We, Thomas Cook Signature Limited, arrange all of the package holidays and accommodation featured in this Website. The following terms and conditions show your and our commitments as part of your booking. These terms and conditions, with all the other information in this Website, form the basis of the contract between us. Your contract will be governed by English law and any disputes will be dealt with in the courts of England and Wales. If you live in Northern Ireland or Scotland, the courts of Northern Ireland or Scotland (as appropriate), can deal with any disputes. When we talk about your Holiday, in these conditions, except where otherwise stated, we mean the accommodation, transport and other holiday services you book in the UK with us.
Please read these terms and conditions carefully, since they, along with the other information in this Website, set out the terms and conditions of the contract between you and Thomas Cook Signature Limited. Excursions include, but are not restricted to, any sightseeing trips, gigs, events or other tours. Excursions can be booked and/or paid for in resort ("Resort Booked Excursions") or pre-booked and paid for when you book your Holiday ("Pre-booked Excursions").We do not provide Resort Booked Excursions or Pre-booked Excursions and they are supplied by our third party suppliers, subject to the clause "Suppliers’ conditions" below.We accept, subject to the clauses entitled "Suppliers’ Conditions" and "Our Liability to You" in these conditions, responsibility for Pre-booked Excursions. However, Resort Booked Excursions do not form part of the Holiday and are not governed by the Package Travel, Package Holiday and Package Tours Regulations 1992.We do not have any responsibility or liability whatsoever for anything which may go wrong on a Resort Booked Excursion.We, our servants, employees or agents are acting, depending upon the actual Resort Booked Excursion, either as agents for the relevant Resort Booked Excursion supplier or as agent for you. In any event the contract for any Resort Booked Excursion is between you and the Resort Booked Excursion provider. It is your responsibility to note carefully any conditions of contract contained in any Resort Booked Excursion, literature, ticket or receipt you are given.
Information and Prices
We publish Brochures many months before you actually go on Holiday and, as far as we know, all information is correct at the time of printing. However, things may still change and after this Brochure has been published, we check regularly to see if we need to update or correct any information or prices. If there are any significant information changes or we find any mistakes, we will put details on our computer reservation system so you will receive the latest information when you make your booking.
Your Holiday Booking
Before you book your Holiday please discuss your choice of resort, accommodation and flights with the travel agent, or our reservations staff, to make sure it will be suitable for you and the people you will be travelling with. The person who signs the booking form is the ‘lead name’. He or she must be over 18 and is responsible for payment of the total Holiday price, including any insurance premiums, together with any amendments made to the booking and subsequent cancellation or amendment charges that may be payable. He or she also agrees to provide accurate and full information of the remainder of the party in relation to the booking, and by signing the booking form confirms that all the other members of the party, including any that may be added at a later date, agree to be bound by these conditions, and all other information in this Website.
If the price shown on the invoice is incorrect compared to the applicable Website price, this will be deemed a mistake, as a result of which we will be entitled to cancel the booking and re-invoice at the correct Website price provided that we discover the mistake, and tell you about it, 14 days before departure. You will then have to pay the correct price to be allowed to go on your Holiday.
When you book your Holiday you agree to pay us either:
(i) a deposit of £110 per person short haul or £125 per person long haul;
(ii) such other amount as may be required by the supplier of the services for the arrangements in question or;
(iii) the full cost of your Holiday if it is 10 weeks or less before you go. If you have a special request for anything that is not automatically part of your Holiday, please check when you book your Holiday and we will pass this information on to the companies we work with. Our note of your request on your invoice confirms we have received it and does not guarantee that we, or the relevant supplier, can meet with your request.Where possible they will try to help you, but we cannot guarantee any request unless it is noted on your invoice and we also confirm the request separately in writing.We must emphasise that verbal confirmations of special requests cannot be taken as a guarantee that they will be met; e.g. special meal types on flights. You must be 18 or over on your departure date if you want to travel without an adult accompanying you. If you are 16 or 17 when a booking is made, we will only allow you to travel without an adult if your parent or legal guardian signed the booking form in front of the travel agent when you booked the Holiday. A contract will exist between your parent or guardian and us.We may ask you to send us a photocopy of their passport showing their name and signature.We will not accept written permission from a parent or legal guardian unless we can check the signature. If you are under 16 on your departure date you must be accompanied by an adult of 18 or over. Once you have booked, within 7 days we will issue a confirmation invoice setting out the Holiday details and price. A contract will then exist between us. If you book through one of our authorised travel agents, they will hold all the money you pay for your Holiday on our behalf. Please check the details on your invoice carefully. If you have any questions, or anything does not appear to be right, you must contact your travel agent, or our reservations staff, immediately. On the invoice, pay particular attention to the date your final payment is due as we may cancel your Holiday if you do not make your final payment on time. If we do this we will keep your deposit.
