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Opening Hours
Monday - Friday
8.30am - 5.30pm
Saturday
8.30am - 4.00pm
(Exc. Bank Holidays)
OUR TRADING CHARTER WITH YOU
Air Tours Terms & Conditions
Woods Holidays Ltd, 43 Aldwick Road, Bognor Regis, PO21 2NL.
YOUR CONTRACT IS WITH WOODS HOLIDAYS LTD, A MEMBER OF ABTA.
1. WHY SHOULD I READ THIS PAGE?
Because it is very important. Our trading charter forms a key part of our agreement with you and forms the basis of a legally binding contract between you as the leading name making the booking, anyone else in your party and us i.e Woods Holidays Ltd.
2. HOW AND WHEN DO I MAKE THIS CONTRACT WITH YOU?
We welcome you making contact with us in a number of ways. You can visit our office – write to us, phone us, use a nominated travel agent, e mail or visit our website at www.woodstravel.co.uk. Whichever way you contact us the contract is made at the time and date when your booking is entered on to our reservations system and we issue a confirmation of booking. We will send to you or your agent the confirmation of your booking within seven working days. Please check this confirmation very carefully to ensure all the information is correct and tell us or your agent immediately of any errors.
3.YOUR HOLIDAY CONTRACT
When you make a booking you guarantee that you have the authority to accept and do accept on behalf of your party the terms of these booking conditions. A contract will exist as soon as we issue our confirmation invoice. This contract is made on the terms of these booking conditions, which are governed by English Law, and the jurisdiction of the English Courts. You may however, choose the law and jurisdiction of Scotland or Northern Ireland if you wish to do so.
4. YOUR FINANCIAL PROTECTION
The air holidays and flights in this brochure are ATOL Protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our
ATOL number is ATOL 3631. We are a member of ABTA. The Association of British Travel Agents
guarantees to bona fide customers that in the event of failure of a bona fide member, it will:
• return all monies for holiday not taken yet.
• Where possible, arrange for a holiday or tour to be completed
• Where failure occurs after a holiday has begun, arrange for customers to be returned by an
appropriate means of transport to their UK area of departure.
• If the holiday or tour cannot be completed as planned, the reimbursement of payments made
by the customer to the ABTA Member other than payments made by credit card.
5. YOUR HOLIDAY PRICE
When you make your booking you must pay a deposit of £100 per person (unless stated
otherwise on the holiday page). The balance of the price of your travel arrangements must
be paid at least 8 weeks before your departure date (unless stated otherwise on your
confirmation). Where you use an agent they may require you to pay them earlier than this
date and will advise you separately of their balance due date.
If you book within our balance due period you will need to pay the total holiday cost at
the time of your booking. There may be charges for Credit/Debit cards ask at point of sale.
If the deposit and/or balance is not paid in time, we shall cancel your travel arrangements.
If the balance is not paid in time we shall retain your deposit. All monies you pay to the travel
agent are held by him on your behalf until we issue our confirmation invoice. After this the
travel agent holds the monies on our behalf.
Where optional items are purchased as part of our tour package these are payable on the
balance due date except where items such as theatre tickets have been specifically
purchased for you. In this case the cost will be payable at a separate date notified to you
and will not normally be refundable unless we obtain a refund from the supplier we use.
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 £5.00 per
person together with an amount to cover agents’ commission. If this means that you have to
pay an increase of more than 10% of the price of your travel arrangements, you may cancel
your travel arrangements and receive a full refund of all monies paid, except for any
amendment charges. We will consider an appropriate refund of insurance premiums paid if
you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy. Should you decide to cancel
for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the issue date
printed on your final invoice. Whether you cancel or not you will also be entitled, on the terms
set out in respect of major changes in paragraph 6 below, to accept an offer of alternative
travel arrangements from us if we are able to do so and compensation as set out below.
Please note that travel arrangements are not always purchased in local currency and some
apparent changes have no impact on the price of your travel due to contractual and other
protection in place.
