Please note that our standard Crystal Terms & Conditions state that you must
be 18 years old to book and travel on holidays. Although the minimum age of 18
applies to some instructor courses (which are highlighted in the holiday description),
we offer an exception for other courses if you are aged 17 years old or over.
Our standard Terms and Conditions also state that we will not cancel your holiday
less than eight weeks before you go. However, certain holidays in this brochure
(which are highlighted in the holiday description) require minimum numbers in
order for them to operate and therefore, those holidays will be subject to
confirmation at least one month prior to the proposed departure date.
However, it is rare for us to cancel holidays for this reason and we will always
endeavour to offer you a suitable alternative so that you can still train at the
time of your choosing.
our agreement with you
We are a trading division of TUI UK Limited and Our Agreement with you sets
out what you are legally entitled to expect from us when you buy our travel
services. Those travel services are as advertised by us but may also have
restrictions set out in Important Information which should also be read
carefully. Because we sell a wide variety of travel products, you should read
Important Information and these terms and conditions carefully, before you
book, to see how they affect your specific travel arrangements made by us.
1. Your Travel Booking
You must be 18 years old to book and travel on holidays with us and take up
the offers advertised by us if they are still available. If you are under 18
years old an adult must accompany you on your journey. There may be
other restrictions on some offers, but these are explained in the details of
those offers. When you or (if you are booking through a travel agent) your
travel agent ask for your booking to be confirmed, we will confirm the
booking there and then, and set aside your chosen accommodation, holiday
or flights for you. Next, we will send you or your travel agent a Confirmation
Invoice within 14 days. We may not be able to confirm some of our ground
arrangements straight away (e.g. bespoke accommodation, tours etc). In
these instances we may issue a Confirmation Invoice. However, a contract for
arrangements that have not been confirmed on that invoice will only be
made when we have sent you written confirmation that those additional
arrangements have been completed. If there is any change to any of the
details discussed at time of booking, before the Confirmation Invoice is
issued, we will notify you promptly of any new or changed details, including
a change to the total price (if any). If any detail on the Confirmation Invoice is
not correct tell us or your travel agent immediately. If there is an obvious
error on the Confirmation Invoice we reserve the right to correct it as soon as
we become aware of it, but we will do this within 7 days of issuing the
Confirmation Invoice or, if your departure is within 7 days, no later than 24
hours before you go. If any of these changes are not acceptable then you
will be entitled to a full refund.
Your contract will either be with us or with another supplier of travel services
and this will depend on the type of arrangements you book: Your contract
will be with us if we arrange at least two or more of the following services
when the services are taken together and also either cover a period of more
than 24 hours or include overnight accommodation:- (a) transport; (b)
accommodation; and (c) other tourist services not ancillary to transport or
accommodation which account for a significant part of the arrangements. But
we will need to be aware that you have made more than one arrangement
with us. For all other arrangements, we are the Booking Agent for a number
of suppliers. Your contract will be with the supplier and we accept no
responsibility for their actions or omissions. Copies of the conditions of your
contract with your supplier are available on request from us and we
recommend that you ask for them and read them before you book so that
you are aware of how they may affect your booking. Thomsonfly’s terms
and conditions are available at www.thomsonfly.com. If you are only buying
a Thomsonfly flight from us or we are the supplier’s Booking Agent, the
clauses set out below that refer to your booking as a "holiday" will not apply
to you.
2. The Price You Pay
All prices we advertise are accurate at the date published, but we reserve the
right to change any of those prices from time to time. Prices can go up or
down. We will be able to tell you or your travel agent the up-to-date price of
your chosen travel arrangements and of any other services advertised by us
before confirming your booking.
We reserve the right to increase the price of your holiday after you have
booked but no later than 30 days before the departure date stipulated and
will forward an Amendment Invoice reflecting any changes made. If we are
your Booking Agent (see section 1 above), then we, acting on behalf of your
supplier, will pass on any price increase in accordance with the conditions of
the contract with your supplier.
