Except where otherwise specified, we, The Independent Travel Company Limited trading as Millington Travel, a company registered in England with company number 02780974 and registered office address of 7 Market Street, Leicester, LE1 6DN act only as an agent in respect of all bookings we take and/or make on your behalf. We accept no liability in relation to any contract you enter into or for any travel arrangements or other services you purchase (“Arrangements”) or for the acts or omissions of any supplier or other person(s) or party(ies) connected with any arrangements. For all Arrangements, your contract will be with the supplier of the arrangements in question (the “Supplier/Principal”).
By making a booking with us, the first named person on the booking agrees on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking that he/she:
- read these Agency Terms & Conditions and agree to be bound by them;
- consents to our use of personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy and you are authorised on behalf of all persons named on the booking to disclose their personal details to us, including where applicable, special categories of data (such as information on health conditions or disabilities and dietary requirements; and
- is over 18 years of age and resident in the United Kingdom and where placing an order for services with age restrictions you declare that you and all members of your party are of the appropriate age to purchase those services;
- accepts financial responsibility for payment of the booking on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking.
- Contract: When making your booking we will arrange for you to enter into a contract with the applicable Supplier/Principal (e.g. tour operator/airline/cruise company/accommodation company) of the Arrangements, as specified on your confirmation invoice. As agent we accept no responsibility for the acts or omissions of the Supplier/Principal or for the services provided by them. Your booking with us is subject to these Agency Terms and Conditions and the specific terms and conditions of the relevant Supplier/Principal(s) you contract with and you are advised to read both carefully prior to booking. The Supplier/Principal’s booking conditions may limit and/or exclude the Supplier/Principal’s liability to you. Please ask us for copies of these if you do not have them.
- Booking: Once you have placed a booking with us, we will proceed to confirm that booking with the Supplier/Principal. Your booking is confirmed and a contract between you and the Supplier/Principal will exist when we send you confirmation on their behalf. Please check that all names, dates and timings are correct on receipt of all documents and advise us of any errors immediately. Any changes to these details will incur the charges stated below. Please ensure that the names given are the same as in the relevant passport.
- Payments: In order to book your chosen Arrangements, you must pay a deposit as required by the Supplier/Principal of the Arrangements (or full payment if booking within 14 weeks of departure or as requested by the Supplier/Principal). You must also pay all applicable insurance premiums and booking fees. If you have paid a deposit, you must pay the full balance by the balance due date notified to you. If full payment is not received by the balance due date, we will notify the Supplier/Principal who may cancel your booking and charge the cancellation fees set out in their booking conditions. Except where otherwise advised or stated in the booking conditions of the Supplier/Principal concerned, all monies you pay to us for Arrangements will be held on behalf of the Supplier/Principal and forwarded on to the Supplier/Principal in accordance with our agreement with the Supplier/Principal.
- Prices: We reserve the right to amend advertised prices at any time. We also reserve the right to correct errors in both advertised and confirmed prices. Special note: changes and errors sometimes occur. You must check the price of your chosen Arrangements at the time of booking.
- Insurance: Many Supplier/Principals require you to take out travel insurance as a condition of booking with them. In any event, we strongly advise that you take out a policy of insurance in order to cover you and your party against the cost of cancellation by you; the cost of assistance (including repatriation) in the event of accident or illness; loss of baggage and money; and other expenses. If we have issued your policy please check it carefully to ensure that all the details are correct and that all relevant information has been provided by you (e.g. pre-existing medical conditions). Failure to disclose relevant information will affect your insurance.
- Special Requests: If you have any special requests (for example dietary requirements, cots or room location), please let us know at the time of booking. We will pass on all such requests to the Supplier/Principal, but we can’t guarantee that they will be met and we will have no liability to you if they are not.
- Changes and Cancellations by you: Any cancellation or amendment request must be sent to us in writing, by email, and will take effect at the time we receive it. Please ensure that you have received written confirmation of any changes to your booking prior to travel. Whilst we will try to assist, we cannot guarantee that the Supplier/Principal will meet such requests. Amendments and cancellations can only be accepted in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Supplier/Principal of your Arrangements. The Supplier/Principal may charge the cancellation or amendment charges shown in their booking conditions (which may be as much as 100% of the cost of the Arrangements and will normally increase closer to the date of departure). In addition, you must pay us a reasonable administration fee for both changes and cancellations. We will notify you of the exact charges payable at the time of amendment or cancellation. Please note: some Supplier/Principals do not allow changes to be made and therefore full cancellation charges will apply.
