Conditions

1. Contracts

A binding contract is only entered into when South American Experience Ltd (South American Experience) has issued a Confirmation Invoice. Because our tours are mainly tailored to meet the needs of our individual clients, the Confirmation invoice is issued once we have received a completed and signed Booking Form together with payment of the deposit and once we have secured the necessary flights, hotels and ground arrangements for your itinerary. We will do this as soon as possible following receipt of the Booking Form and deposit.

2. Payments & Booking

2.1 An initial deposit of £150 per person is required together with the Booking Form. The balance must be paid at least 8 weeks prior to departure. If you are booking less than 8 weeks prior to departure the full amount is payable. If we are unable to confirm your itinerary any monies paid will be refunded in full. In order to secure certain services (e.g. Galapagos boats or hotels during festival periods) we may require interim payments but you will be advised of this. If the monies are not paid in time, we reserve the right to cancel your holiday and apply the cancellation conditions as set out in para 4.
If we are unable to confirm a particular hotel stated in our brochure , website or in a proposed itinerary, we will endeavour to secure an acceptable alternative of a similar standard.

2.2 Payments made by you to a travel agent are at all times held by the travel agent on behalf of South American Experience.

2.3 Where your itinerary with South American Experience forms part only of a larger package or tour organised by a travel agent or another tour operator our responsibility is limited to the specific arrangements made and communicated to us by the travel agent or tour operator.

2.4 We reserve the right at our discretion to decline any booking application.

3. Flights

Because the majority of our holidays are individually tailored it is not possible to include all information concerning airports, airline operators and aircraft types. This information will be included on the confirmation invoice

4. Cancellation by You

4.1 You may cancel your holiday at any time, provided that the person signing the Booking Form confirms the cancellation in writing.

4.2 As cancellation incurs administrative costs we will apply cancellation charges as set out below:

Cancellation Period 1	Charge 2
More than 56 Days	Deposit
Between 42 - 56 Days	50%
Between 31 - 41 Days	75%
Between 0 - 30 Days	100%

 

1 This is the Period before departure within which the written cancellation is received.
2. This is the cancellation charge shown as a percentage of the holiday price.

4.3 However, we will endeavour to recover payments made to our suppliers which will be returned to you after taking into account local cancellation penalties and after deducting a reasonable amount for our administration costs.

5. Cancellations by South American Experience

5.1 South American Experience tries never to cancel an itinerary. The itineraries in our brochure and on our website are based on a minimum of two people travelling together unless otherwise indicated. If the required minimum number of passengers is not reached we will, subject to 28 days warning, either cancel the departure, offer a full refund, or apply a supplement subject to passenger approval.

5.2 If you fail to make payments on time South American Experience reserves the right to cancel your itinerary.

6. Alterations by You

6.1 Any alterations to your itinerary prior to the start of your journey must be put in writing to us. We will do our best to implement your changes but subject to the payment of any increased costs relevant to the change, including communication costs and an administrative charge of £20.

6.2 If you wish to make any changes to your tour after it has started we and/or our ground operators will do our best to implement the changes but you will be responsible for any cancellation charges that may be levied on the original arrangements and for any additional costs incurred by us or our ground operators. You may be required to pay locally for the costs of such alterations. Any refunds on the original arrangements as a result of variations to your itinerary in these circumstances may only be authorised by South American Experience and not by our ground operators or local representatives.

6.3 South American Experience cannot be held responsible for any additional services which you book outside the terms of your itinerary or our brochure.

7. Alterations by South American Experience

7.1 Occasionally we have to make changes (including changes of price) for reasons of flight cancellations, schedule changes or 'force majeure'. This legal term means unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which neither our suppliers nor we can avoid. Examples are war or threat of war, riots, civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial dispute, fire or adverse weather conditions.

7.2 If the alteration is significant (see 7.3 below) then we will notify you as soon as possible and offer you the choice of :
(i)    accepting the modification
(ii)   changing the booking to an alternative holiday, or
(iii)  cancelling and receiveing a full refund. If the alternative is cheaper we will refund the difference to you or invoice you for the lower sum accordingly. If you agree to the modification and it is more expensive you will be invoiced for the new total and will pay the extra amount to us. If there is a significant change within 8 weeks of departure for any reason other than those mentioned in paragraph 7.1 and you decide to cancel and receive a full refund then we will in addition pay you reasonable compensation.

7.3 Significant alterations are change of flight time by more than 12 hours, changes in transportation cost, change of international airport (unless between airports that serve the same city), change of destination or a change to a lower standard of accommodation.

7.4 Your booking is accepted on the understanding that you realise that the tourism infrastructure in relation to both travel and accommodation in Latin America may be substantially lower than you would expect in Europe or North America. As a consequence we do our best to make sure connections and transfers go smoothly but this may not always be possible due to flight cancellations, local political situations, weather, mechanical breakdown, or other unforeseen circumstances. No refunds will be given for services not utilised.

7.5 If there is a minor alteration (ie any change not included in 7.3 above) then we will try to notify you, though we are not obliged to do so, nor are we obliged to pay compensation.

7.6 As the travel arrangements that we arrange are for small numbers of passengers we can make no special arrangements if you are delayed at the outward intermediate or homeward points of departure.

