Austral Tours Booking Conditions

Please read these conditions carefully. They are the terms on which you enter into a contract with Austral Tours Limited ("Austral Tours", "we" or "us").

1) BOOKING YOUR HOLIDAY
(a) To secure your booking, you should complete and sign the Austral Tours Booking Form and send it to us with a deposit of £250 per person, £450 per person if the booking includes a cruise, trek or carnival, or any other amount as advised by us at the time of booking and confirmation that you have appropriate insurance cover. If booking within 8 weeks of departure, full payment is required at the time of booking.
(b) On receiving your Booking Form and the applicable payment, we will reserve your holiday and issue a Confirmation and Final Invoice. It is at this time that a Contract is made between you and Austral Tours that is subject to these Booking Conditions. We will normally confirm your booking within 5 working days although in some cases more time may be required as we will need to communicate with suppliers in Latin America. If for any reason we are unable to confirm your holiday and you are not satisfied with the alternative that we propose, we will refund your payment in full.
(c) Full payment of your Final Invoice will normally be due no later than 8 weeks prior to departure. In certain cases it may be necessary for interim payments to be made prior to 8 weeks of departure. We will endeavour to advise you of any additional payments required at the time of booking confirmation, however it may be necessary for subsequent interim payments to be made (for example should the airlines in your itinerary require ticket issuance prior to 8 weeks of your departure).
(d) When applicable, your travel documents will be sent to you approximately two weeks prior to your departure. If booking within two weeks of departure, documents will be sent to you as soon as possible, or made available for collection, or sent by courier upon payment of a fee.
(e) Special Requests should be indicated on the Booking Form or made in writing. Austral Tours will try to arrange for Special Requests to be met, but cannot guarantee that they will be, nor will Austral Tours be liable if any Special Request is not met.
(f) If your booking is made through a travel agent, we will address all communications to that agent. All monies paid by you to an Austral Tours appointed travel agent under or in contemplation of this contract are held by that agent on behalf of Austral Tours.
(g) Where you book only a single component of a holiday (e.g. a hotel, without flights), Austral Tours acts only as a booking agent for the supplier concerned, and accepts no liability for the provision of the product/service involved.

2) ACCEPTANCE OF BOOKING
Your booking is only accepted on the understanding that you realise that Latin America can be an unpredictable region. We cannot be held responsible for the consequences or effects of flight cancellations, strikes, wars, riots, sickness, quarantine, government intervention, adverse weather conditions, mechanical breakdown, local political conditions or any other unpredictable or unforeseen circumstances that may have a consequential or material effect on the contents or timing of your tour.

3) INSURANCE
(a) It is a condition of our acceptance of your booking that you take out insurance at the time of booking and it is your responsibility to do so. It is your responsibility to ensure that you purchase a policy that provides cover that is at least equivalent to the value of your tour, that covers any activities in which you will be participating and which includes cover for medical expenses including the cost of repatriation.  Austral Tours cannot be held responsible if you purchase an inadequate insurance policy.
(b) As Austral Tours is not authorised to sell insurance by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), from January 2009 we are no longer able to provide you with travel insurance. However we can recommend, as an Introducer Appointed Representative, the policies of Citybond Suretravel. You can find information about the policies that Citybond Suretravel offers as well as request a quotation through the following link on our website www.latinamerica.co.uk/travel_insurance.htm. The insurance policies offered by Citybond Suretravel are only valid for UK and EU residents and for journeys originating in the UK and EU. Customers not resident in either the UK or the EU should obtain equivalent insurance cover in their country of residence.

4) AUSTRAL TOURS PRICE POLICY
(a) Your Confirmation will contain details of what is included in the price of your package. Any items not detailed on your Confirmation are not included in the price of your package.
(b) The prices in this website are based upon costs as at 4 January, 2010 and currency rates of exchange as shown on the website of the Bank of England of that date (US Dollar 1.6121 = £1).
(c) The price of a tour may be varied at any time before we have accepted your booking.
(d) After a Final Invoice has been issued we reserve the right to vary your holiday price in certain limited circumstances. A surcharge will only be levied to reflect increases in transportation costs (including fuel and air fares), dues, taxes (including a change in VAT), fees chargeable for services (including landing taxes and embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and airports), government action, or adverse exchange rate variations. All efforts will be made not to impose a surcharge and increases in costs up to 2% of the holiday price (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges) will be borne by Austral Tours.
(e) If a surcharge would increase the total holiday price by 10% or more, you may cancel your booking within 14 days of the date of issue of our Supplementary Invoice and obtain a full refund of all payments made to Austral Tours, except for amendment charges previously incurred and any supplementary deposit (i.e. deposit in excess of the standard £250 per person) that was required at the time of booking.
(f) Once your final payment has been received your holiday price is guaranteed and any further increases in costs will be borne by Austral Tours unless such charges arise as a result of a change in your travel arrangements or of government action. If you choose to guarantee your holiday price at the time of booking, full payment must be received by Austral Tours within 10 days of the date of issue of our Final Invoice.
(g) The financial commitments offered above mean that Austral Tours is not able to reduce holiday prices should the value of the £ strengthen.

