Help - Booking Conditions

The travel arrangements available to OTC customers include:
i) Arrangements where OTC Travel acts as a retail agent of the tour operator. The customer will be required to comply with the booking terms and conditions of that tour operator.
ii) Arrangements where OTC acts as the principal. All such bookings are made on the basis of the following conditions and any other information supplied to you prior to booking. In these conditions any reference to 'you' means all persons named on the booking including any added or substituted at a later date.

References to 'we' are references to OTC. Reading these booking conditions forms part of your contract with OTC.

Please read these booking conditions carefully. On making a booking online, or signing our booking form when making a reservation over the phone or by email, you are deemed to have read and accepted our Booking Conditions, and are accepting the terms of these conditions on behalf of all persons in the party.

This contract is governed by Australian Law and both parties agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the Australian Courts at all times unless you decide to refer to arbitration under clause 11.

OTC Travel is a member of IATA (02 318024), AFTA (03750) and also a member of the TCF. (Travel Compensation Fund)

Your contract with us shall come into existence when you complete, sign and return our booking form, or make a reservation online. If the required deposit and/or balance is not paid by the specified due dates, your booking will be cancelled, in which case we shall retain your deposit as well as any additional cancellation fees as outlined below in section 7.

We accept Visa, MasterCard*, Australian Bankcard, American Express and Diners Club cards, as well as payment by Direct Deposit, Cheque or Money Orders, which should be made payable to OTC Travel. The following fees are levied on credit card payments:
MasterCard, Visa and Bankcard: 1%
American Express: 2%
Diners Club: 3%.

* Please note: Bankcard is not accepted online - please contact our call center on 8404 3500 to make a reservation with one of our consultants.) Tickets will be issued in accordance with deadlines written into the applicable fare. For bookings made within 7 days of departure conditions and charges may apply as below:-
1) Wherever possible, Electronic Ticketing will be arranged at no additional charge.
2) When Electronic Ticketing is not possible, tickets will be sent via Express Post at a surcharge of AUD $5.00.
3) Where time does not permit for either of the above options, we will arrange for a ticket to be issued at the airport, which should be collected prior to check-in. A surcharge of approximately $50 will be added to your booking.

It is a condition of international bookings that you are adequately insured. If you have not taken OTC offered insurance, you must have an insurance policy that provides adequate cover for your travel requirements.

Our sales consultants will quote the price for your selected itinerary, subject to availability at the time you make your reservation. Once you have paid in full and received your travel documents, the price of your booking is fully guaranteed and will not be subject to any surcharge.

If you wish to change your confirmed travel arrangements in any way, we will be happy to assist, subject to the following fees:

Domestic airfare: Minimum $33 per person plus airline fee
International airfare: Minimum $55 per person plus airline fee
Domestic land arrangement: Minimum $33 per person plus supplier fee
International land arrangement: Minimum $55 per person plus supplier fee

Where documents and tickets have been issued, changes can only be made if airline and supplier conditions permit. Please note, most discounted international airfares do not allow changes to the original outbound date of departure, and most discounted domestic airfares do not allow changes to be made on the day of departure of any pre-booked flights.

You may cancel your travel arrangements at any time, subject to the following cancellation fees:

Domestic airfare: Minimum $55 per person plus airline fee
International airfare: Minimum $110 per person plus airline fee
Domestic land arrangement: Minimum $55 per person plus supplier fee
International land arrangement: Minimum $110 per person plus supplier fee

Please note that insurance premiums are non-refundable.

Regrettably, amendments may sometimes be necessary and errors occasionally occur. We reserve the right to make changes or correct errors at any time both before and after our confirmation.
Flight timings, aircraft types and routings are subject to change for operational reasons.
If a change does occur to your itinerary, we will inform you as soon as it is reasonably possible.

OTC and our suppliers reserve the right in any circumstances to cancel your travel arrangements. For example, if the minimum number of passengers required for a particular tour is not reached, it may be cancelled by the tour operator.
We will make every attempt to ensure that a comparable alternative is offered as soon as it is reasonably possible.

We hope that any complaint that you may have can be settled amicably asap. Our reservation staff are empowered to deal with complaints on the spot, however where a complaint is not dealt with to the customer's satisfaction, OTC management can be involved at any time and arrange a suitable solution.

We will always endeavour to ensure that any special requests you may make, e.g. Non Smoking Room, are fulfilled, however it is not always possible to guarantee such requests. If any part of your travel arrangement is not provided, a suitable solution will be discussed and acted upon. We accept responsibility for the acts and/or omissions of our employees, however we accept no responsibility for:

a) Your own acts or omissions
b) Acts of a third party not connected with the provision of your holiday and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable
c) Events which could not have been foreseen or avoided despite all due care

Our liability in all cases shall be limited to a maximum of twice the cost of your travel arrangements excluding insurance premiums and amendment fees. However our liability in respect of carriage by air, sea and rail and the provision of accommodation is limited in the manner provided by the relevant international conventions and conditions of carriage. It is a condition of the acceptance of liability above that you notify us of any claim in accordance with the conditions relating to complaints.
Where any payment is made to you or any members of your party, that person must assign to us or our insurers any rights they may have to pursue any third party. They must furthermore agree to fully co-operate should our insurers or we wish to enforce those rights

When you travel with a carrier, the conditions of carriage of that carrier will apply, some of which may limit liability. The conditions of carriage of that carrier are incorporated into this contract. This web site 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, in accordance with Air Navigation Orders, to qualify for infant status a child must be under 2 years of age on the date of the return flight.

Some airlines do not allow access to their live seat 'inventory' or last seat availability, and it is occasionally possible that after confirming a reservation online the airline may reject the booking. If this occurs we will contact you within 24 hours or the next working day, whichever is sooner, to advise that this situation has arisen. In this instance we will not be liable for any additional costs incurred in having to purchase new tickets at a higher fare. Payment for tickets will not be taken unless the seats are confirmed by the airline on a valid and current airfare.

Bookings for Travel originating outside Australia will incur a $33 booking fee. For reservations made online, a consultant will contact you by email to confirm the total booking cost including this charge, prior to proceeding with payment.