General Terms and Conditions of Business, Contract, and Payment of AERTiCKET AG and the Fulfillment Partner
The General Terms and Conditions and conditions of contract given below apply to the business transactions of the travel agent, also referred to below as the Agency, with
AERTiCKET AG and its fulfillment partners - referred to below collectively as AER -
for the arrangement of transportation via scheduled flight services provided by airline companies, which are referred to below as service providers to the extent that they are represented by AER in the processing of flight bookings. The airline companies in question are members of the IATA and also airline companies not associated with the IATA.
1. Basic principles
1.1 Only the General Terms and Conditions given below, in the version in force as of the commission, shall apply to the business and contractual relationship between AER and the Agency. AER does not recognize divergent conditions of the Agency, unless AER has expressly approved their validity in writing. To the extent that individual fulfillment partners of AERTiCKET AG establish direct contractual relationships with the Agency, their agreed regulations are valid in addition to the General Terms and Conditions pertaining to the respective fulfillment partner.
1.2 AER is not a tour operator. AER is an intermediary in air passenger transportation and arranges air transportation with different service providers.
Service providers include air carriers that are members of the IATA, but also those that have not joined the IATA. AER carries out the processing and booking of orders commissioned by the agencies, who receive this service as a third-party service in the interests of their customers within the framework of existing agency contracts. No contractual relationship exists between AER and the customers of the Agency.
1.3 Services provided by AER to this extent are supplementary services to the transportation service and share the same fate as the main service in terms of sales tax, even to the extent that there are provided by AERTiCKET AG with the involvement of its fulfillment partners.
1.4 The General Terms and Conditions given below apply in addition to the contract with the Agency. The legal provisions concerning commercial agents and agent middlemen as well as the contract of mandate apply in addition, as do IATA resolutions in their respective valid version, to the extent that transportation is provided by IATA-member service providers.
Furthermore, the provisions of the Billing and Settlement Plan, referred to below as BSP, apply.
1.5 AER acts on behalf and account of the respective service providers in reserving flights, ordering flights, and issuing flight documents, and possesses collecting power for flight fares due the service providers. Flight fares include the taxes and premiums associated with the transportation service.
1.6 The Agency is authorized to collect flight fares, cancellation costs, reimbursement on the part of AER, as well as further remunerations associated with the aforementioned. The right of the service providers and AER to themselves collect the service fees is not affected by the foregoing. The receipt of these service remunerations on the part of the Agency transpires on a fiduciary basis. The Agency’s right to charge its customers for its own services is not affected by the foregoing.
2. Booking procedure
2.1 The Agency is to use the hard- and software approved or provided by AER for purposes of the booking and reservation procedure.
2.2 An agency contract to arrange for transportation service enters into effect upon its confirmation, which generally takes place electronically during the booking procedure.
2.3 The Agency is obliged to submit all the complete and unequivocal information required for a booking, and to check the correctness and completeness of bookings placed, particularly as regards the electronic booking procedure and bookings placed via internet booking engines.
2.4 All eligibility requirements cited in offers and booking confirmations, particularly as regards eligibility restrictions placed on participants, county-specific circumstances, and proof of a particular customer status are legally binding and to be observed. The Agency is to inform its customers or place them under obligation in this regard.
2.5 A flight ticket is valid for the natural person for whom it is issued. Flight ticket documents are only transferrable with the consent of the service providers.
3. AER tariff database and internet booking engines
3.1. Through selected operators of internet booking engines (IBE) AER places its updated tariff database, which it has compiled and regularly updates with the greatest possible care, at the disposal of the Agency. The foregoing is a special service provided by AER. Its use requires an IBE license, but also the permission of AER. Permission is considered granted upon signing of the agency contract, unless use of the tariff database is ruled out by the agency contract. It is always terminated upon revocation or termination of the Agency Contract. The Agency’s use of this tariff database as an additional service can be granted by AER following internal review and can be revoked at any time with regard to the agency, or its use can be activated in exchange for a user fee.
