Terms & Conditions
Delivery
We recommend to all our customers the following possibilities to request urgent tickets (if you are travelling within the next 4 days):-
1. To come in person and order tickets. (STC 1st fl, 30 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ED Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) map
2. Pay additional £8.00 for special delivery to track and trace your tickets. (Signature required) .
Please note that special delivery post does not guarantee arrival on Saturdays or public holidays. If you make a booking on Friday afternoon, Saturday or Sunday and pay for special delivery service, the earliest you can expect the tickets will be Tuesday.
Terms & conditions RAILTICKETS
1. Switzerland Travel Centre (STC) acts as issuing agents for Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
2. Swiss Transfer Ticket (STT) and Swiss Card (SC) are valid for use within 6 months from the date of issue. STT and SC will become valid for 1 month from the first date of use.
3. Swiss Pass, Swiss Saver Pass, Swiss Flexi Pass, Swiss Saver Flexi Pass and Youth Pass are issued with the period of travel printed on the pass. (Passes cannot be open-dated.)
4. The Swiss Saver & Saver Flexi Passes are only available to adults. Holders of Swiss Saver & Saver Flexi Passes must travel together at all times.
5. All STS customers will be required to fill in their name, country of residence and passport number.
6. Holders of STT, SC, or Swiss Flexi Pass & Saver Flexi Pass should only enter the first date of travel on their pass immediately before boarding the train on that particular day of travel. Similarly, the return date must be filled in on the last date of use.
7. Refund requests for unused STS products should be returned to STC within 6 months from the date of issue, with a covering letter. An automatic 20% cancellation charge per person will be applied.
8. No refunds are granted for partially used, lost or stolen tickets. Refund requests for partially used STT and SC in case of sickness or accident, must be supported by proper documentation along with a covering letter and submitted to STC, along with the original ticket. This information will be forwarded to SBB who will make the final decision regarding any refund.
9. STC reserves the right to alter its prices and conditions at any time and without notice.
10. A Booking Fee (for payment card and handling charge) will automatically be added onto the total amount.
11. Due to the system setup, we regret it is not possible to issue Swiss Pass, Swiss Saver Pass, Swiss Flexi Pass, Swiss Saver Flexi Pass, Swiss Youth Pass and Swiss Half Fare Card more than 2 months ahead of your travel date. Should your departure date be more than 2 months ahead, you may either :-
a) contact us again within 2 months of your travel date to book or
b) continue now with your booking but we shall keep your booking on file to be processed as soon as it becomes available to issue.
12. STC reserves the right not to process any bookings made online if departure is within 4 days of travel, unless special delivery is paid.
13. Special Delivery: Orders must be received by us before 12.30pm to ensure tickets arrive the next working day within UK only (excludes Sat). If your order arrives after this time, your tickets may not be processed until the next working day. For Airsure- please note this can take up to 4 working days. Please note: Signature required !
14. First class post: All tickets will be sent out 1st class unless Special delivery (Airsure -outside UK) is paid. We will prioritise our ticketing based on departure date and aim to process your tickets within 5-6 working days. During peak periods, this may take longer but please allow us sufficient time to handle your request. For urgent bookings, we recommend that Special Delivery is paid for to avoid postal delays.
Terms & conditions HOLIDAY PACKAGES
1. 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. If you had not seen these terms and conditions
when you made your booking and you are not happy to proceed with
the booking now that you have seen them please return all
documentation to us or to your travel agent, within 7 days of receiving
these booking conditions. Your booking will be cancelled and your
monies will be returned in full, provided you have not commenced your
travel. This clause does not apply if your booking was made within 10
weeks of travel. 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 .
2. Your Financial Protection
We are a member of ABTA (W1432), and ATOL (No 4013), issued by
the Civil Aviation Authority, which provide for your protection in the
event of our insolvency. Both organisations will ensure that in the
unlikely event of our insolvency, you are not stranded abroad and will
arrange to refund any money you have paid to us for an advance
booking. For further information, visit the ATOL website
(www.atol.org.uk ) or the ABTA website (www.abta.com)
3. Your Holiday Booking
Once you have decided on the holiday you want, book with your local
travel agent or call us on 020 7 420 4900 and our reservation staff will
be able to advise you of availability and any other information you
might require. If you have any special requests please indicate these at
the time of booking. Whilst every effort will be made to meet these
requests, they cannot be guaranteed. We will accept your booking once
you or your travel agent ask for your holiday booking to be confirmed.
A confirmation invoice will be issued and should be checked by you or
your travel agent, as it forms the basis of this contract. Any
discrepancies should be brought to our attention within 7 days of issue
otherwise we will presume the details of the confirmation invoice to be
correct and amendment fees might be applicable at a later point.
4. Your Holiday Price
We reserve the right to alter the prices of any holidays shown in our
brochure. You will be advised of the current price of the holiday that you
wish to book before your contract is confirmed.