For all other arrangements, after a Confirmation Invoice has been sent to
you, any increase to your holiday price will be as the result of changes in our
costs of supplying your holiday resulting from transportation charges, (fuel,
airport charges, scheduled air fares and other transport charges which form
part of our contract with the transport provider), currency fluctuations and
government action. An administration charge and any relevant travel agent’s
commission is included within these amounts.
If the increase would be 2% or less of the holiday price shown on your
Confirmation Invoice (excluding insurance premiums and any amendment
charges), we will absorb the changes in our costs described above and will
only pass on any increase above that level. If any change in our costs would
cause a reduction in your holiday price, we will not make refunds of
amounts less than 2% of your holiday price (calculated as above), but we
will refund in full amounts exceeding such 2%, after deducting an
administration charge of £1.
If the increase is more than 10% of the holiday price (calculated as above),
then :
1. You may cancel your holiday booking within 14 days of the Amendment
Invoice date and receive a refund of all monies paid to us except any
amendment charges; we will only consider an appropriate refund of
insurance premium paid if you can show us that you are unable to transfer
or re-use your policy; and
2. The increase will be considered a Major Change as described in section 4
below and, unless you choose to cancel under paragraph 1 above, you will
be entitled to the alternatives set out in section 4 for those circumstances,
but in either case you will receive compensation in accordance with section
4. The price quoted on the last Amendment Invoice issued is guaranteed,
unless you change your holiday booking. Any increases in our costs which
occur after the last Amendment Invoice has been sent will be borne by us.
3. If we cancel your booking
If we are your Booking Agent, your contract with your suppliers may allow
them to cancel bookings. Where this occurs, we will ensure that you are
promptly notified of any significant changes e.g. to airline flight times and
routes, but accept no liability for the changes or costs incurred which may
result.
For all other arrangements we aim to provide your holiday as booked. But if,
for example, there are not enough people booked on your holiday, we may
cancel it. We reserve the right to cancel your holiday in any circumstances
but if we cancel your holiday you can either have a refund or accept a
replacement holiday from us of equivalent or closely similar standard and
price (if one is available). In either case, we will pay you compensation,
using the scale shown (unless we cancel your holiday because of one of the
events listed in the ‘Important note – events beyond our control’) and we
will always refund the difference in price if the replacement holiday is of a
lower standard and price. We will not cancel your holiday less than eight
weeks before you go, unless this is the result of one of the events in the
‘Important note – events beyond our control’.
4. If we change your booking details
If we are your Booking Agent, your contract with your suppliers may allow
them to change your booking details. Where this occurs, we will ensure that
you are promptly notified of any significant changes e.g. to airline flight times
and routes, but accept no liability for the changes or costs incurred which
may result.
For all other arrangements, we hope that we will not have to make any
change to your holiday but, because our holidays are planned many months
in advance, we sometimes do need to make changes. We reserve the right
to do this at any time. We will let you or your travel agent know about any
important changes when you book. If you have already booked, we will let
you know as soon as we can, if there is time before your departure. Flight
timings shown by us are for guidance only and may change. Your
Confirmation Invoice will show the latest planned timings. Your actual flight
timings will be shown on your ticket (including any e ticket itinerary), which
you should check carefully as soon as you receive it.
Major changes to your holiday
Occasionally, we have to make major changes to the flight or
accommodation making up your holiday with us. If we tell you about any of
these changes after we have confirmed your holiday booking, you may
either:
- accept the new arrangements offered by us; or
- accept a replacement holiday from us of equivalent or closely similar
standard and price, if one is available; or
- cancel your holiday with us and receive a full refund of all monies paid.
Either way, we will pay you compensation, using the Compensation table
shown, unless the change is for reasons beyond our control (see the
‘Important Note - events beyond our control’) and we will always refund the
difference in price if the replacement holiday is of a lower standard and
price.
Major changes for which we will always pay compensation, using the scale
shown, may include the following changes: a significant change of
destination; a change in accommodation to that of a lower category, a
change in the time of your departure or return flight by more than 12 hours,
a change of UK departure airport (excluding changes between London
airports, London and Ashford stations and between Dover/Folkestone ports)
but see also ‘Important note – events beyond our control’. These changes
are only examples and there may be other significant changes which
constitute major changes. This standard payment will not affect your
statutory or other legal rights. We will only make one payment for each fullfare-
paying adult in the holiday booking. Any children not paying the full
adult fare will receive 50% of these amounts. Children using a free child
place will not receive any standard payment.
