Refund Policy

This Refund Policy applies to Bookings made through Tifa Travels & Tours (“we”, “us”) and forms part of our Terms of Service. Capitalised terms not defined here have the meanings given in those Terms.

“Fare Rules” means the conditions set by the airline or other Supplier for a particular fare or product, including conditions on changes, cancellation, refunds, and no-shows.

“Refundable Amount” means the amount, if any, that we determine is payable to you after deducting Supplier penalties, non-refundable charges and our service fees.

Nothing in this policy limits any right that you have under mandatory consumer-protection law or under an airline’s conditions of carriage that cannot be excluded.

Whether a Booking can be changed or refunded, and how much is returned, is decided principally by the Fare Rules of the fare you purchased. Fares fall broadly into fully refundable fares, fares refundable subject to a penalty, and non-refundable fares.

The key Fare Rules are made available to you before payment. It is your responsibility to read and understand them before you book. By paying, you confirm that you accept them.

Promotional, discounted and group fares are often non-refundable and non-changeable.

We have no authority to override Fare Rules. Where a Supplier refuses a refund, we cannot refund you the amount that the Supplier has retained.

You can request a cancellation through your account where available, through the agent who made the Booking for you, or by contacting us using the details at the end of this policy with your booking reference.

Requests must be made before the departure time of the first flight on the Booking, and in time to meet any Supplier deadline. Requests after departure are treated as no-shows (see below).

We may ask you for information to verify your identity and your authority to cancel, in order to protect against fraud.

Cancelling a Booking with a Supplier may be irreversible. Once a Booking is cancelled, you may not be able to reinstate it or to recover the original fare.

Where a Booking has been paid for and is cancelled, we open a refund case. Refunds are not automatic. Each case is reviewed manually by our team before any money is returned, because cancellation penalties may apply and some fares are not refundable.

On review we will check the Fare Rules, the ticket status, any usage of the ticket, and the amounts we received from you, and we will then either:

• approve the refund, in which case we will tell you the Refundable Amount and any deductions; or
• decline the refund, in which case we will tell you the reason, for example that the fare is non-refundable.

Approval of a refund is not payment. A refund is paid only once it has been processed by us, as described below.

We may need to wait for the Supplier to confirm the cancellation and the amount it will release before we can finalise your Refundable Amount.

The Refundable Amount is the total amount you paid for the cancelled Booking, less:

• cancellation, change or administration penalties charged by the airline or other Supplier;
• any portion of the fare or charges that is non-refundable under the Fare Rules;
• the value of any part of the ticket already used; and
• our service fees, which are charged for handling the Booking and the cancellation and may not be refundable.

On non-refundable fares, unused government taxes, airport charges and certain surcharges may still be refundable where the airline permits. We will pass on such amounts when the airline releases them, less our service fee.

Payment-processing fees and bank charges that were incurred in taking your payment are not refundable unless the law requires.

Refunds are made in the currency in which you were charged. We are not responsible for exchange-rate differences, or for any loss arising from fluctuations in exchange rates between payment and refund.

Approved refunds are paid by the method we agree with you. Wherever possible this is the original method of payment. Where a Booking was paid from an agent wallet, the refund may be credited to that wallet. Where the original method is not available, we may use another method that we both agree.

Airlines often take several weeks, and sometimes longer, to release funds to us, and we can only refund what we actually recover. After we process a refund, your bank, card issuer or payment provider may take additional time to show it in your account.

The times we give are estimates and not guarantees. We will keep you informed of the progress of your refund and will give you the status when you ask.

We may set off against a refund any amount you owe us.

If an airline cancels a flight, or makes a significant change to the schedule, you may be entitled to a refund or free rebooking under the airline’s conditions of carriage and applicable law, even on a non-refundable fare.

You should contact us as soon as you learn of the change. We will help you to request a refund or alternative travel from the airline, and we will pass on any refund the airline makes in respect of your Booking, subject to the deductions that apply under this policy where the law permits.

You must usually claim within the airline’s deadlines. We are not responsible for refunds you do not claim in time or for the outcome of the airline’s decision.