When you make your booking you must pay a deposit of £ 75.00 per
person. The balance of the price of your travel arrangements must be
paid at least 6 weeks before your departure date. 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 our behalf
at all times.
Note: A fee of 1% will be added for payments by credit card.
The price of your travel arrangements was calculated using exchange
rates 21 July 05 in relation to the following currencies: 2,23 CHF = £1.
The price of your travel arrangements is fully guaranteed once you
received our confirmation invoice and will not be subject to any
surcharges.
5. 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. You will be
asked to pay an administration charge of £ 20.00, 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. Scheduled Airline
or Rail 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.
6. 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 the table below. The cancellation will take
effect from the day the written confirmation is received.
Note: If the reason for your cancellation is covered under
the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to
reclaim these charges.
Period of departure, within which Amount of cancellation
notice of cancellation is received charge
by us:
More than 42 days Deposit only
Between 42 – 29 days 30% of holiday cost
Between 15 – 28 days 45% of holiday cost
Between 14 – 8 days 75% of holiday cost
Between 0 – 7 days 100% of holiday cost
7. 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 sometimes book 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 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 6 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 the table below.
Please note that carriers such as Airlines 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 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 in the chart below.
Period of departure, within which Compensation per notice
of major change is notified paying passenger to you:
More than 42 days None
Between 42 – 29 days £ 20
Between 15 – 28 days £ 25
Between 14 – 8 days £ 30
Between 0 – 7 days £ 40
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.
8. If You Have A Complaint
If you have a problem during your holiday, please inform the relevant
supplier (e.g. your hotelier) 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 30 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ED 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 and us whilst in the 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.
9. 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
from www.abta.com.
10. Our Liability to You
If the contract we have with you is not performed or is improperly
performed by us or our suppliers we will pay appropriate compensation
if this has affected the enjoy-ment of your travel arrangements. However we
will not be liable where any failure in the performance of the contract is due to:
you, or a third party unconnected with the provision of the travel arrangements
and where the failure is unforeseeable or unavoidable; or unusual
and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which
could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised; or an event
which we or our suppliers, even with all due care, could not foresee or forestall.
Our liability, except in cases involving death, injury or illness, shall be limited to a
maximum of 2 times the cost of your travel arrangements. Our liability will also be limited in accordance
with and/or in an identical manner to
a) The contractual terms of the companies that provide the transportation for your travel arrangements.
These terms are incorporated into this contract; and
b) In respect of travel by air, sea and rail, and the provision of accommodation our liability
will be limited in the manner provided by the relevant international convention.
You can ask for copies of the transport companies’ contractual terms, or the
international conventions, from our offices (Switzerland Travel Centre Ltd.,
30 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ED).
Under EU law you have rights in some circumstances to refunds and/or compensation
from your airline in cases of denied boarding, cancellation or delay to flights. Full details of
these rights will be publicised at EU airports and will also be available from airlines. However reimbursement in such cases is the responsibility of the airline and will not automatically
entitle you to a refund of your holiday cost from us. Your right to a refund
and/or compensation from us is set out in clause 7. If any payments to you
are due from us, any payment made to you by the airline will be deducted from
this amount. If your airline does not comply with these rules you should complain to
the Air Transport Users’ Council on 020 7 240 6061 (www.auc.org.uk).
11. 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 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.
12. Passport, Visa and Immigration Requirements
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.
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.
Data Protection
In order to process your booking and to ensure that your travel arrangements run smoothly and meet your requirements we need to use the information you provide such as name, address, any special needs/dietary requirements etc. We take full responsibility for ensuring that proper security measures are in place to protect your information. We must pass the information on to the relevant suppliers of your travel arrangements such as airlines, hotels and transport companies. The information may also be provided to security or credit checking companies, public authorities such as customs/immigration if required by them, or as required by law. We will however not pass any information on to person/s not responsible for part of your travel arrangements. This applies to any sensitive information that you give to us such as details of any disabilities, or dietary/religious requirements. Please note that where information is also held by your travel agents, this is subject to your agents own data protection policy. Your data controller is: Switzerland Travel Centre Ltd You are legally entitled to a copy of your information held by us. If you would like to see the information we hold, please contact us for a copy. In order to process your booking and to ensure that your travel arrangements run smoothly and meet your requirements we need to use the information you provide such as name, address, any special needs/dietary requirements etc. We take full responsibility for ensuring that proper security measures are in place to protect your information. We must pass the information on to the relevant suppliers of your travel arrangements such as airlines, hotels and transport companies. The information may also be provided to security or credit checking companies, public authorities such as customs/immigration if required by them, or as required by law. We will however not pass any information on to person/s not responsible for part of your travel arrangements. This applies to any sensitive information that you give to us such as details of any disabilities, or dietary/religious requirements. Please note that where information is also held by your travel agents, this is subject to your agents own data protection policy. Your data controller is: Switzerland Travel Centre Ltd You are legally entitled to a copy of your information held by us. If you would like to see the information we hold, please contact us for a copy.