than a single
supplement - that is, the extra price for, say, each of three people travelling together to have a room to him or herself. These
three friends would be sharing the cost of transport, and would only pay a supplement for the single rooms. Please note that
it is often the case that the standard and location of single rooms or cabins is not always as good as that of a twin room. A
triple room usually means the addition of a third foldaway bed and thus you may wish to consider booking two rooms for
extra space and comfort.
20. Seasonality and maintenance
In off-season, certain activities and hotel facilities, e.g. excursions, pools, restaurants, etc may not be available owing to
weather conditions or lack of demand. Similarly, day-to-day maintenance may mean certain facilities are temporarily
unavailable. Conversely, during busy periods hotels often experience full occupancy which may result in a livelier
atmosphere and slower service in busy facilities. Interchange can offer no refund or compensation in these circumstances.
21. Baggage allowances
On scheduled flights we can only give general guidance on baggage allowances. Airlines frequently change their baggage
allowances to passengers, and there are often inconsistencies in the way airlines handle or charge for excess weight or
unusual baggage. Unusual baggage might include, but is not limited to: bicycles, surfboards, scuba equipment, golf clubs, or
any bulky or unusually shaped items. Interchange accepts no claims for refunds, compensation or contingent liability
associated with any part of airlines' performance, delivery of service or baggage handling, or for excess baggage charges
that may be applied. There are weight and dimensional restrictions as well as the number of pieces you may carry. Certain
excursions and tours have baggage limits as low as 5kg per person. Arrangements can usually be made to leave the rest of
your baggage in safe storage. Low baggage limits are indicated in the text. Interchange can accept no claims for contingent
liability associated with lost or delayed baggage. In addition, any assistance by Interchange in relation to such claims to be
pursued with an airline is provided on a goodwill basis and in our capacity as agent for the airline.
22. Consumer protection, public liability and professional indemnity
Air holidays and associated flights arranged by Interchange are ATOL protected and we pay a levy to the CAA for every
licensable passenger we book, since we hold an Air Travel Organiser's Licence granted by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our
ATOL number is ATOL 2429. 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 carry both public liability and professional indemnity insurance. You, the passenger, should beware of signing any
documents which absolves a local organiser from the results of its own negligence and reduces your common law rights,
since this may invalidate your own travel insurance.
You can download our booking form by clicking here.