Any compensation that an airline owes you for delay or disruption is a matter between you and the airline.

If you do not take a flight and have not cancelled before departure (a “no-show”), the fare is normally forfeited in full, and later flights on the same ticket may be cancelled automatically by the airline.

Unused government taxes and airport charges may sometimes be recovered after a no-show, subject to the airline’s rules and our service fee, and only if you claim within the time allowed.

Partly used tickets are refunded, if at all, according to the Fare Rules and the portion that is unused.

A change of date, time, route or traveller name is subject to the Fare Rules, to availability, and to any fare difference, airline change fee and our service fee, all of which you must pay before the change is made.

Some fares do not permit changes. Names generally cannot be transferred to another person.

If a change is requested and later cannot be completed, the original Booking may remain subject to the original Fare Rules.

Hotels, car rental, insurance, visa assistance, holiday packages and other non-flight services are subject to the cancellation and refund conditions of the relevant Supplier, which we will make available at the time of Booking.

Visa application fees, embassy and consular fees, insurance premiums once cover has started, and fees for services that we have already performed are generally non-refundable.

If you have not paid for a Booking, no refund is due. A held Booking will lapse when the hold period expires, or you may ask us to cancel it, without charge by us, although the Supplier’s rules continue to apply.

If you are charged twice for the same Booking, or if you are charged but no Booking is confirmed, please contact us promptly with proof of payment. After verifying the transaction, we will refund the duplicate or unapplied amount in full, to the method of payment used.

Where we cancel a Booking because of an error, a Supplier decision, or a pricing or availability mistake, we will refund the full amount you paid for it.

Please contact us before disputing a charge with your bank or card issuer so that we can try to resolve the matter quickly.

If you file a chargeback for a Booking that has been used, or for an amount that we have already refunded, we may dispute it, may suspend your account, and may recover the amount and any related costs from you.

We aim to deal with every cancellation and refund request fairly, transparently and as quickly as the airline and payment systems allow. Because we arrange travel on behalf of airlines and other Suppliers, we can usually return only the money that the Supplier releases to us and that our own agreement with you allows.

For this reason, each request is considered on its own facts, and the outcome depends on the fare you bought, the ticket status, how much of the journey has been used, the time at which you cancelled, and the reason for cancellation.

Nothing in this Refund Policy is an admission that any amount is owed. A refund becomes payable only when it has been approved and processed in accordance with this policy.

Airline fares usually set deadlines for cancelling, changing and claiming refunds, which may depend on the time before departure. These deadlines can be short, for example some fares must be cancelled a set number of hours before departure.

An airline ticket is normally valid for a limited period, often one year from the date it was issued, unless the fare says otherwise. A refund request for an unused ticket should be made well within that validity period, as airlines may refuse requests made after it has expired.

We cannot extend the deadlines set by Suppliers. A request that is made after the deadline may be declined, or accepted only for amounts that the Supplier agrees to release.

Where a ticket was bought with a cancellation window that the airline offers as part of its own policy or the law of the country concerned, that window applies only if and to the extent that it is actually provided by the airline or required by law. We do not offer a separate free-cancellation period of our own unless we say so in writing at the time of booking.

Where a booking includes several passengers, a request to cancel for some passengers only is treated as a partial cancellation. It may not be possible for some fares, and cancelling one passenger may change the fare or conditions that apply to the others, for which you will be responsible.

Where a booking includes several flights, such as a return journey or an itinerary with connections, cancelling one part may cancel the whole ticket, or may cause the airline to reprice or cancel the remaining flights. Please ask us before you cancel any part of a multi-flight booking.

A refund for a partly used ticket is calculated according to the Fare Rules, and may involve recalculating the fare for the part of the journey that has been flown at the applicable one-way or published fare, which can reduce or remove any refund.

A ticket price is made up of the base fare, government taxes, airport charges and airline surcharges. Airlines treat these components differently when a ticket is cancelled.

Where a fare is non-refundable, certain taxes and charges that relate to services not used, such as airport departure charges for a flight not taken, may still be refundable by the airline or the authority concerned. Whether this is possible depends on the airline, the country and the fare.

