All your school trip questions answered

Our customer commitment is to only quote for trips we know we can deliver. Your proposal is based on named accommodation and transport to ensure clarity and consistency from the start. We won't jeopardise your trust by presenting a seemingly low quote only to request additional funds when you're ready to book.

That being said, if your plans change whether that be your choice of excursions, travel dates or group size - your quoted price can change too. This is especially true for groups travelling by air.

Yes, rest assured the money a parent pays for their child’s school trip is safe. All Voyager School Travel packages are financially protected by either ABTOT or ATOL.

Voyager School Travel is an accredited educational trip provider and ABTA member. 

The nature of school travel is that trips are organised well in advance and so when we provide you with a quote, the flights are usually not yet available. This means that the cost of the flight in your quotation is our best estimate based on experience and cannot be guaranteed. Most times we get it right, but we do recommend that you factor in some contingency just in case. Your educational trip expert will advise you on an appropriate contingency amount for flights. If you are travelling by air, we can usually secure you a better flight deal if you provide us with the passenger list well in advance.

Your booking is confirmed once we have taken the deposit. Until then, prices are subject to change, in particular, if your booking involves flights as these are dependent on the airline.  We recommend that you confirm your booking within three to four weeks of receiving your quote to avoid disappointment. We appreciate that promoting a trip takes time and so we will work with you to help you launch the trip at the optimum time for your school and students.

Flights are subject to availability and timing changes so please bear this is mind when organising a school trip by air. We can only hold scheduled airline tickets for up to four weeks while low-cost airlines do not allow us to hold flights and so are best booked early to avoid price changes.

Payment schedules are there to help us secure the flights/transport and accommodation you have selected in time. However, we understand that each school has different needs and so we can often agree a more flexible payment schedule with you if required.

Your trip includes travel insurance unless otherwise stated. Read more about on the comprehensive travel insurance policy offered by Voyager School Travel.

If your school has their own policy in place, please let us know and we will ensure that this is reflected in your quote.

The number of students can directly affect the cost of the trip and so it is important that you reach the minimum group size stated in your quotation. If not, the price per student may increase. 

We will work with you to make the trip as affordable as possible and can provide posters,  presentations and parent letter templates to help promote your trip and maximise take-up. Read our tips on how to increase your group size and keep your trip within budget.

We will always try our hardest to accommodate a larger group but this is dependent on the availability of accommodation, flights and coaches. Adding extra students to a trip can increase the average cost per person, this is especially the case for groups travelling by air because as flights fill up airlines charge more per seat. We recommend capping your most popular trips to ensure that the price does not increase.

If you or a member of your group pulls out of the trip we may charge a cancellation fee which is dependent on the status of booking as follows:

For more information, please see our booking conditions.

Depending on the reason the trip was cancelled, you may be able to claim some or all of these cancellation charges on your group travel insurance policy. See our group travel policy for details of cancellation insurance, excess and policy conditions.

Generally speaking, we offer one free adult place for every eight paying students travelling by coach (1:8) and one free teacher for every ten students travelling by air (1:10).

But this can differ by tour and so please see your quote for the free teacher ratio for your specific trip.

We will confirm your room allocation as soon as we receive it from our centre team or your accommodation provider. This should be no later than 2-3 weeks before your group’s departure.

Safety is always our number one priority and we never compromise on it. We are an Assured Member of the School Travel Forum (STF) which means that you can be secure in the knowledge that:

• we understand and facilitate the needs of educational travel
• we have effective Safety Management Systems in place
• we offer fair terms and condition and the best financial security

Read more about our Safety Management Systems.

Yes. Our safety, insurance and risk assessment page should provide all the resources you need to plan your school trip and inform your risk assessment.

If you need extra information to carry out your own risk assessment, we can help arrange inspection visits for your trip. 

All accommodation has been vetted to ensure it is suitable for school groups and adheres to the strict rules and regulations of the School Travel Forum – the recognised benchmark for school tour providers and the awarding body for the Learning Outside the Classroom (LoTC) Quality mark. Find out more.

Voyager School Travel offers school-only language centres in Normandy and the Opal Coast where we maintain the very highest quality and safety standards for your school trip. We also have exclusive arrangements with language centres in Murcia, Andalucia & Girona Spain and the Eifel region of Germany.

Please let us know before booking your trip if anyone in your group has any special requirements or needs which might their impact their ability to participate in activities. We will do our utmost to accommodate any special requirements but we must know in advance so that we can advise on the suitability of your chosen arrangements. In rare circumstances, we may require a doctor’s certificate to confirm that members of the group are fit to participate in the trip.

We recommend that groups avoid collective passports and that students travel under their own passports where possible. You can read more about passport validity rules, EU border checks and visa requirements in our essential checklist for EU school trips.

EHICs are being replaced by GHICs. You can read about health care, passport validity and border rules in our essential guide to taking a school trip to Europe.

Students who are non-British citizens may need a visa to travel to continental Europe and British citizens may require a visa for long-haul trips.

Most countries, including European destinations, also require passports to be valid for at least 6 months after your return date. For more information on passport validity, visa rules and border checks read our essential guide to school trips to Europe.

Special conditions apply for travel to the USA, and all passengers must have individual machine-readable passports. Please check usembassy.org.uk

Though we can provide general information, it is your responsibility to check that all members of your school group fulfil the passport, visa, health and immigration requirements pertaining to your travel destination. Requirements do change and you must check the up to date position in good time before departure. Up-to-date travel advice can be obtained from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at fco.gov.uk