Booking Terms

When you pay for a booking you accept these terms. If you are booking for other people, and most of our bookings are for a party rather than one traveler, you confirm that you are authorized to accept them on behalf of everybody on the booking, that you are of age to enter into a contract, that what you have told us is accurate, and that you will pass on what we send you.

Your booking confirmation, and any trip-specific terms the office gives you in writing, form part of your contract with us and prevail over this page where they differ. Nothing said in conversation varies these terms unless we confirm it in writing.

Reichberg Travel arranges travel. For flights, hotels, coaches, drivers, guides, cruises and local operators we act as an agent: the contract for the travel itself is between you and that supplier, and their own conditions of carriage and booking conditions apply to you alongside these terms. Those conditions are usually where the refund rules actually live.

You agree to keep to them. Breaking a supplier's rules can cost you the booking and the money paid for it, and where a supplier charges us because of something you did, that charge is yours to repay.

We are not the carrier, the hotel or the operator, and we do not control them. We are not responsible for what they do or fail to do, including delay, cancellation, schedule or routing changes, overbooking, denied boarding, downgrades, lost or damaged baggage, a meal or service not provided, the condition or standard of a property or vehicle, or any injury, illness or loss occurring in their care. Where a supplier does not deliver, your recourse is against that supplier and not against us, and such matters should be taken up with them directly. We will help you do it.

If a supplier fails financially and stops operating, we will help you claim against it, its administrator or its bonding or insurance arrangements, and we will return anything we are still holding. We cannot refund money already paid to that supplier, because we no longer have it and cannot get it back.

Every traveler, by name. We ask for each traveler's name and date of birth because a ticket is issued against a passport. Give us the name exactly as the passport prints it. A ticket in the name somebody goes by rather than the one in their document has to be reissued, sometimes for a fee the airline sets and sometimes at the airport, and that cost is yours.

This website does not take payments. Every form on it sends us a request, and a request is not a booking. Nothing is held, nothing is charged, and no seat is yours until we have written back to confirm it and payment has been arranged with the office directly. If a page ever asks you for card details, it is not ours.

Your booking is confirmed when the payment clears, not when the payment page closes. You will see a booking reference and receive a confirmation by email. Keep the reference: it is what to quote when you call us. Until payment clears, no seat is yours.

Payment is in full, in US dollars, at the time of booking. The website does not take part payments. If you need to spread the cost, call the office before you book rather than after.

Some trips are not sold online. Where a trip is arranged around you, the site asks you to call and we book it with you.

A waiting list is not a booking. If an option is full you can leave your details and we will call you if a seat comes back. Nothing is charged for a place on the list, and no seat is reserved by it.

We may decline a booking, and we may cancel one and refund it in full if we believe it was made fraudulently, through misuse of a card, or in breach of these terms.

You pay the price shown at the moment you book, for the seats you book. Once your payment has cleared, the price of your booking does not change.

Prices for trips you have not yet booked can move, because fares, taxes, supplier costs and exchange rates move. A price on this site is an invitation to book at it, not a promise that it will still be there next week. Unless we say otherwise, a price does not include insurance, visa costs, baggage charges, meals not stated, tips or personal spending.

Obvious errors. This site takes payments without anybody reviewing each one, so a mistyped or mispublished price, or a wrong price given to us by a supplier, can be paid before we see it. Where a price was clearly wrong, we may cancel the booking and refund you in full, or offer you the booking at the correct price, whether or not it was already confirmed and charged. That is the whole of our liability for a pricing error, and we will tell you promptly either way.

Payment is arranged with the office. While the site is taking requests rather than payments, we will tell you what is due and how to pay it when we confirm your booking. This clause governs that payment in the same way it would govern one made on the site.

All payments are non-refundable, except to the extent that we actually recover money from the suppliers on your booking. Air tickets, hotel rooms and land arrangements are paid for and committed as soon as they are booked, often immediately and often on terms that return nothing. Where we do recover something, we pass it on to you less any service, booking or administration fee we charged, which is not refundable, and less anything the supplier withholds.

The cancellation terms for your own trip are set out in your booking confirmation. If you want to know what they are before you pay, ask the office and we will put them in writing. Please do ask: it is a reasonable question and we would rather answer it in advance than afterwards.