Where such amounts are refundable, they are usually returned after the airline has processed the request, which may take longer than the processing of the main fare. We will pass them on to you, less any applicable service fee.

Charges for extras such as seat selection, additional baggage, meals, priority boarding, lounge access and travel insurance are normally non-refundable once purchased, unless the airline or provider says otherwise or the extra was not provided because of the airline’s fault.

Where an airline cancels a flight and allows a refund of ancillary charges, we will pass on any amount that it releases for your booking.

Some airlines and Suppliers may consider waiving penalties or granting a refund or credit in exceptional circumstances, such as the death or serious illness of a passenger or close relative, or a medical condition that prevents travel. This is always at the Supplier’s discretion, and it usually requires supporting documents, such as a medical certificate or a death certificate.

If you want to ask for this, tell us as soon as possible and give us the documents. We will pass your request to the Supplier but we cannot guarantee a waiver. We will tell you of the Supplier’s decision.

Personal reasons such as a change of mind, a change of plans, a missed connection that is your own responsibility, or a refusal of a visa are generally not grounds for a refund of a non-refundable fare.

If the name or another detail on a ticket is wrong because of an error in the information that you gave us, the airline may charge a correction fee, or may require you to cancel and rebook, in which case the Fare Rules apply and a refund may not be available. We will help you to deal with the airline, but we cannot be responsible for the cost of the correction or for fares that are lost.

Where the error was ours, we will take responsibility for correcting it, or for reasonable correction costs, to the extent provided in our Terms of Service.

To process a refund we may ask you to provide:

• your booking reference and the names of the passengers;
• proof of identity and proof that you are the person who made the booking or are authorised to act for them;
• proof of payment, such as a receipt or bank statement entry;
• where relevant, supporting documents such as an airline notice of cancellation, a medical certificate or other evidence; and
• details of the account to which a refund can be paid, where the original payment method is not available.

We may delay or decline a refund until we have received the information that we need, and we will not pay a refund to a person whose entitlement we cannot verify.

A refund case normally moves through the following stages: the cancellation is received and a case is opened; our team reviews the case; the refund is approved, with the amount and any deductions, or declined with a reason; and, if approved, the refund is processed and paid. Once it has been paid, the booking is recorded as refunded.

You may ask us for the current status of your refund at any time by contacting us with your booking reference. We will give you the stage reached and, where we can, an estimate of the time remaining.

Where an airline requires us to wait for it to process the refund, we will not be able to speed up its decision, but we will follow up where appropriate.

If we decline a request, we will give you the reason in writing. Common reasons include that the fare is non-refundable under the Fare Rules, that the cancellation deadline has passed, that the ticket has been used or has expired, or that a Supplier has refused.

If you disagree with our decision, you may ask us to review it, and you may give us any additional information that you think is relevant. We will reconsider the case in good faith, but we cannot refund an amount that a Supplier has lawfully retained.

If you are unhappy with the way that your refund has been handled, please contact us in writing, give your booking reference and explain the problem. We will acknowledge your complaint, investigate it, and reply within a reasonable time.

This does not affect any right you may have to pursue your claim against us or a Supplier, or to refer a dispute to the competent authority or court, in accordance with our Terms of Service.

Our service fees and any taxes charged on them are described at the time of booking. Unless the law says otherwise or we agree in writing, service fees are earned when we provide the service and are not refundable, even where the underlying fare is refunded in whole or in part.

Where we choose, at our discretion, to waive or refund a service fee, this does not create a right to the same treatment in any other case.

This Refund Policy is part of our Terms of Service. If there is any conflict between them on a matter of refunds, this Refund Policy prevails.

If any part of this policy is found to be unenforceable, the remainder continues in effect. Where this policy is translated, the English version prevails to the extent permitted by law.

We may update this Refund Policy from time to time. The version in force at the time you make a Booking governs that Booking.

To request a cancellation or refund, or to ask about one, contact us with your booking reference:

Tifa Travels & Tours
31 Oba Akran Ave, Ikeja, Lagos 100282, Nigeria
Email: support@tifatravels.com
Telephone: +234 201 629 0064