Where the money is
Changing and Cancelling
The money is never here. That is not a disclaimer, it is the architecture of the whole business, and it decides everything on this page.
Five stations, and where the money is at each
| Station | What still moves | What is already gone | Whose schedule says so |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The day you accept in writing | everything | nothing; nothing has been paid | nobody's yet |
| 2. After the deposit | most of it | the deposit, usually, and often from the day it is paid | the operating company's |
| 3. Between deposit and balance date | most of it, at a fee | the deposit | the operating company's |
| 4. After the balance date | little | a rising share, stepping down by date | the operating company's |
| 5. Inside the last weeks | almost nothing | almost all of it | the operating company's, and this is where insurance earns its cost |
One cancellation, done in figures
Andalusia, ten nights, canceled four weeks out. Four bookings, four answers.
| Line | Paid | The schedule returns | Left with the operating company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hotel one, four nights | 380 | 380 | 0 |
| Hotel two, three nights | 300 | 150 | 150 |
| Hotel three, three nights | 300 | 0 | 300 |
| Airport transfer | 65 | 65 | 0 |
| This office's fee | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Returned to you | 1,045 | 595 | 450 |
A package cancels as four cancellations with four answers, which is exactly why a single reassuring percentage is never printed on this site.
What the band does to this
- Bought whole
- the most expensive band to change. Almost the whole trip is paid for before you leave, so almost the whole trip is inside somebody's schedule
- Nights and legs bought
- the rail and ferry legs are the rigid part; the beds are usually more forgiving than travelers expect
- Nights bought
- only beds exist to cancel, and small hotels are often flexible into the final fortnight
- Arrival bought
- the cheapest band on this site to change your mind about, because there is nearly nothing to cancel. That is the trade for doing the work yourself
The day you tell us
- Within the hour
- we read the schedule that actually applies and send you the figure
- Same day
- nothing is canceled. You look at the figure first and may change your mind again
- On your written word
- we cancel, and forward the operating company's own confirmation to you
- Never
- on a spoken instruction alone
Travel insurance
Whether to buy it is a traveler's own decision, taken with an insurer. This office does not sell insurance, does not quote it and does not advise on what a policy should cover. What a policy pays for is written in the certificate the insurer issues, and that document, not this page, is the one that governs.
Complaints
Write to amend@mydomainetravel.com and say plainly what went wrong. Answered in writing from this office within five business days. Nothing here limits any right you hold under the law of the District of Columbia, the state you live in, or United States federal law.