5) AMENDMENTS AND CANCELLATION
(a) Alteration by You
(i) Austral Tours will do its best to accommodate any changes you wish to make to your holiday, but these will be subject to an amendment fee of £40 per booking, together with all communication charges or other expenses incurred by Austral Tours. These charges will be payable whether or not we succeed in confirming your requested alteration. Alterations to some services may be subject to a cancellation charge that will be advised to you at the time of the change. If changes are made within 8 weeks of departure, then the cancellation charges detailed in paragraph 5(b) below will apply and the revised arrangements will be treated as a new booking. Any request for alterations must be made in writing.
(ii) If you make changes to your itinerary after commencement of travel, any additional costs must be borne locally by you. No refunds will be made for products booked and then not used due to changes made by you.
(iii) If you wish to transfer your booking to another person, you may do so provided the reason for the transfer is personal illness, the death or serious illness of a close family member, jury service, redundancy or unavoidable work commitments. Requests for a transfer must be made in writing at least 30 days prior to departure and must be accompanied by documentary proof of the reason for the transfer, full details of the person who will replace you, any outstanding balance due for your holiday, a payment of £50 to cover our administrative costs and any such amount as our suppliers will require to effect the change. Please note that, in some cases, suppliers such as airlines treat name changes as a cancellation, levying 100% cancellation charges and requiring full payment for a new ticket.

(b) Cancellation by You
All cancellations must be advised to Austral Tours in writing and signed by the signatory of the Booking Form. Cancellations are effective on the day that they are received by Austral Tours. The following cancellation charges (together with insurance premiums) will be payable, depending on the number of days prior to departure when Austral Tours receives your notice of cancellation:

In certain cases, cancellation charges and cancellation notice deadlines may vary from those above. Your confirmation invoice will include details of any such variation. Should interim payments be required after the issuance of your confirmation invoice, for example should the airlines in your itinerary require ticket issuance prior to 8 weeks of your departure, then we will advise of any necessary amendment to cancellation conditions at the time of any such interim payment.

(c) Alterations by Austral Tours
(i) The information and prices contained in this website are accurate at the time of publication. Changes, however, can occur and Austral Tours reserves the right to advise you of any change, including a change in price, before accepting your booking. All prices quoted for tailor-made itineraries are subject to revision until such time as a booking is made.
(ii) Austral Tours also reserves the right to make changes to your holiday arrangements after a Confirmation and Final Invoice is issued. Such changes will normally be minor but may be "material" i.e. a change made before the date of departure which involves a significant change of destination, a change of accommodation to a lower category, a change of flight time of more than 12 hours or a change of international airport (except between airports serving the same city).
(iii) If there is a material change, Austral Tours will offer you the choice of alternative arrangements or a full refund of all monies paid. If you accept an alternative holiday that is more expensive you must pay the difference, but if it is cheaper, Austral Tours will make the appropriate refund. If a material change is due to force majeure or circumstances otherwise beyond the control of Austral Tours, Austral Tours will be entitled to deduct from your refund any reasonable expenses that it may have incurred.
(iv) A minor change is any change which does not come under the definition of "material change" as set out in paragraph 5(c)(ii) above. Although Austral Tours will try to notify you of minor changes, it is not obliged to do so, nor is it obliged to offer you the opportunity to change your booking or receive a refund.
(v) If Austral Tours becomes unable to provide a significant proportion of your holiday after it has commenced, suitable arrangements will be made for you at no extra cost to you or, alternatively, you will be returned to your point of departure and given a pro-rata refund for ground arrangements not received.

