Minor signing a holiday booking contract **SORTED**

[Sey]

My son signed a holiday booking form as Lead Name for a group of friends, including himself. He was 17 years old when he signed. Can anyone advise me whether the holiday company were right in allowing this and if not whether this contract is legally binding?

[freakyleaky]

Hi sey and welcome to the forums

Have a read of site rules and the FAQ's. And the How do I guide to the forum.
Once you are ready start your own thread in the Holiday companies forum. Holiday companies
just shout if you need help.

[Sey]

Could anyone advise me as to whether a booking is legally binding if it was signed by a 17 year old as Lead name for the group and the Travel Agents were aware of that fact? In addition is it correct that if you want to cancel a holiday the Travel Agents can refuse to do so?

[laineynic]

Me and my daughter have been battling to get a holiday cancelled that was booked when she was 17. It doesn't seem to make any difference to the holiday compnay how old they are.

We have been trying to cancel the holiday since 4 hours after her and her friends booked it. They wanted £75 each cancellation fee from them. We tried to fight them and got no where. However 14 days ago we were told to email customer services to ask for the details where to send the cancellation fee - and we are still waiting.

The compnay my daughter used is rubbish, one of the worse I have ever had the pleasure to deal with.

Good luck!!

[Bookworm]

It very much depends on what their T&Cs will say, some will, some won't. Get a hold of a copy of the contract and find out. If there is no credit involved and their T&Cs doesn't say different, then not a lot you can do, as far as I am aware. And T/A can not refuse to cancel the holiday as such, but they can (and will) charge a cancellation fee which in some case will be equivalent to the cost of the holiday, depending on how close to the date of departure and other factors.

Get those T&Cs out!

[Sey]

T&Cs state that the person making the bookings must be over 18 years old. They also state that unaccompanied passengers under the age of 18 need a letter of consent from a parent or legal guardian. They did not mention this to the group at the time of the booking nor have they requested any letters of consent to date. Several members of the group will still be 17 years old when they travel.

[Bookworm]

In which case, non-enforceable and non-binding, and their own fault for booking it, ask for full refund and advise that you'll pursue through small claims if they refuse to refund any part of it. Give them 14 days to comply.

[Sey]

Many thanks for your advice Bookworm. Much appreciated.

[MARTIN3030]

Welcome to the site.
It depends on what was in the terms and conditions.

[Sey]

Thanks for replying Martin3030. Have now moved to Holiday Companies Forum.

The T&Cs do state that the person making the booking must be over 18 years old. In addition they also say that unaccompanied passengers under the age of 18 need a letter of consent from a parent or legal guardian. These letters have not been requested despite the booking being made and deposits taken.

[MARTIN3030]

That being the case then the agreement is not valid.
I will merge these posts with the moved thread.

[shywazz]

It is all too easy for minors even children to book certain things on line, at the time of booking, the company involved doesnt know whether it is a child/minor or adult making the said booking, with people been able to pre-buy credit cards to use on the web, this is becoming even harder for companies to detect, when a booking is made, the person has to tick a box stating there are over the required age to make such a booking, hence making a false declaration, to that company...If this box was ticked, then the company acted as if a adult had made the booking, and would have requested information relating to the other travlers in due course, if the box wasn't ticked the system wouldnt have allowed the booking to proceed.
I'm not in favour of these so called pre-pay credit cards, as under age people can obtain them and use them to obtain adult only purchases, which more than ever has occurred above. The blame doesnt always lay with the companies, but also for the minors for attempting to use such cards to buy things there are clearly under age to purchase.

[Loubychew]

Sey,

I agree. If the T & C's say that the person acting as the lead booking must be 18 then you should be able to cancel. Did your lad book in a travel agent, over the phone direct or what?


laineynic,

I have searched high and low on Sun4u website for the same T & C's re age of lead passenger and I can't find it. I had a look on First Choice' website to get an idea of how it would be worded and they make it very clear so yes, some TO's don't allow bookings to under 18's without guardians consent. Unfortunatley, I just can't find it on Sun4u.
This has been going on a while now, have you thought of contacting Trading Standards or your local CAB?

[Sey]

Thanks for everyone's help.

My son did book the holiday through a travel agent and after writing to them as suggested by Bookworm, and sending copies to ABTA, the company have agreed to refund all monies on seeing my son's birth certificate.

My son and his friends were offered the 'low deposit' deal which in hindsight they clearly did not understand. They did attempt several times to cancel their holiday a month after booking because they were misled about the type of accommodation - they wanted self-catering (with facilities) but were booked in for 'room only' which was construed by the travel agent to be self-catering. However the travel agent told them that they could not cancel their holiday. They decided then not to pay any more money owing and eventually the travel agents cancelled the booking and submitted to them the bill for the rest of the deposit owing.

Just for information in the Ts&Cs it did state that under 18s can only travel unaccompanied by providing a letter of consent from their parents/guardians. However, if they are travelling with a friend who is 18 years old then they are (obviously) accompanied by an adult!

This has definitely been a learning experience for this group of naive teenagers.

I wish you good luck Iaineynic.

[Bookworm]

Great news!!!