Before You Travel
You must take out Holiday insurance suitable for your needs before you travel. We cannot be responsible for any costs you incur as a result of failing to do so. For your own peace of mind the insurance should cover you if you have to cancel your arrangements, or for any emergencies that arise while you are away.We recommend the insurance we offer (see inside the back cover) as it provides cover that meets most people’s needs. Please check your policy when you receive it and take it with you on Holiday.
Suppliers’ Conditions
Our third party suppliers have their own booking conditions and conditions of carriage, and you will be bound by these, so far as the relevant supplier is concerned. Our suppliers’ conditions will also apply to your contract with us, and in the event of any conflict between the suppliers’ conditions and our conditions, the suppliers’ conditions will prevail, save to the extent that any term in the suppliers’ conditions is deemed to be invalid or unenforceable, in which event our conditions will prevail. Some of our suppliers’ conditions may limit or exclude liability on the part of the relevant supplier, and, by virtue of their application to your contract with us, may also limit or exclude our liability to you, and they are often subject to international conventions.Where relevant, copies of such conditions may be available for inspection at the office of the relevant supplier.
Changes You Make Before Travel (excluding name changes)
If you want to change any of your Holiday arrangements please contact your travel agent, or one of our reservations staff, immediately and we will do all we can to help you. Our normal cancellation charges (see below) will apply if you need to make any changes to your arrangements. The minimum cancellation fee is the booking deposit paid. Please also see Suppliers’ Conditions section above.We will charge for any additional services, facilities, or other items changed, at the price which applies on the day the change is made. In addition, we will also charge an administration fee as shown in the table below. Any booking discount you may have received at the time the original booking was made, may be altered or reduced whenever changes are made. Note that any change to dates of travel and/or destination airport cannot be made less than 56 days before departure without incurring cancellation charges. Various transport companies such as Scheduled airlines and Eurostar do not always allow changes to be made to dates and/or times of travel once confirmed.Where they impose charges, which may be as high as 100%, these will be passed on. If the changed arrangements are more expensive than those originally booked, you must also pay the price difference. The costs shown are per change per person. If you cancel any ‘optional extras’ for which there is a charge, you will either lose any deposit you have paid for the item, or pay a fee of £25 for each ‘cancelled extra’. For certain optional extras, such as car hire, you will also have to pay cancellation charges. If you cancel any Holiday insurance you booked through us your premium will not be refunded, as cover under the policy will already have been obtained.
| |
Notice given more than 56 days |
Notice given 56 days or less |
| Accommodation |
£30 a change |
£40 a change |
| Transport (eg Air/Sea/Rail/Road) |
£30 a change |
£40 a change |
| Date of travel |
£30 a change |
Cancellation charges |
| Destination Airport |
£30 a change |
Cancellation charges |
Name Changes Before Travel
Except for Holidays including scheduled flights, if we receive notification of a change within 8 weeks of your departure the charge will be £40 per name change. For Holidays including scheduled flights or Eurostar, please note that some carriers we use do not permit name changes for any reason. Such changes are likely to result in you being charged the full cost of the service and may be subject to space being available for a new reservation. In addition, you will also have to pay any extra costs that the carrier passes onto us, as well as the £30 or £40 per change below:
| |
Notice given more than 56 days |
Notice given 56 days or less |
| Name change |
£30 a change |
£40 a change |
Cancellation By You
In order to cover our expected losses for the transport and accommodation services we pay for in advance, there is a set scale of charges, which applies if you or anyone travelling with you cancels. You must give notice to cancel in writing and the charges shown below apply from the date we receive the notice at our offices. Cancellation charges for scheduled flights and Eurostar: Occasionally, we may offer holidays where the carrier requires immediate or early ticketing. In these cases amendments or cancellation of the booking may incur additional costs which may be up to 100% of transport costs. These will be advised at the time of booking.
Notice given |
Cancellation Charge |
More than 56 days |
Loss of deposit |
56-29 days |
50% cost of holiday |
28-22 days |
70% cost of holiday |
21-8 days |
90% cost of holiday |
7 days or fewer |
100% cost of holiday |
If any member of the booking cancels and you cannot fill that person’s place, you may have to pay additional supplements for your accommodation. For example, you may have to pay single or under-occupancy supplements. If you do cancel, you must still pay any insurance premiums and amendment charges, which arose before the cancellation, and any deposits paid for any pre-booked items or services. Changes Made By Us Before Travel From time to time we may have to change details of the Holiday you have booked. If any change will have a significant effect on your Holiday, we will tell you, or your travel agent, about it before your Holiday, if there is time. Changes we will tell you about include:
- Change of your UK departure airport,
- Significant change of your destination,
- A change of more than 12 hours to the time you leave the UK or your Holiday destination,
- If we downgrade your accommodation by one full ‘diamond’ rating or,
- If the swimming pool will not be available for an extended period during your Holiday and no alternative pool is available either at the property or nearby.
