Sonas Travel

How to Book

The organisation of a school tour can be a daunting task, it’s up to us to make this as stress-free as possible for you. The following stages apply:

  1. Contact us
  2. Choose a destination
  3. Decide on dates
  4. Confirm a booking
  5. Collect deposits
  6. Pre-tour organisation
  7. It’s time to go!

1 – Contact Us

We can be contacted by phone, email or via the online contact form.

Top Tip – Start the process as far in advance as possible! By booking 9 to 12 months in advance of your departure date, it helps to avail of the lowest available flight prices, as well as sourcing the widest range of accommodation options.

2 – Choose a destination

Our brochure makes your enquiry as straight forward as possible. We offer you clear itineraries with clear prices.

If you wish to change an itinerary, or if available flight times make this necessary, we will prepare a revised itinerary and price for you. This will depend on factors such as:

  • The dates of your trip.
  • Destination.
  • The type of accommodation required.
  • How many students to bring and the number of teachers required. We offer a student:teacher ratio of 8:1 as standard – any changes to this are applied on a pro-rata basis.

3 – Decide on dates

Keep in mind – the earlier you book, the better!

Top Tip – If you can avoid the main school holidays – February mid-term, Easter (especially Easter weekend) and October mid-term – it usually makes flight bookings cheaper.

4 – Confirm a booking

Bookings are confirmed upon receipt of a first deposit and the return of a booking form.

At this stage, we require a full list of students and teachers travelling and we provide you with an easy to complete template for this. Upon receipt of same, we take out your travel insurance policy so that your group has this level of protection from the word go.

5 – Collect deposits

Schools have two ways of paying the 1st (and subsequent) deposits; through our unique DPS (Deposit Payment System) or by direct payment from the school.

DPS allows the organising teacher to:

  • Pass the burden of collecting payment – students pay directly through the online system.
  • See at a glance the amount that students have paid as well as when they paid.
  • Once we have the names, we set up the entire system for you including unique access codes for students and a separate access code for the organiser so that he/she sees the overall payment history of the group.

If the school makes their payments directly to us, it reduces our workload – so we offer a discount to the student price in recognition of that.

6 – Pre-tour organisation

Passports and Visas

You will need to provide passport details for each person travelling.

Top Tip – If you can avoid the main school holidays – February mid-term, Easter (especially Easter weekend) and October mid-term – it usually makes flight bookings cheaper.

Making sure that passports (and travel visas if applicable) are valid for the time of travel is the responsibility of the school – now is the time to get to work on this. We can provide you with a Visa Assist letter if required.

Every person travelling should also bring a EHIC card.

Special needs and requests

Any such request must be made at the time of booking. Depending on the request, it may or may not be possible to accommodate.

Changes to the booking

Changes to the booking are covered by our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Name changes may be possible if one student can be replaced by another – this will depend on the airline’s own conditions.

Late itinerary changes can be considered if the opportunity arises and that the changes are practical from an organisational point of view – for example, the opportunity of cheap tickets for a West End Show in London.

7 – It’s time to go!

Enjoy our school tour with Sonas – happiness every step of the way!

  • We will provide you with your full travel pack at least 2 weeks before you travel.
  • Top Tip – Teachers usually carry a small Contingency Fund for the unexpected items that crop up. We can help you with this by factoring it into your payment plan.
  • We are available 24/7 for emergency support while you’re away.
  • Bain taitneamh agus Sonas as!
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