(d) Cancellation by Austral Tours
(i) If you fail to pay the balance of the holiday price at least 8 weeks (56 days) before departure, Austral Tours will treat your booking as cancelled and levy the cancellation charges set out in paragraph 5(b) above.
(ii) If Austral Tours is obliged to cancel your holiday in any other circumstances, Austral Tours will endeavour to offer alternative arrangements of a comparable standard or will give you a full refund. If cancellation is due to force majeure or circumstances otherwise beyond the control of Austral Tours, Austral Tours will be entitled to deduct from your refund any reasonable expenses that it may have incurred.

6) RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUSTRAL TOURS
(a) Austral Tours shall be liable to you for the proper performance of the obligations arising from this Contract irrespective of whether such obligations are to be performed by Austral Tours or by other suppliers of services contracted by Austral Tours. However Austral Tours will not be liable if such failure to perform is attributable neither to any fault of Austral Tours nor to that of another supplier of services because:
(i) such failure to perform is attributable to you; or
(ii) such failure being attributable to a third party unconnected with the provision of the services contracted for; or
(iii) such failure is due to a case of force majeure; or
(iv) such failure is due to an event which Austral Tours or the supplier of the services, even with due care, could not have foreseen or forestalled.
(b) Austral Tours' maximum aggregate liability under, arising from or in connection with this Contract shall be limited to a reasonable sum and in no circumstances shall be greater than the cost of the tour. However nothing in this Contract shall exclude, restrict or limit the liability of Austral Tours for death or personal injury resulting from the negligence of Austral Tours nor affect your statutory rights.

7) YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
(a) Before confirming your booking, we will advise you of current passport, visa and health requirements applicable to British Citizens. However, such requirements are subject to change and it is your responsibility to check current requirements before departure.
(b) It is your responsibility to obtain all documents required for your holiday, to ensure that these are in proper order and to take them with you. Austral Tours will not be liable if you fail to do so and you will be responsible for meeting any additional costs incurred by reason of such failure.
(c) You are responsible for checking in for flights at the correct time and for presenting yourself to take up all pre-booked components of your holiday. Austral Tours cannot accept responsibility for clients missing flights as a result of late check-ins and no credit or refunds will be given if you fail to take up any component of your holiday. No credit or refunds will be given for lost, mislaid or destroyed travel documents.

8) TRANSPORTATION
(a) Air, rail, road and other departure times are supplied by the carriers. They are subject to interalia, air traffic control restrictions, weather conditions, the need for constant maintenance and the ability of passengers to check in on time. There is no guarantee that departures will take place at the times shown either in this website or on your tickets. The timings are estimates only. Austral Tours does not have any liability to you for any delays which may arise nor for any consequential losses that may occur as the result of flight schedule changes, cancellations or delays. Further, your dealings with all carriers are subject to the conditions of carriage of the carrier, some of which may limit or exclude liability. Any arrangements in the event of a delay will be in the sole discretion of the airline or other carrier involved.
(b) The types of aircraft used are determined by the carriers. While your Confirmation will contain information as to what types of aircraft are likely to be used for your tour, Austral Tours will not be obliged to offer you the opportunity to change your booking or receive a refund if the aircraft to be used is subsequently changed by the carrier.

9) COMPLAINTS
(a) If you have a problem while on your holiday, you must tell the supplier of the services or facilities about which you have a complaint as soon as possible. Failure to give the supplier the opportunity to solve any problems may result in the loss of any rights that you may have to claim compensation.
(b) Where possible, we will provide you with the details of a local agent who can be contacted in the event of a complaint. If your problem is not resolved, you should contact us and we will do everything within our power to resolve the matter satisfactorily.
(c) We will not be bound to address complaints not made within two weeks of your return from your holiday.

10) CONSUMER PROTECTION
The air holidays on this website are ATOL protected, since we hold an Air Travel Organiser's Licence granted by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is ATOL 3616. 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. The flight bookings we make are also ATOL protected, except when tickets for scheduled flights are sent to you within 24 hours of payment being accepted, or where your payment is made direct to airlines. For more information, visit the ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk

11) LAW
Your Contract is with Austral Tours Limited whose registered office is 20 Upper Tachbrook Street, London SW1V 1SH. All matters concerning this contract will be governed by English Law and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Booking Form (PDF File)
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Austral Tours Ltd: 20 Upper Tachbrook Street
London SW1V 1SH - United Kingdom
Tel. +44(0)20-7233 5384 / Fax +44(0)20-7233 5385
Email: info@latinamerica.co.uk

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