If you do not want to accept a significant change, which we will tell you about before your Holiday, we will, if we are able to do so, offer you an alternative Holiday of equivalent or superior quality at no extra cost, or a less expensive Holiday, in which case we will refund the difference in price. If you do not wish to take the alternative we offer you, you can choose another Holiday from us and pay, or receive a refund of, any price difference. Or, if you prefer, you can cancel your Holiday and receive a full refund of any money you have paid to us, except for any amendment charges.We will consider an appropriate refund of insurance premiums paid if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy. If we have to tell you about a significant change before you travel, unless the change is as a result of circumstances listed in the paragraph below headed ’Circumstances beyond our control’, we will pay you compensation as shown in the table below. The amounts in the table are the minimum compensation payments you will receive in this event.
| Time before departure when we will tell you or your travel agent about the change |
Compensation if you accept the change or book another Thomas Cook Signature holiday |
Compensation if you cancel your holiday and take a full refund |
| More than 56 days |
Nil |
Nil |
| 56-29 days |
£15 |
£15 |
| 28-22 days |
£30 |
£15 |
| 21-8 days |
£45 |
£15 |
| 7 days or fewer |
£60 |
£30 |
Compensation payments relating to a child place for which you have paid a child price are half the amounts shown (up to half the child price paid). There are no compensation payments payable to those travelling on ‘free child places’.
Minor Changes By Us Before Travel
Any change which is not deemed to be significant, as outlined in the section entitled 'Changes made by us before travel', will be classed as a minor change. We will endeavour to tell you about a minor change before you travel however, we will not pay compensation as a result of this change.
Circumstances Beyond Our Control
Except where we say differently elsewhere in these conditions, we cannot pay any compensation, reimburse expenses, or cover losses for any amount or otherwise accept responsibility if, as a result of circumstances beyond our control, we have to change your Holiday after departure, or we, or our suppliers, cannot supply your Holiday, as we, or they, had agreed, or you suffer any loss or damage of any description. When we refer to circumstances beyond our control, we mean any event that we, or the supplier in question, could not foresee or avoid, even after taking all reasonable care. Such circumstances will usually include, but are not limited to,war, terrorist activity, civil unrest, industrial dispute, bad weather (actual or threatened) and significant building work ongoing outside of your accommodation, which is not known to us in advance of your departure date, and building work from a third party (such as resort development).
Changes Made After Travel
If, after your departure, a significant part of your pre-booked Holiday arrangements cannot be provided, you will be offered a suitable alternative if possible. If it is not possible to offer you a suitable alternative or, for good reasons, you do not accept the alternative arrangements, we will return you to the place of your departure. If appropriate, we will also pay you compensation, unless your return has been due to circumstances beyond our control. The amount of compensation will be reasonable, taking account of all the circumstances.
Flight Delays
Delays sometimes occur.We work closely with the airlines and overseas offices to make sure any delay is as short as possible. When a delay occurs we will try to make sure refreshments or meals are provided when appropriate.We will not do this ourselves as such arrangements for this will normally be the responsibility of the airline. If you have taken out our recommended Holiday insurance (see inside back cover), or a comparable policy, you should have cover against delays.
Cancellation By Us
We can cancel your Holiday and any other holiday we operate. On rare occasions, we may need to cancel your Holiday if there has been insufficient demand for your particular Holiday. If we have to cancel a Holiday for any particular reason, we will tell you as soon as reasonably possible. In these circumstances, we will, if we are able to do so, offer you an alternative Holiday of equivalent or superior quality at no extra cost, or a less expensive Holiday, in which case we will refund the difference in price. If you do not wish to take the alternative we offer you, you can choose another Holiday from us and pay, or receive a full refund of, any price difference. Or, if you prefer, you can receive a full refund of any money you have paid to us, except for any amendment charges.We will consider an appropriate refund of insurance premiums paid if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse you policy. However, we will not cancel your Holiday within 8 weeks of departure except if we are forced to do so because of unusual circumstances we could not have foreseen, where we could not avoid the results of those circumstances even after taking all reasonable care. (See Circumstances beyond our control above). No compensation will be payable in these circumstances, whenever they happen, and we will only have to offer you the above choices.We can also cancel if you fail to make payment for your Holiday on time.