5. What happens to holiday complaints
We can usually sort out any complaints you may have. But if we cannot
agree, you can take the matter to an arbitrator appointed by The Chartered
Institute of Arbitrators. Details and application forms are available from ABTA,
68-71 Newman Street, London W1P 4AH.
The arbitrator will only deal with your complaint if it relates to a holiday and:
• you are claiming up to £5,000 for each person or £25,000 for each booking;
• you contact them within 9 months of the end of your holiday; and
• your complaint does not involve major physical injury or illness
This is a cheap and simple way of sorting out complaints and there are
limits on the costs you might have to pay. You do not have to appear in
person, but can send documents to explain your complaint. If you would like
more details, please ask our Customer Services Department. If you prefer,
you can take your complaint
to the County Court or another suitable court .
6. Our responsibility for Your holiday
We will arrange for you to receive the services that make up the holiday that
you choose and that we confirm. These services will be provided either
directly by us or through independent suppliers contracted by us. Except
where we are a Booking Agent we are responsible for making sure that each
part of the holiday you book with us is provided to a reasonable standard
and as was advertised by us (or as changed and accepted by you). If any
part of your holiday is not provided as described and this spoils your holiday,
we will pay you appropriate compensation (see the ‘Important note – events
beyond our control’). Also, if you buy a local excursion or tour through one of
our official representatives, we will pay you reasonable compensation if it is
not as advertised in our literature.
We have taken all reasonable care to make sure that all the services which
make up the holidays advertised by us are provided by efficient and
reputable businesses. These businesses should follow the local and national
laws and regulations of the country where they are provided. However,
overseas safety standards are generally lower than in the UK, for example
few hotels yet meet EC fire safety recommendations even in Europe.
7. Personal Injury 1
Except where we are your Booking Agent, this section covers injury, illness or
death while you are using the holiday services that we have arranged for
you. We have no direct control over the way our suppliers provide their
services but everyone employed or contracted by us or by our suppliers is
expected to carry out their duties properly. If they do not carry out their
duties properly (or at all) and that fault results in your injury, illness or death,
we may make a payment to you. We will not make any payment if your
injury, illness or death was caused by an event or circumstances which the
person who caused it could not have predicted or avoided even if they had
taken all necessary and due care. We will not make any payment if your
illness, injury or death was your own fault. If we do make a payment, it will
be similar to one you would receive under English law in an English court.
Note: We will make such payments for injury, illness or death on the basis
that you are expected to accept that:
1 You must tell us and the supplier involved about your injury or illness while
you are in the resort (see section 13). You should also write to our Customer
Services at the address given in Important Information about your claim
within three months of coming home from your holiday to allow us to
investigate it properly. Please include a letter about your injury or illness from
your doctor if you can.
2 You should transfer to us any rights you have against the supplier or any
other person.
3 You should co-operate fully with us if we or our insurers want to enforce
those rights.
4 Any payments we make may be limited in accordance with international
conventions.
We ask you to transfer your rights to us so that we can claim back from
suppliers any payments we make to you, plus any legal or other costs. We
will not make a profit from this. If we get back from the supplier more than
we have paid you plus these costs, we will give the extra money to you.
8. Personal Injury 2
Except where we are your Booking Agent, this section covers damages,
injury, illness or death which is not connected with the arrangements made
by us. If you or someone on your holiday booking is injured, falls ill or dies
while taking part in an activity which is not part of the holiday, or you need
to incur unpredictable extra expenses for which we are not liable (see
‘Important note – events beyond our control’) we will try to help if we can.