To cancel, write to us, giving the name on the booking and the reference. A cancellation takes effect when we have it from you in writing, not from the moment you decide, so follow a telephone call with an email. Until we have it in writing, the booking stands.

Any refund goes back to the card that paid, because that is the only place a card refund can go. Once we release it, your bank decides how quickly it appears. We do not pay interest on money held or refunded.

A name change is not a transfer. On most tickets, changing who travels means canceling and rebooking at the fare available on the day, and the same applies to changing dates, routings or rooms. Any supplier charge and any fee of ours is yours to pay. Unused parts of a booking have no cash value: a flight not taken, a night not slept in and a tour not joined are not refunded.

A ticket is subject to the airline's own conditions of carriage and fare rules, and once it is issued the contract of carriage is between you and that airline. Airlines may change schedules and routings or cancel flights, and two fares on the same airline and the same route can carry entirely different rules on changes, refunds, baggage and seating.

If you miss your flight, for any reason at all, we will try to get you onto another one. Any difference in fare and any airline charge is yours. If we cannot rebook you, the rest of the trip is still not refundable, even if missing the flight means you cannot join it.

If the airline cancels your flight, we will try to rebook you, and any difference in fare is yours. If we cannot, what comes back to you is what the airline returns for that flight. The rest of the trip stands and is not refunded.

Delays, baggage and service on board are matters between you and the airline, including a delayed or lost bag, a special meal that did not arrive and a seat or service you did not get. No refund arises from us. Where a carrier owes you compensation, we will help you ask for it.

Code share. The airline that sold the flight is not always the one flying the aircraft. Check in with the airline actually operating it, and check which terminal it uses.

Two one-way tickets are two bookings, with two sets of rules, two baggage allowances and two refund policies. A change to one does not change the other, and a cancellation on one leaves the other exactly as it was.

Baggage and extras are priced by the airline and are not included in the fare unless we say so. Allowances change, some carriers charge for cabin bags and seat assignments, and the airline is the only reliable source. Check before you travel rather than at the desk.

Changes and taxes. Where a fare permits a change at all, the airline sets the fee and we add our own processing charge for making it. The taxes in your fare are those in force when the ticket was issued, and if a government raises a tax and applies it to tickets already sold, that difference is yours.

Ticketing practices airlines prohibit. Do not buy a ticket intending to use only part of it, such as leaving a connecting leg unflown to get a cheaper fare, using only the outward half of a return, or stringing overlapping returns together. Airlines forbid this, they may void the ticket and refuse to carry you, and they bill the agency that issued it. If an airline charges us because of how you used a ticket, you are responsible for that charge and for our costs in dealing with it.

Dangerous goods. Federal law prohibits carrying hazardous materials in baggage or on your person, with serious penalties. That covers more than people expect, including aerosols, lighter fuel, fireworks, certain batteries and oxygen cylinders. Check the FAA's own list if you are unsure, and ask the airline about anything medical.

Security screening. We are required to pass each traveler's full name, date of birth and gender to the airline for government watch list screening, which is why we ask for them. Having identification that airport security will accept is your responsibility.

Rooms are assigned by the hotel. Room type, bedding and location are at the property's discretion, and a request we pass on, for adjoining rooms or a quiet floor or a high floor, is a request and not a booked feature. If something matters, call the hotel yourself after booking and confirm it with them.

Charges payable at the property. Resort and facility fees, local and tourist taxes, parking, the minibar, room service and anything else incidental are paid by you at the hotel, and most properties will want a card at check-in to cover them. Cheaper rates usually carry stricter cancellation rules.

Car hire is governed by the rental company's own terms: driver age, license, a credit card in the driver's name, the deposit it holds, the insurance and excess it sells and the fuel policy are all theirs, and they can refuse a driver who does not meet them.

Some countries charge an entry or exit fee of their own at the border. It is not in the price of your trip.

Small changes. Flights get retimed, routings change, and a hotel, guide or vehicle sometimes has to be swapped for another of a comparable standard. We may make changes of that kind without a refund becoming due, and we tell you as soon as we know.

Significant changes. If something material changes, we will tell you promptly and you may accept it, move to another trip of ours, or cancel and take back what you paid us for the part that is not going ahead. One of those three is the whole of what we owe you.