7.7 Where you are part of an organised tour, the tour leader may at any time during the course of a tour terminate the participation of a member of the party if he reasonable considers it necessary for the health and safety of that person or of the remaining members of the party.

8. Exchange Rates

Prices in this website and our brochure are based on a US dollar/pound sterling exchange rate of $1.535 as at 01 October 2002.

9 Surcharges

9.1. Once payment is made in full for your booking, no surcharges will be made.

9.2 Before payment is made in full we may apply surcharges but only where we believe it is unavoidable and only in the event of:
i).     a variation of the exchange rate specified in paragraph 8, or
ii).   governmental action, or
iii).  airport charges, or
iv).  aircraft fuel costs.

9.3 We will absorb surcharges up to 2% of the holiday price excluding insurance premiums. Only amounts in excess of 2% will be passed on, and if that means paying more than an increase of 10% of the holiday price you will be entitled to cancel your booking, obtain a full refund of all money paid to us, (except insurance premiums and any payments for tourist cards) provided cancellation is made within 7 days of the notification.

10. Liability

10.1 Should you or one of the persons included in your booking suffer death, personal injury or illness arising out of an activity forming part of your holiday arrangements we will accept responsibility unless there has been no fault on our part or our suppliers or the cause was your own or the relevant persons fault, or one which neither we nor our suppliers could have anticipated or avoided even with the exercise of all due care.

10.2 Where death or personal injury is suffered in the course of air, road, rail or sea travel we limit our liability to compensate you in accordance with the relevant international law conventions.

10.3 Where the cause of death or personal injury is the act or omission of our agents, suppliers or sub-contractors our acceptance of liability is subject to you assigning to us your rights against them and to your co-operation with us in any legal action we may wish to take against them.

10.4 The maximum liability for any claim other than for death, personal injury or illness will be limited to the price paid for the tour.

11. Travel Insurance

It is an essential condition of your booking a holiday that you take out adequate holiday insurance to our reasonable satisfaction for all members of your party. We will ask you to let us have evidence of the insurance at least eight weeks prior to departure or at the time of booking if later. We reserve the right to terminate your booking if you fail to obtain travel insurance cover. Details of our recommended policies will be forwarded to you at the time of booking.

12. Complaints

If you have any complaint you must make it known at the earliest opportunity to our local representative. If they are unable to resolve the problem to your satisfaction you should contact our head office. If at the end of your trip you feel that your complaint has not been dealt with properly, you must first notify us in writing within 30 days of your scheduled date of return and we will do our best to reach an amicable solution quickly

13. Bonding & Financial Protection

13.1 The air holidays shown are ATOL Protected, since we hold an Air Travel Organiser's Licence granted by the by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is ATOL3071. 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.

13.2Flight bookings 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.

13.3 ATOL Protection extends primarily to customers who book and pay in the United Kingdom. For further information, visit the ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk.

14. Jurisdiction

All matters arising from your contract with us are governed by English law and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

15. Special Requests

If you have special needs (e.g. vegetarian requirements etc.) please let us know at the time of booking. Whilst we will make every effort to meet your requests they nevertheless cannot be guaranteed.

16. Your Responsibilities

16.1 You have certain responsibilities in relation to your itinerary, which we have set out below and for which you are liable to the extent that you fail to perform them.

16.2 Documentation
You must ensure that you have all the necessary documentation to complete your journey. Travellers with full British passports should ensure that they have sufficient pages for entry and exit stamps and should ensure that their passports have at least 6 months to run after return to the UK. British Nationals do not generally require visas for entering Latin American countries as visitors but may have to complete a tourist card on arrival. Visitors to Cuba must purchase a tourist card prior to arrival, which is available from us for a fee. Nationals of other countries should check requirements with the relevant embassies. The names that appear on your airline tickets should be the same as the names in your passport(s). On your booking form you must notify us of the names as they appear in your passports; failure to do so may result in cancellation of your itinerary. If the names in your flight reservations are incorrect they may not be easy to change. Prior to tickets being issued there is a charge of £25. Changes to tickets after they have been issued are subject to considerably higher charges.

16.3 Health
If you and the members of your party have any special medical conditions which may affect your ability to enjoy your itinerary you must notify us immediately. Travellers may experience altitudes in excess of 4,000 metres or face extreme temperatures and levels of humidity. If you and the members of your party have any respiratory or heart conditions confirmation of fitness to participate in the tour must be obtained from your medical practitioner. South American Experience may require written certification from such medical practitioner for each member of your party prior to departure. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have obtained all recommended and compulsory vaccinations and medication and to follow all medical advice throughout your itinerary.

16.4 Transportation
You must ensure that you arrive in good time to board flights, boats, trains and buses and that you are ready on time for other transfers and forms of transport. If you miss a transfer or the departure of flights, boats, trains or other forms of transport we will try and arrange alternative transportation for you but we reserve the right to recover any additional costs that we incur as a result.

16.5 Security and Safety
You must seek you own advice regarding safety and security:
Before you travel overseas, check the Foreign and Commonwealth Website at www.fco.gov.uk/knowbeforeyougo for essential travel advice, tips and up-to-date country information. Tel: 020 7238 4503

 

Last Updated: Tuesday May 13 2008