For example, we can help by:
• providing translation services
• communicating with authorities and others in foreign resorts
• recommending foreign lawyers (if necessary)
• explaining the procedures you should follow
• telling you of any time limits
We will help everyone on your holiday booking up to a total cost to us of
£5,000 as long as the following conditions are met:
1 You must ask us for help within three months of coming back from holiday.
2 You must make a claim under your insurance policy’s legal expenses or
other appropriate section. You must show us proof that your insurance
company has received your claim and, if you get back the cost of legal or
other expenses, you must repay us any money we have spent in helping
you.
your agreement with us
9. Your contract
By asking us or your travel agent to confirm your booking, you are accepting
that the terms of this Agreement (and the conditions of any contract made with
your suppliers) applies to your booking and your travel arrangements. You also
consent to our processing personal information about you and other members
of your party (see Data Protection in Important Information). Your contract with
us is subject to the laws and jurisdiction of England and Wales. You may
however choose the law and jurisdiction of Scotland or Northern Ireland if you
wish to do so.
10. Paying for your travel arrangements
A£250.00 non-refundable deposit must be made for each person with the booking
form. Within two weeks of booking, we will send you a Confirmation Invoice
showing how much you owe us. No later than 6 weeks after confirmation of
your booking the Company must receive the first deposit of £750.00. A
second deposit of £750.00 is due 6 weeks later. The final balance payment must be
received by the Company no later than 12 weeks prior to departure.
Please note your booking deposit may be increased or there may be a
charge payable for some accommodation, holidays or flight bookings where
it is necessary to secure specific facilities with full payment at the time of
booking e.g. specific types of airline tickets. Once confirmed, the booking
deposit, additional charges paid and insurance premiums will not be
refunded in the event of cancellation except in the circumstances specified in
Sections 2, 3 or 4 or as otherwise required by law.
You must pay the amount on the last Invoice issued by us, at least twelve
weeks before you go on holiday. If you don’t, we reserve the right to treat your
booking as cancelled and to charge you a cancellation charge up to 100% of
the total on that last Invoice, in accordance with the scale in section 12.
If payment for your booking is made by credit card a handling fee of 2.0% per
transaction is made. No charge is made for payments made by Debit Card.
11. If you change your booking
1. If you want to change any details of your booking (such as changing to a
different hotel or changing your point or date of departure) or to cancel an
optional extra you have booked, we will do our best to help but please note
that we usually treat amendments that would lower the basic price of your
holiday as a different holiday (see 11.4 below). We charge an ‘Amendment
Fee’ for each detail of the booking which you change. If you make the
change more than 56 days before departure, the fee will be £25 per person.
For any changes within 56 days of departure, appropriate cancellation
charges will be applied (see below).
2. The price of your new travel arrangements will be based on the prices that
apply on the day you ask for the change. These prices may not be the same
as when you first booked your travel arrangements.
3. Name change, and or departure details such as date and time changes are
not always allowed by airlines and other transport providers whenever they
are made. Whilst we will do our best to change the details of the booking,
please bear in mind that most airlines and other transport providers treat
name and departure detail changes as a cancellation and charge accordingly.
These charges will be passed on to you. Once tickets have been issued, and
sometimes even before they have been issued, any changes made to the
ticket, including names or initials, will result in you having to pay for the
cancelled ticket and buy a new ticket at full cost.
4. If, within 56 days of departure, you want to change to a different holiday
or you wish to change your departure date to a later date, you will have to
pay cancellation charges (see section 12). If the change means we must
send you new tickets, we cannot give you any refund until we have received
all your old travel documents, including tickets.
5. Some types of accommodation (such as apartments, or hotel rooms with
reductions for three adults) are priced according to the number of people
staying there. If your booking changes because someone in your party
cancels, we will recalculate your booking cost based on the new number of
people going. If fewer people share the accommodation, then the cost for
them may go up. This extra cost is not a cancellation charge, and it is not
covered by our recommended Insurance.
6. Except where we are your Booking Agent and subject to clause 11.3 above,
if you are prevented from taking the holiday you have booked, you may
transfer your booking to another person, provided you meet the following
conditions:
- You must sign an amendment/cancellation form authorising us to make the
transfer;
- The person to whom you transfer your holiday booking must comply with
all the terms of the existing booking;
- That person must sign a holiday booking form accepting the transfer and
the terms of Our Agreement;
- That person must show us new evidence of their holiday insurance, as
your policy cannot be transferred to another person (and the premium
cannot be refunded);
- We will also charge amendment fees in accordance with section 11.1 above.