Holiday prices include all coach travel, return flights, hotel accommodation, meals and
excursions as specified in the holiday description and VAT at the current rate where
applicable. Morning coffee, afternoon tea and other refreshments are not included. Some
hotels may make a small additional charge for porterage and tea or coffee served after lunch
and dinner. Gratuities to the hotel staff and driver/courier are discretionary.
6. IF YOU CHANGE YOUR BOOKING
If, after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you wish to change your travel arrangements in any way, for example your chosen departure date or accommodation, we will do our utmost to make these changes but it may not always be possible. Any request for changes to be made must be in writing from the person who made the booking or your travel agent. You will be asked to pay an administration charge of £25, and any further cost we incur in making this alteration. You should be aware that these costs could increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made and you should contact us as soon as possible. Note: Certain travel arrangements (e.g. Apex Tickets) may not be changeable after a reservation has been made and any alteration request could incur a cancellation charge of up to 100% of that part of the arrangements.
7. IF YOU CANCEL YOUR HOLIDAY
You, or any member of your party, may cancel your travel arrangements at any time. Written notification from the person who made the booking or your travel agent on your behalf must be received at our offices. Since we incur costs in cancelling your travel arrangements, you will have to pay the applicable cancellation charges up to the maximum shown in clause 8. Note: If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.
8. IF WE CHANGE OR CANCEL YOUR HOLIDAY
It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your travel arrangements, but we do
plan the arrangements many months in advance. Occasionally, we may have to make
changes and we reserve the right to do so at any time. Most of these changes will be minor
and we will advise you or your travel agent of them at the earliest possible date. We also
reserve the right in any circumstances to cancel your travel arrangements. For example, if
the minimum number of clients required for a particular travel arrangement is not reached,
we may have to cancel it. However, we will not cancel your travel arrangements less than
8 weeks before your departure date, except for reasons of force majeure or failure by you to
pay the final balance. If we are unable to provide the booked travel arrangements, you can
either have a refund of all monies paid or accept an offer of alternative travel arrangements
of comparable standard from us, if available (we will refund any price difference if the
alternative is of a lower value). If it is necessary to cancel your travel arrangements, we will
pay to you compensation as set out in this clause.
Please note that carriers such as Airlines used in the brochure may be subject to change.
Such a change is deemed to be a minor change. Other examples of minor changes include
alteration of your outward/return flights by less than 12 hours, changes to aircraft type,
change of accommodation to another of the same standard.
If we make a major change to your holiday, we will inform you or your travel agent as
soon as reasonably possible if there is time before your departure. You will have the choice
of either accepting the change of arrangements, accepting an offer of alternative travel
arrangements of comparable standard from us if available (we will refund any price
difference if the alternative is of a lower value), or cancelling your booked holiday and
receiving a full refund of all monies paid. In all cases, except where the major change arises
due to reasons of force majeure, we will pay compensation as detailed below:
IF WE MAKE A MAJOR CHANGE TO YOUR HOLIDAY / IF WE CANCEL YOUR HOLIDAY / IF YOU CANCEL YOUR HOLIDAY
| Period before departure within which notice of cancellation or major change is received by us or notified to you | Amount you will receive from us if we make a major change to your holiday | If we cancel your holiday | Amount of cancellation charge if you cancel your holiday |
| More than 42 days | NIL | Deposit Only | Deposit Only |
| 29-42 days | £10 | 100% of holiday cost + £10 | 30% of holiday cost |
| 15-28 days | £15 | 100% of holiday cost + £15 | 45% of holiday cost |
| 08-14 days | £20 | 100% of holiday cost + £20 | 60% of holiday cost |
| 0-7 days | £25 | 100% of holiday cost + £25 | 100% of holiday cost |
Cancellation of your flight may result in a charge of up to 100% of the ticket cost. Details will be
given upon request at the time of cancellation.
No refunds can be made by us in respect of cancellations received by us on or after the date of
departure. In addition to the above charges, it may be necessary to add under-occupancy, or
single room supplements to other members of a party where member(s) of that party cancel.
NOTE: If the reason for cancellation is covered under the terms of an insurance policy, you may
be able to reclaim these charges.