3.2 Should a tariff database no longer be at the disposal of an IBE operator, the user rights of the Agency are likewise terminated, to the extent that the latter works with the operator concerned. In such a case AER and the Agency can reach agreement concerning the latter’s activation separately. AER has the right to charge a commensurate user fee at normal market rates in exchange for granting a separate usage option.
3.3. AER and the companies it commissions and involves support the Agency in the administration of the IBE and adapt the IBE licenses to ongoing modifications of the IBE operator, to the flight database, and to the contents of the reservation system. AER, and the companies active on its behalf in this context, act with the greatest of care and inform the Agency of all changes they learn of. The Agency is obliged to cooperate on account of the various different processing and management systems implemented and their complexity; in particular it is obliged to check all incoming bookings for correctness and is to immediately report any errors to AERTiCKET AG.
3.4. If the Agency uses this tariff database, it is prohibited from cancelling bookings placed by IBE and from passing on booking orders to AER’s competitors. Should the Agency violate these obligations, AER is entitled to demand damage compensation and/or to cancel existing contractual relationships on significant grounds without notice.
3.5. AER is not liable for the representation and implementation of the tariffs of said database in the internet booking engines of the operator.
4. Complaints, cancellation refund
4.1 Should complaints and/or claims for redress be justified, the Agency shall receive a credit with the obligation to pass it on to the party laying claim to it. This applies, in the case of complaints concerning the transportation contract between the customer and the service providers, only if the service provider recognizes the complaint/claim for redress.
4.2 Bookings may be cancelled prior to use of flight tickets in exchange for the return of the flight ticket documents. In such cases a cancellation fee is due, the amount of which differs depending on the service provider, and is charged to the party that caused the cancellation.
4.3 The Agency is to report complaints and/or claims for redress on the part of the customer to AER and to submit the requisite documents in conformity with the given provisions and using the forms provided for these purposes.
5. Delivery of flight documents
5.1 The Agency is under obligation to only hand out the travel documents to the customer(s) once the travel price has been paid in full. The Agency is liable towards AER for the full amount invoiced. In the case of an electronically delivered flight ticket (e-tix) the Agency is to make sure that delivery of the booking code has not taken place prior to payment of the flight ticket. The payment and delivery of e-tix are independent of one another, but are always to be documented by the Agency.
5.2 The sending of travel documents by mail is carried out at the expense and risk of the Agency. Should the travel documents be delivered by courier, the risk is assumed by the Agency only upon delivery of the documents, unless, the courier was employed or commissioned by the Agency. In the latter case the risk is assumed by the Agency upon handing over the travel documents to the courier.
Transportation costs are in any event to be carried by the Agency.
5.3 The loss of a flight documents is to be announced immediately to AER or the service provider prior to the onset or conclusion of the journey. The Agency is to indicate to the customer which airline company was booked by it.
5.4 AER provides the Agency upon request with the existing or procured delivery certification of the company placed in charge of transporting the travel documents for purposes of inspection and /or enforcement of damage compensation claims.
6. Service fees and payment transaction
6.1 In paying for booking orders AER shall distinguish between
1. Gross tickets
2. Net tickets / consolidator fare
3. No-commission tickets
With regard to the travel agent remuneration the commission policy in its respective current version applies.
6.2. Payment transactions are made according to these distinctions, whereby AER is categorically authorized for payment via bank direct debit.
6.3. As regards the use of credit cards, observance of the guidelines of the BSP and of the guidelines assembled by AER, which are listed in the appendix to these General Terms and Conditions, is compulsory, particularly on account of the greater risk of credit card abuse inherent in the mail order procedure applied in so doing. Said guidelines form part of the General Terms and Conditions.