This will be added to the new Invoice issued to that person;
- You cannot transfer a holiday booking within 21 days of departure; and
- You will remain responsible for the payment of any balance on that new
Invoice should that person fail to pay it.
12. If you cancel your booking
If you want to cancel your booking or part of it, the lead name on your
booking or your travel agent must advise us in writing at the address given
in the Important Information below. The letter must be signed by the person
who made the booking. To cover the cost of processing your cancellation and
to compensate us for the risk that we may not be able to resell your travel
arrangements, we make a cancellation charge on the scale shown above.
The person who made the booking is responsible for paying this charge. The
size of the charge depends on when we receive your form or letter – the
more notice you give, the less we will charge.
If you are travelling on a scheduled flight, we cannot give you any refund
until we have received your old travel documents, including tickets. Please
return them to us or your travel agent immediately.
Please note that for certain travel arrangements e.g. coach tours and many
scheduled transport providers the cancellation charge may be higher than
those shown. In certain cases a 100% cancellation fee applies as soon as the
booking is made and the ticket is issued. Please ask for full details of
cancellation charges at time of booking. If you have taken out our
recommended Insurance policy, you may be able to claim for the
cancellation charge. You will find details on the Insurance page. If you have
taken out other holiday insurance, please check your policy.
13. If you have a complaint
If we are the Booking Agent, your contract with your supplier may have a
complaints procedure to follow (see Section 1). If your contract is with us and
you have a complaint about your arrangements whilst away, you must
immediately notify the supplier of the service in question locally. If they are
unable to resolve the problem immediately, and a member of our staff is not
available, you should contact us straight away by telephone/fax/email and
we will endeavour to assist. If you are still not satisfied on your return home,
you must write to our Customer Services Department at the address given in
the Important Information, within 28 days of returning from your holiday.
Please write your holiday reference number on your letter, and include your
daytime and evening telephone numbers. If you do not give us the
opportunity to resolve any problem locally by reporting it to the supplier,
then we may not be able to deal positively with any complaint on your
return. Please submit any complaint within 28 days to allow it to be
investigated properly.
14. Conduct while travelling
We reserve the right to refuse to accept you as a customer or continue
dealing with you if your behaviour is disruptive or affects other travellers or
is threatening or abusive towards our staff or agents in the UK or resort, on
the telephone, in writing or in person. If the Captain of your flight or cruise
ship or our resort staff believes that you could be disruptive, they can also
refuse to let you proceed with your travel arrangements. If this means you
are not allowed to board the flight outbound from the UK, we will treat your
booking as cancelled by you from that moment, and you will have to pay
full cancellation charges (see section 12). If this occurs overseas then you will
become responsible for your own return home and any other members of
your group who cannot or will not travel without you. In any of these
circumstances no refunds or compensation will be paid to you and we may
make a claim against you for any costs and expenses incurred as a result of
your behaviour e.g. the cost of diverting an aircraft or ship to remove you.
Criminal proceedings may also be instigated.
15. Your accommodation
The accommodation we arrange for you must only be used by those people
named on your Confirmation Invoice (or on any Amendment Invoice issued).
You are not allowed to share the accommodation or let anyone else stay
there.
16. The conditions of your ticket
When you travel by air or by sea, your journey may be subject to certain
international conventions such as the Warsaw Convention, Montreal
Convention or Athens Convention. You agree that the transport company’s
own ‘Conditions of Carriage’ will apply to you on that journey. When
arranging this transportation for you, we rely on the terms and conditions
contained within these international conventions and those ‘Conditions of
Carriage'. You acknowledge that all of these terms and conditions form part
of your contract with us as well as with the transport company. You can ask
us or the travel agent booking your holiday to provide you with a copy of
any of the conditions applicable to your journey. We will tell you the identity
of your air carrier when you book with us and if it is not known at that time
or subsequently changes we will inform you as soon as possible and no
later than at check-in for your flight (or boarding if it is a connecting flight
without check-in).