Force Majeure: This means that we will not pay you compensation if we have to cancel or
change your travel arrangements in any way because of unusual or unforeseeable circumstances
beyond our control. These can include, for example, war, riot, industrial dispute, terrorist activity
and its consequences, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions.
9. IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT
If you have a problem during your holiday, please inform the relevant supplier (e.g. your hotelier) and our resort representative immediately who will endeavour to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved locally, please follow this up within 28 days of your return home by writing to our Customer Services Department at 43 Aldwick Road, Bognor Regis. PO21 2NL. giving your booking reference and all other relevant information. Please keep your letter concise and to the point. This will assist us to quickly identify your concerns and speed up our response to you. It is strongly suggested that you communicate any complaint to the supplier of the services in question as well as to our representative without delay and complete a report form whilst in resort. If you fail to follow this simple procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were in resort and this may affect your rights under this contract.
10. WHAT HAPPENS TO COMPLAINTS
Disputes arising out of, or in connection with, this contract which cannot be amicably settled may
be referred to arbitration, if the customer so wishes, under a special Scheme arranged by the
Association of British Travel Agents, and administered independently by the Chartered Institute of
Arbitrators.
The scheme provides for a simple and inexpensive method of arbitration on documents alone
with restricted liability on the customer in respect of costs. Full details will be provided on request
or can be obtained from the ABTA website (www.abta.com).
The Scheme does not apply to claims for an amount greater than £5,000 per person. There is
also a limit of £25,000 per booking form. Neither does it apply to claims which are solely in
respect of physical injury or illness or their consequences. The Scheme can however deal with
compensation claims which include an element of minor injury or illness subject to a limit of
£1,000 on the amount the arbitrator can award per person in respect of this element.
The application for arbitration and Statement of Claim must be received by the Chartered
Institute of Arbitrators within nine months of the date of return from the holiday. Outside this time
limit arbitration under the Scheme may still be available if the company agrees, but the ABTA Code
does not require such agreement.
For injury and illness claims, you may like to use the ABTA / Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
Mediation Procedure. This is a voluntary scheme and requires your tour operator to agree for
mediation to go ahead. The aim is to help you resolve your dispute in a quick and cost effective
way. Details on request or from www.abta.com.
11. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU
(i) We accept responsibility for ensuring that your travel arrangements, which you book with us,
are supplied as described in this brochure. If any part of your travel arrangements are not
provided as promised, due to the fault of our employees, agents or suppliers we will pay you
appropriate compensation if this has affected the enjoyment of your travel arrangements.
(ii) We accept responsibility for death, injury or illness caused by the negligent acts and/or
omissions of our employees or agents, our suppliers and sub-contractors, whilst acting within
the scope of, or in the course of their employment in the provision of your travel arrangements.
We will accordingly pay to you such damages as might have been awarded in such
circumstances under English Law or the law you have chosen under clause 1 above and
subject to clause (iii) below.
(iii) The amount of compensation to which you are entitled will be limited by
The contractual terms of the companies that provide the transportation for your travel
arrangements. These terms are incorporated into this contract; and The Montreal Convention in
respect of travel by air, the Athens Convention in respect of travel by sea, the Berne Convention
in respect of travel by rail and the Paris Convention in respect of the provision of accommodation,
which limit the amount of compensation that you can claim for death, injury or loss of or damage
to luggage. We are to be regarded as having all benefit of any limitation of compensation
contained in these conventions.
You can ask for copies of the transport companies' contractual terms, or the international
conventions, from our offices at 43 Aldwick Road, Bognor Regis. PO21 2NL.
Some coach journeys are operated by vehicles other than those owned by Woods Holidays Ltd
and the specification may be different to that detailed in this brochure. The Public Service Vehicle
(Conduct of Drivers, Conductors and Passengers) Regulations as amended 1990, apply to all
coaches throughout any holiday in the U.K.
12. PERSONAL INJURY UNCONNECTED WITH YOUR BOOKED TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS
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 or an excursion arranged through us, we shall at our discretion, offer advice, guidance and assistance. Where legal action is contemplated and you want our assistance, you must obtain our written consent prior to commencement of proceedings. Our consent will be given subject to you undertaking to assign any costs, benefits received under any relevant insurance policy to ourselves. We limit the cost of our assistance to you or any member of your party to £5,000.