Website Accuracy
Sometimes facilities described in this Website will be withdrawn for reasons such as maintenance, bad weather or lack of demand from guests. If possible, we will tell you about the withdrawal of any significant facility as soon as possible. Some activities or facilities,watersports for example, may not be available in low season. Beach activities such as waterskiing and paragliding are normally managed by independent local operators and we have no control over their availability or prices. There may be a charge for some facilities, for example, televisions, safety deposit boxes, sunloungers, parasols, tennis courts, pool tables and air-conditioning. In some places during high season (and even at other times) there is a possibility you will be disturbed by noise from less considerate groups, so please bear this in mind when choosing your resort and accommodation. The transfer times we quote for travel between airport and resort are approximate and, depending on circumstances, the journey time to your own chosen property may be longer.
Our Liability to You
(i) Our obligations, and those of our suppliers providing any service or facility involved in any of your Holiday, are to take reasonable skill and care to arrange for the provision of such services and facilities and, where we or our supplier is actually providing the service or facility, to provide them with reasonable skill and care. Compliance with any applicable regulatory requirements (such as, for example, those of the Civil Aviation Authority) will be proper performance of our, and our suppliers’, obligations. You must show that reasonable skill and care has not been used if you wish to make any claim.
(ii) For claims which do not involve death or personal injury, we accept liability, subject to paragraph (i) above and (v) below, should any part of your Holiday not be as described in this Website or elsewhere by us before you leave the U.K. If we have liability, we will, subject to paragraphs (iii), (vi) and (vii) below, pay you reasonable compensation. However, the maximum we will pay you in any circumstances is twice the price of the Holiday. This maximum will only be payable when every aspect of your Holiday has gone wrong and you have not received any benefit from your Holiday. Any sums received by you from suppliers, will be deducted from any sum paid to you as compensation by us.
(iii) Where a flight ticket is downgraded or a flight cancelled, delayed, or boarding is denied by any carrier in circumstances which would entitle you to compensation under the Denied Boarding Regulations 2004, then you are obliged to claim the appropriate sums pursuant to those Regulations from the carrier. Any sums received by you in this respect constitute the full amount of your entitlement to compensation for all matters flowing from the carrier’s actions and which fall within the scope of the Denied Boarding Regulations. If, for any reason, you do not claim against the carrier and make a claim for compensation from us, you must, at the time of payment of any compensation to you, make a complete assignment to us of the rights you have against the carrier in relation to the claim that gives rise to that compensation payment.
(iv) For claims which involve death or personal injury as a result of an activity forming part of your Holiday, we have liability subject to paragraphs (i) above and (v) below. If we accept liability, we will, subject to paragraphs (vi), (vii) and (viii) below, pay you reasonable compensation.
(v) We accept liability in accordance with paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iv) above and subject to paragraphs (vi), (vii) and (viii) below except where the cause of the failure in your Holiday or any death or personal injury you may suffer is not due to any fault on our part or that of our servants, agents or suppliers, and is either attributable to you, or attributable to someone unconnected with the Holiday and is unforeseeable or unavoidable, or due to unusual or 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 neither we, nor our servants, agents or suppliers could have foreseen or forestalled.
(vi) If any international convention applies to or governs any of the services or facilities included in your Holiday arranged or provided by us, or provided by any of our suppliers, and you make a claim against us of any nature arising out of death, injury, loss or damage suffered during or as a result of the provision of those services or facilities, our liability to pay you compensation and/or the amount (if any) of compensation payable to you by us will be limited in accordance with and/or in an identical manner to that provided for by the international convention concerned (in each case including in respect of the conditions of liability, the time for bringing any claim and the type and amount of any damages that can be awarded). International Conventions which may apply include: in respect of international air travel, the Warsaw Convention 1929 (including as amended by the Hague Protocol of 1955 and by any of the additional Montreal Protocol of 1975) or the Montreal Convention 1999; in respect of rail travel, the Berne Convention 1961; in respect of carriage by sea, the Athens Convention 1974; in respect of carriage by road, the Geneva Convention 1973; and, in respect of hotels, the Paris Convention 1962.You can get copies of the relevant conventions if you ask us. For the avoidance of doubt, this means that we are to be regarded as having all benefit of any limitations of compensation contained in any of these conventions or any other international conventions applicable to your Holiday.