Minimum numbers. A group trip runs only if enough people book it. If it does not fill, we may cancel it and return what you paid us for it, and that refund is your only remedy. In particular we are not responsible for anything you booked yourself around the trip, such as connecting flights, hotels or time off work, which is the reason not to book those until your trip is confirmed.

Matters outside anyone's control. War, conflict, unrest, terrorism, border and site closures, government action, travel advisories, strikes and industrial action, air traffic restrictions, weather, natural events, fire, epidemic and disease, and the failure of utilities or transport networks. Where one of these prevents or disrupts a trip we will do what we can to rearrange it and to recover what suppliers will return, and we may offer a credit instead. Beyond passing on what is recovered, we are not liable for it and no further refund is due. This is the clearest argument there is for insurance.

Take it. Cancellation for illness or a death in the family, a missed connection, a medical bill abroad, a bag that does not arrive: these are the ordinary stuff of travel, and because your payment to us is not refundable, insurance is what stands between an unlucky week and a total loss. It costs a fraction of what it covers.

Unless we have said otherwise, the price of your trip does not include it. We can arrange it with your booking, and travel insurance explains what the cover does. If you choose not to take it, or take less than we suggest, you accept the risks it would have covered. We are not insurers and we do not advise on which policy suits you; read the policy wording, particularly on pre-existing medical conditions and on travel to regions under advisory, and satisfy yourself that it covers what you need.

Travel documents are the traveler's responsibility. You need a valid passport, and many countries will not admit you unless it is valid for six months beyond your return. Visas, electronic authorizations, entry and health forms and any vaccination requirement are yours to obtain, and some must be filed days or weeks before departure. A country you only change planes in can want a visa of its own.

We tell you what we know of, and Travel Info collects the official links in one place. But the requirement belongs to the country you are entering and to your airline, it can change between booking and flying, and what we pass on is for guidance rather than a warranty that it is current or complete. Check it yourself, close to departure.

If you are refused boarding, refused entry or deported for want of a document, or for any other reason, the airline's rules decide what happens to the fare, it is usually not refunded, no refund is due from us, and any cost of getting you home is yours.

Many of our trips visit kevarim, shuls and towns in places that are remote, old, or under a government travel advisory, and some are near regions in conflict. Conditions at a kever or a shul are set by whoever maintains it, not by us: access can be crowded, restricted, segregated, or withdrawn at short notice, and buildings and paths are often old and uneven.

You decide whether to travel. Read your government's advisory for every country on your itinerary before you book, and the public health guidance for it. That we offer a trip somewhere is not a representation by us that traveling there is advisable or safe, and by booking you accept the ordinary risks of traveling there, including the risk that a site cannot be reached or entered on the day. If a site is closed or unreachable we will try to substitute another or rearrange the day, and no refund arises.

Tell us at the time of booking about anything we should plan around, including a condition, a disability, a dietary need, a mobility limitation or a pregnancy. We will tell you what we can and cannot arrange, and we may decline a booking where a trip is not suitable.

We have no special knowledge of how accessible a particular aircraft, hotel, coach or site is. Where that matters, ask the supplier directly, because they are the only ones who can answer it properly, and we will help you ask.

Some trips involve early starts, long days, long coach journeys, uneven ground, standing, and sites without seating or shelter. You are responsible for judging whether you and anybody traveling with you are fit to take it, and for taking medical advice if there is any doubt. We are not qualified to give medical advice and do not give it. We are not responsible for the cost or the outcome of medical treatment abroad, which is a matter for your insurance.

Where a trip includes food, a minyan, a mikveh or Shabbos arrangements, those are provided by caterers, hotels, shuls and local people, and we pass on what they tell us in good faith. We are not the certifying authority for kashrus and we do not supervise it. If the standard matters to you, and for most of our travelers it does, ask us who is giving the hechsher and satisfy yourself before you book.

We plan itineraries with Shabbos and yom tov in mind and we leave margin where we can. We do not control airlines, airports or traffic, and a delay can leave travel running later than anybody intended. We cannot be responsible for that, and we will do whatever we can to help if it happens.

Travelers under 18 must be booked by an adult who is responsible for them and, unless we have agreed otherwise in writing, accompanied by one. The person who makes a group booking is responsible to us for the whole of it, including payment, and is the person we will deal with unless they tell us otherwise.