7. Special obligations of the Agency and liability
7.1 The Agency is under obligation to exercise the care of a prudent businessman in avoiding damages and additional charges to customers and AER. In particular it is under obligation to:
1. Pay over payments received in trust, or make them available for direct debit, to those entitled to them;
2. In the case of ambiguities regarding booking and payment transactions, to immediately obtain clarification from AER, and, where errors are detected, to notify AERTiCKET AG of such immediately;
3. To keep abreast on a regular basis of IATA resolutions in force;
4. To observe the provisions of the BSP and its standards for payment via credit card, especially as regards mail order procedures; to inform customers that credit card information will be passed on to service providers or AER for the purpose of direct debit of the individual transaction invoice amounts and to obtain the customers’ consent to such usage;
5. To inform its customers upon entering into an agency contract of the fact that the Agency, in fulfilling that agency contract, makes use of AER, i.e. AERTiCKET AG and its fulfillment partners; that AER is authorized to collect payments on behalf of the airline company as a service provider, and, if the customer pays via credit card, it is entitled to collect or direct debit either the total amount invoiced or the amounts due to AER and/or the airline company corresponding to their share in the services provided. The right of the service provider to collect the flight fare owed to it itself remains unaffected.
6. Prior to flight departure, to pass on to the customer the current tips and guidelines that are published by the service provider in its daily-updated newsletter, and to make inquiries as to these in the interest of the customer prior to the departure date through the service providers / AER.
7. To make flight documents available to the customer only upon full payment. The Agency is fully liable for the settlement of the total price of the flight. The same applies to the filing of e-tix.
8. All price lists published by AER for the Agency are confidential work documents. The prices indicated in these lists are only to be used for purposes of direct advising of the customer; passing them on to other agencies, service providers, or competitors is not permitted.
9. All eligibility requirements cited by AER in its offers, particularly as regards eligibility restrictions placed on participants and proof of a particular customer status are to be recognized as being legally binding and to be observed.
7.2 The Agency is liable for disadvantages caused to AER on account of violation of the main and additional obligations incumbent upon it; it is to assume responsibility for violations on the part of its fulfillment assistants. The Agency is liable for the orderly execution of the tasks and duties to inform and exercise due care incumbent upon it in the course of the booking process and payment transactions. It is to safeguard AER from any liabilities in this respect, especially in the case of incorrectly placed bookings.
8. Liability of AERTiCKET AG and its fulfillment partners, exclusion from liability
8.1 AER is liable for the orderly and diligent execution of the tasks assigned to and confirmed by it. The same applies to the activation of the tariff database in exchange for fees on account of a separate agreement with the Agency, if the Agency pays a user fee to this effect. It is not liable in the case of free-of-charge concession to use the database.
8.2 AER is liable for transmission errors in the case of price quotes given electronically or in writing, in consideration of 8.1 above. In the event of damages its liability is limited to the actual surplus amount due.
8.3. AER is not liable for changes undertaken by IBE operators without its prior agreement and/or changes made to the booking procedure, the representation and implementation of the tariff database, the flight database, or the reservation contents, which were not brought to its attention.
9. Data protection provisions
AER is under obligation to only use the data pool needed for booking and payment procedures, also to the extent that the data concerns the customer, for its own purposes and towards the execution of its tasks, and to not pass the data on to external third parties, provided no legal or regulatory obligation to do so exists, especially as regards the prevention of abuse, particularly credit card abuse. To the extent that such is necessary for the execution of contracts entered into, in registering participants’ data, said data may be passed on to the respective service providers and third parties.
10. Validity of the General Terms and Conditions and final provision
10.1 In the event of the invalidity of a provision of the General Terms and Conditions, the other provisions remain valid. In such a case, an invalid provision is to be replaced with the legally valid provision, which in consideration of the commercial purpose most closely corresponds to the intended provision.
10.2 The General Terms and Conditions enter into effect in their respective valid version, and thereby form part of the Agency Contract one month after their being posted on the internet for the Agency or one day after direct notification of the Agency in writing, by telephone, fax or e-mail.
General Terms and Conditions updated 09/01/2004