(vii) You are obliged to assist us in recovering from any third party any sum which may compensate us for any sums we pay you. In particular, you are obliged to assign to us any rights that you may have against any other person whose acts or omissions have caused or contributed to our legal liability to pay you compensation. You must also provide us with all assistance we may reasonably require. Finally, you must follow the procedures for the notification of complaints set out in the clause below entitled "If you have a complaint".
(viii) Should you become ill while on Holiday, you must, in addition to reporting your illness to our representative, consult a local doctor and also consult your GP upon your return to the UK. Should you then wish to make a claim against us as a result of that illness, you must provide us with details of both the local doctor whom you saw and your GP, together with written authority for us to obtain a medical report from both those doctors.
(ix) If you or any member of your party suffers illness, injury or death, through misadventure, as a result of any activity which does not form part of your contracted Holiday arrangements, we will provide you with all reasonable assistance. This assistance may include our making a contribution towards your initial legal costs in taking action against the person(s) responsible providing you request this within 90 days of the incident in question. All assistance (financial or otherwise) is subject to our reasonable discretion and a maximum total cost to ourselves of £5,000 per booking form. If you are entitled to have any costs and expenses arising from such an incident met by or from any insurance policy or if you obtain a costs order against anyone in relation to the incident, you must repay to us the costs and expenses we spend in assisting you.
(x) Other than as set out above, and as is detailed elsewhere in these booking conditions, we shall have no legal liability whatsoever to you for any loss, damage, personal injury or death which you suffer arising directly or indirectly from any aspect of your Holiday.
Baggage
The amount of compensation we will pay for any loss or damage to luggage is limited in accordance with the conventions listed in the above paragraph.
Your Responsibility
We want all our customers to have an enjoyable, carefree Holiday. But you must remember that you are responsible for your actions and the effect they may have on others. If we, or another person in authority, believe your actions could upset other customers, our suppliers or our own staff, or put them in danger, or damage property, we may end your Holiday. This could mean you are prevented from using your accommodation or using the transport, or have additional terms of carriage imposed upon you. If this happens we will not pay compensation, make any refund, or reimburse any expenses you suffer as a result.
If you have a Complaint
We aim to provide the best Holiday possible. However, if you are not satisfied with your Holiday please complain as soon as possible to the relevant person (for example, the hotel management). If they cannot help you must tell your Thomas Cook representative and we will do everything reasonably possible to sort the problem out. If they are not available or you are not satisfied with their response you must contact our UK Duty Office Manager on 44 1733 411911 straight away. Alternatively you can send a text message from your mobile phone stating your requirements.
The Duty Manager will either call you back, or will reply with another text message. Messages should be sent to 44 7781 47 27 48. If you are still not satisfied, ask your Holiday representative for a Customer Relations Report Form.
Fill this in and return a copy of it to him or her. You will have to keep a copy. When you get back home, send your copy to our offices in the UK, together with a covering letter, within 28 days of returning home. If you have special needs that prevent you from writing to us then, where possible, we will accept details of your complaint over the telephone. For complaints arising from scheduled airlines, we will act as a liaison between you and the airline, to try to assist in resolving the problem. If we cannot help and you wish to take matters further, you must contact the airline directly.
The address to send completed form and covering letter to is:
Customer Relations
Thomas Cook Signature Limited
PO Box 5
12 Coningsby Road
Peterborough, PE3 8XP
E-mail: customer.relations@thomascooksignature.com
We would point out that failure to follow the above procedures during your Holiday, and/or failure to complain within 28 days of your return, may reduce or extinguish any rights you have to claim compensation from us, or from any relevant supplier. Any such rights will be reduced or extinguished if, had you followed the above procedures during your Holiday, you or we could have taken steps to reduce any loss or damage suffered or entirely prevented it from being suffered. It is difficult and sometimes impossible to properly investigate a complaint if we are not told about it reasonably quickly once the Holiday is over. Your right to claim compensation may also be reduced or extinguished, should any delay in your complaint being notified during or after your Holiday prevent us from carrying out a proper investigation. We aim to resolve all complaints ourselves, but if this is not possible your complaint can be considered under a scheme devised by the Association of British Travel Agents and administered by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.We will give you details of this scheme if you ask. The scheme does not apply to claims over £25,000 in total or more than £5,000 a person, or to claims mainly about illness or injury. To take advantage of the scheme you must contact the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators within 9 months of returning from your Holiday.
Thomas Cook Signature Limited
The Thomas Cook Business Park
Coningsby Road
Peterborough, PE3 8SB
Registered in England No. 088652
This edition ©Thomas Cook Signature Limited 2006
Text ©Thomas Cook Signature Limited 2006
All rights reserved. No part of this Website may be produced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of Thomas Cook Signature Limited. 2nd Edition: Press date: August 2006 |