13. PASSPORT, VISA AND IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS
If travelling outside the United Kingdom you must have a UK passport valid for a minimum of six months after your scheduled date of return. When travelling on domestic flights photographic identification is compulsory. Your specific passport and visa requirements, and other immigration requirements are your responsibility and you should confirm these with the relevant Embassies and/or Consulates. We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel because you have not complied with any passport, visa or immigration requirements. (www.fco.gov.uk/knowbeforeyougo)
14. WHAT HAPPENS IF I AM DELAYED?
Your travel insurance may cover you for some delays. In addition where you are delayed for more than six hours in any one-day we will seek to minimise any discomfort and where possible, arrange for refreshments and meals. This brochure is our responsibility, as your tour operator. It is not issued on behalf of, and does not commit the airlines mentioned herein or any airline whose services are used in the course of your travel arrangements. Please note that in accordance with Air Navigation Orders in order to qualify for infant status, a child must be under 2 years of age on the date of its return flight.
15. DOOR TO DOOR SERVICE
Unless otherwise stated door to door service applies to all WOODS holidays in this brochure providing your home address is within 10miles of any of our appointed travel agents (excluding the Isle of Wight). Beyond 10miles it will be at the discretion of the operator, please contact us for details.
16. LUGGAGE
Please note that luggage allowance varies according to which airline you travel with. Details will be given to you with your travel documents.
17. SPECIAL NEEDS
All special needs and requests should be entered on the booking form. These cannot be
guaranteed except where confirmed as part of our holiday commitment to you and are detailed
on your holiday booking confirmation.
We are keen to ensure that we plan the arrangements for your holiday so that special needs
and requests can be accommodated as far as possible. If you will need assistance, or may be
unable to fully enjoy all aspects of your holiday you must tell us in advance so that we can
maximise your enjoyment of the holiday. We will need to know if you will need special facilities in
the hotel, taking part in the excursions or have difficulty boarding and travelling on the coach or
other means of transport. If you need advice or further information either you or your booking
agent should contact our Tours Manager.
18. SPECIAL REQUESTS
If you will require a special diet please tell us at the time of booking, or as soon as you are
medically advised, together with a copy of the diet. This will be notified to the hotel or hotels on
your holiday. Some hotels may not have the full facilities to cope with special diets. Where this is
likely to happen we will tell you prior to your booking confirmation being issued so that you can
exercise your right to cancel your holiday booking without charge. Any extra costs incurred must
be paid to the hotel by yourself prior to departure from the hotel. You should also detail requests
for low floor rooms, particular rooms or locations on the special requests section of the booking
form. Some requests may incur an extra charge payable either to us or direct to the hotel. These
requests cannot be guaranteed except where we confirm on the booking confirmation that this is
a guaranteed requirement.
We do not allocate rooms in hotels, this is totally the responsibility of the hotelier and should
you not be satisfied with the room you are allocated on arrival, it must be brought to the hoteliers
attention immediately. If satisfaction is not achieved you must contact your driver/courier.
19. ENTERTAINMENT
Some of our hotels arrange additional entertainment. Where this is part of the holiday details are given on the respective brochure page. Where it is not specified it may still be available but is at the discretion of the hotel and is not guaranteed and where available may be withdrawn if there is a lack of demand or insufficient numbers.
20. COACH SEATING
When travelling by air the coach seats allocated to you on your booking form can only be guaranteed in this country. Whilst every effort is made to hire coaches with the identical seating plan to our own, it is not always possible. The vehicles may be smaller and/or have a completely different seat plan.
21. PASSENGER BEHAVIOUR
We want all our customers to have a happy and carefree holiday. But you must remember that you are responsible for your behaviour and the effect it may have on others. If you or any member of your party is abusive or disruptive or behaves in a way which, in our reasonable opinion, could cause damage or injury to others or affect their enjoyment of their holiday, or which could damage property, we have the right, after reasonable consideration, to terminate your contract with us. If this happens we will have no further obligations or liability to you. The coach driver/representative, ship’s captain, or authorised official of other means of transport is entitled to refuse you boarding if in their reasonable opinion you are unacceptably under the influence of drink or drugs or you are being violent or disruptive. If you are refused boarding on the outward journey we will regard it as a cancellation by you and we will apply cancellation charges according to the scale in section 9 (How can I cancel my holiday?). If the refusal is on the return journey we have the right to terminate the contract and will have no further obligations or liability to you.