- Changes and Cancellations by the Supplier/Principal: We will inform you as soon as reasonably possible if the Supplier/Principal needs to make a significant change to your confirmed Arrangements or to cancel them. We will also liaise between you and the Supplier/Principal in relation to any alternative arrangements offered by the supplier but we will have no further liability to you.
- Our Service Charges: In certain circumstances we apply a service charge for the agency service we provide, in addition to any charge levied by the Supplier/Principal, as follows:
SERVICE | CHARGE |
Cancellation or amendment | Supplier/Principal’s charge + a minimum of £25 per person (the exact fee payable will be communicated to you at the time of the amendment or cancellation). |
Arrangement fee | From time to time we may be required to charge an arrangement fee, reflecting the cost to us in booking and arranging your chosen Arrangements, in addition to the Supplier/Principal’s charge. We will clearly advise you where this is the case prior to booking. |
Arranging Passports and Visas | Supplier/Passport/Visa fee + £25 |
Pre-booking airline seats after confirmed booking | Supplier/Principal’s charge + £10 |
- Our responsibility for your booking: Your contract is with the Supplier/Principal and its booking conditions apply. As agent, we accept no responsibility for the actual provision of the Arrangements. Our responsibilities are limited to making the booking in accordance with your instructions. We accept no responsibility for any information about the Arrangements that we pass on to you in good faith. However, in the event that we are found liable to you on any basis whatsoever, our maximum liability to you is limited to one and a half times the cost of the commission we earn on your booking (or the appropriate proportion of this if not everyone on the booking is affected). We do not exclude or limit any liability for death or personal injury that arises as a result of our negligence or that of any of our employees whilst acting in the course of their employment.
- Visa, passport and health requirements:We can provide general information about the passport and visa requirements for your trip. 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. Neither we nor the Supplier/Principal accept any responsibility if you cannot travel because you have not complied with any passport, visa or immigration requirements. Please note that these requirements may change between booking and departure. Most countries now require passports to be valid for at least 6 months after your return date. Please take special note that for all air travel within the British Isles, airlines require photographic identification of a specific type. Please ask us for full details. We can provide general information about any health formalities required for your trip but you should check with your own doctor for your specific circumstances.
- Complaints: Because the contract for your Arrangements is between you and the Supplier/Principal, any queries or concerns about your Arrangements should be addressed to them. If you have a problem with your Arrangements whilst using them, this must be reported to the Supplier/Principal immediately. If you fail to follow this procedure there will be less opportunity for the Supplier/Principal to investigate and rectify your complaint. The amount of compensation you may be entitled to may therefore be reduced or extinguished as a result. If you wish to complain when you return home, write to the Supplier/Principal. You will see their name and contact details in any confirmation documents we send you. We will of course assist you with this if you wish – please contact us. If the matter cannot be resolved and it involves us or another ABTA Member then you have the option to use ABTA’s ADR scheme, approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, see www.abta.com. You can also access the European Commission Online Dispute (ODR) Resolution platform at http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. This ODR platform is a means of notifying us of your complaint; it will not determine how your complaint should be resolved. If you wish to complain about any service we have provided to you (i.e. our booking service) then please contact us directly.
- Delivery of documents: All documents (e.g. invoices/tickets/Insurance policies) that require to be sent to you (please note you can collect such documents from us at our offices) will be sent to you by First Class post or e-mail. Once documents leave our offices we will not be responsible for their loss unless such loss is due to our negligence. If tickets or other documents need to be reissued all costs must be paid by you.
- Law and Jurisdiction: These Agency Terms & Conditions are governed by English law and we both agree that the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction (unless you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, in which case you can bring proceedings in your local court under Scottish or Northern Irish law, as applicable).
- Final Travel Arrangements: Please ensure that all your travel, passport, visa and insurance documents are in order and that you arrive in plenty of time for checking in at the airport. It may be necessary to reconfirm your flight with the airline prior to departure. If you fail to reconfirm you may be refused permission to board the aircraft and you are unlikely to receive any refund.
- Accommodation Ratings and Standards: All ratings are as provided by the relevant Supplier/Principal. These are intended to give a guide to the services and facilities you should expect from your accommodation. Standards and ratings may vary between countries, as well as between suppliers. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of any ratings given.