A group trip asks a little consideration of everybody on it. If somebody's conduct puts the trip, the group, a supplier or themselves at risk, or breaks the law of the place you are in, we or the supplier may refuse to carry them or ask them to leave the trip. In that case no refund is due, no part of the cost of getting home is ours, and we are not liable for what follows.

You are responsible for any loss or damage you cause, including to a hotel room, a vehicle or an aircraft, and for any claim or cost that falls on us because of it.

We sometimes photograph our trips, and photographs may appear in our gallery or in our advertising. Tell the guide or the office if you would rather not appear, and tell us afterwards if you see a photograph you want removed, and we will take it down.

We are responsible for arranging your booking with reasonable care and skill: booking what you asked for, passing on what you need to know, and dealing properly with your money. If we get that wrong, we will put it right.

Where we book as an agent, what happens in the air, on the road or at a property is governed by that supplier's own conditions and by the international conventions covering carriage, which themselves limit what can be recovered. Our own liability for arrangements made as an agent is limited to the fee we charged for making them.

Otherwise, and to the extent the law allows, our total liability for anything connected with a booking is limited to the amount you paid us for it. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary or punitive loss, and in particular not for lost earnings, lost time off, a missed yartzeit, simcha, wedding, bar mitzvah or other event or occasion, a missed onward connection, a missed cruise or tour, accommodation or transport you booked separately, or disappointment.

Time limit. Any claim must be brought within one year of the date your travel was due to end, and we agree that this shorter period replaces any longer one the law would otherwise allow.

Nothing in these terms excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or anything else the law does not permit us to exclude, and nothing takes away a right the law gives you and does not let us limit.

If you think something is wrong with a charge, call us first. Almost everything is a misunderstanding we can clear up the same day, and a dispute raised with your bank before you have spoken to us takes weeks and helps nobody.

We treat a dispute as improper where it is raised over a booking that was not refundable when you made it, over a charge authorized by somebody you gave your card to, over a supplier's failure to deliver, which is a matter between you and that supplier, or over something caused by an event outside our control. We will answer such a dispute with these terms and the record of your booking, we may recover the costs and fees it causes us, and we may cancel any booking it relates to.

Tell us while you are traveling, when there is still a chance to fix it. Call 718-436-1002, and tell the supplier or guide on the spot as well. If you do not give us the chance to put something right while you are there, it may not be possible afterwards.

If it is not resolved by the time you are home, write to us within 28 days of your return, quoting your booking reference, and we will look into it properly.

These terms, and any dispute arising out of a booking, are governed by the law of the State of New York.

Talk to us first. Before starting any formal proceeding, write to us setting out what you want and give us 30 days to resolve it. Most things end here.

Arbitration. If it does not, you and we agree that any dispute will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its consumer rules, seated in Kings County, New York, rather than in court, and each of us waives a trial by jury. Either of us may instead bring an individual claim in small claims court if it qualifies.

Individually, not as a class. Claims may be brought only in your own name and not as a plaintiff or member of any class, collective or representative proceeding, and an arbitrator may not consolidate the claims of more than one person. If that restriction is held unenforceable, this arbitration clause does not apply and the dispute belongs in the state or federal courts sitting in Kings County, New York, to whose exclusive jurisdiction we both submit.

If a clause fails, it is to be read down to whatever the law does permit, and if it cannot be, it is severed and the remainder of these terms stands.

These terms, your confirmation and any written trip-specific terms are the whole of our agreement, and replace anything said or written beforehand. Nothing in a brochure, an advertisement or on this website forms part of your contract unless your confirmation says so.

We may change these terms, and the date at the top changes with them. The version that applies to your booking is the one published when you made it, which is why we keep this page dated.

If we do not enforce something straight away we do not give up the right to enforce it later. You may not transfer your booking or your rights under it to anybody else without our written agreement; we may transfer ours to a business that takes over ours. Notices to us must go to the address below. Headings are there to help you find things and do not affect how a clause is read.

Using the website itself is covered by our website terms of use, and what we do with your information by our privacy policy.

Email info@reichbergtravel.com, telephone 718-436-1002, or write to Reichberg Travel, 1731 45th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11204.