22. NO SMOKING POLICY
We operate a strict no smoking policy on all our coaches. We make frequent comfort stops. The no smoking policy of other carriers and suppliers will vary and will be supplied on request.
23. LOCAL PICK UP POINT HOLIDAYS
You are responsible for ensuring that you are at the correct departure point, at the correct time, with the correct documents and we cannot be held liable for any loss or expense suffered by your party because of their late arrival at the departure point.
24. HEALTH & SAFETY
In some foreign countries, standards of infrastructure, safety and hygiene may be lower than
those to which we are accustomed in the UK. You should therefore exercise greater care for your
own protection.
Before booking your holiday you should be sure that you and your party are both physically
and mentally capable of completing the itinerary. There may be countries that we visit in this
brochure that have special medical requirements for tourists. These regulations are subject to
change and our clients are responsible for complying with entry and current health requirements.
If you are not sure of the health requirement’s for the country you are visiting, you are advised to
check with your own GP before travelling. Your are also advised to refer to the Department of
Health leaflet "Health Advice for Travellers" available from our office, any ABTA travel agents or
the Department of Health.
Some people may be at risk from discomfort or deep vein thrombosis (DVT) if they remain
immobile on a journey for a long period of time. If you are planning to undertake a bus or coach
journey of more than three hours, you should consult your doctor if you have ever had DVT,
pulmonary embolism, a family history of clotting conditions, cancer or treatment for cancer,
stroke, heart or lung disease or if you have had major surgery in the past three months. We
reserve the right to refuse any booking in the absence of a doctors certificate confirming that you
are fit to travel. During the journey we will provide comfort stops as frequently as possible. During
these stops you are encouraged to get off the coach and walk around. Exercise reduces any
discomfort, which may be caused by periods of immobility. During any long journey you should
drink alcohol only in moderation as it leads to dehydration.
25. TRAVEL DOCUMENTS
Provided you have paid the balance; approximately 2 weeks prior to departure we will either send you or your booking agent all the necessary travel documents/information and labels so that you receive them in good time for your holiday. Certain travel documents may have to be retained by us and your driver/courier will then issue them to you at the relevant time. If you lose a travel document after it has been issued to you we will require you to meet the direct cost charged by the carrier/supplier for the issue of a duplicate or replacement. If travelling by ferry or Le Shuttle your driver will hold a group ticket, however if travelling by air you will be allocated your ticket at the airport prior to departure.
26. ENTRANCE FEES
Refunds for entrances to properties owned by an association, i.e National Trust, cannot be claimed as a refund. We negotiate group rates and as such have minimum numbers to adhere to. Therefore should you have an associated card it will be the charity who will benefits by this.
27. DATA PROTECTION ACT
We retain your full contact details and other information in secure files and electronic storage facilities. We may use this information to contact you by mail, telephone or electronic means. We will provide you with details of other goods and services including those of selected third parties. We may share your information with other carefully selected third parties who may contact you direct by mail, telephone or electronic means. If you do not wish to receive further information about products and services from either ourselves or third parties please write to our Tour Manager.
28. PUBLICATION DATE AND DETAILS
These brochures were printed in the United Kingdom by Woods Holidays Ltd on 15/10/07 and 10/04/08. It is issued to comply with applicable Acts of Parliament and Government Regulations.
29. ITINERARIES
Woods Holidays Ltd reserve the right to modify itineraries to conform with requests from the competent authorities in the United Kingdom and any other sovereign state through which the tour will operate. Included excursions are detailed on the relevant brochure page and refunds will not be made for any excursion not taken. Admission fees to buildings, grounds etc. are not included in the price of the holiday unless otherwise stated on the relevant brochure page.
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