- Information: All descriptions and content on our website or otherwise issued by us is done so on behalf of the Supplier/Principal in question and are intended to present a general idea of the services provided by the Supplier/Principal. Not all details of the relevant services can be included on our website. All services shown are subject to availability. If you require any further details, in respect of any Arrangements or any other services please contact us.
- Car Hire: All car hire booked via us is done so on the condition that drivers are at least the minimum age necessary for the rental of vehicles in the country that you are visiting (this will ordinarily be 21 years of age) and hold a current clean driving licence and that the named driver has a valid credit card registered in his or her name. Refunds will not be paid by the applicable Supplier/Principal to customers who are unable to hire their vehicle due to the failure of the above conditions.
Please Note: Additional conditions may apply to car hire arrangements and we will advise you where this is the case.
- Force Majeure: Except where otherwise expressly stated in these Agency Booking Conditions neither we nor the applicable Supplier/Principal will be liable or pay you compensation if our contractual obligations to you are affected by “Force Majeure”. For the purposes of these Booking Conditions, Force Majeure means any event beyond our, the Supplier/Principal or their supplier’s control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Examples include warfare and acts of terrorism (and threat thereof), civil strife, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease at the travel destination or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or weather conditions which make it impossible to travel safely to the travel destination or remain at the travel destination, the act of any government or other national or local authority including port or river authorities, industrial dispute, labour strikes, lock closure, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, chemical or biological disaster, unavoidable technical problems with transport and all similar events outside our or the supplier(s) concerned control.
Brexit Implications: please note that certain Arrangements may be affected as a result of the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union. Please rest assured that this is something we will continue to monitor and will advise our customers as soon as possible if we become aware of any confirmed bookings that will be affected. However, since this is something which is completely unprecedented and outside our control and outside the control of the Supplier/Principal, we and they would treat any such changes as Force Majeure.
- ABTA: We are a Member of ABTA, membership number D7129. We are obliged to maintain a high standard of service to you by ABTA’s Code of Conduct. We can also offer you ABTA’s scheme for the resolution of disputes which is approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute. If we can’t resolve your complaint, go to www.abta.com to use ABTA’s simple procedure. Further information on the Code and ABTA’s assistance in resolving disputes can be found on www.abta.com.
- Financial Protection: All the package holidays we sell come with protection for your money. If you buy a single travel service then this might not apply. Package holidays are protected by the package organiser (which will be the Supplier/Principal) and we will provide you with their confirmation. When you buy an ATOL protected flight or flight inclusive holiday from a Supplier/Principal, via us, you will receive an ATOL Certificate. This lists what is financially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong.
- General Information
- Luggage Allowance: Many airlines do not include any free luggage allowance. If you wish to check in any bags and have not advised us already then please do so. There is often a charge for checked in luggage and an applicable weight restriction too.: You will ordinarily be allowed 1 piece of free hand luggage. This must comply with the airline’s rules and be able to fit into the overhead lockers. The airlines can refuse to take luggage that is over the weight allowance or that does not fit into the overhead lockers.
Scheduled Airlines
Many airlines vary on their free luggage allowance but generally you will be allowed 1 piece of free checked in luggage. The weight should not exceed the stated weight restriction applicable to your chosen airline. You will also, usually, be allowed 1 free piece of checked in luggage as per the information above.
For all information relating to Golf Clubs, surf boards or other similar items, please refer to the rules of your chosen airline.
- Airport and Hotel Check In
Check in times vary between airport and airlines used. Generally you should check in at least 3 hours prior to departure for international flights and 2 hours prior to departure on domestic flights. Reserved seat numbers are never guaranteed by airlines and emergency exit row seating is only allocated on the day of departure at the check in desk to persons over 16 years of age and who are 100% physically fit. Unless travelling with British Airways or told otherwise all passengers should re confirm their onward or return flights with the airline locally. Most airlines will advertise toll free contact numbers on local telephone directories.
With regard to hotel check in – this is normally 3pm and 11am for check out. These times may vary from hotel to hotel and each hotel reserves the right to alter these times.
Travel Documents
We will endeavor, on behalf of the Supplier/Principal, to dispatch all documents to you at least 14 days prior to departure. Due to exceptionally busy periods and delays with the post office it may however not always be possible to achieve this.
Once you receive your documents you should check that all of the details are correct and contact us prior to departure should you be unsure of anything to do with your chosen Arrangements.