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Land Only or Flights Included: Which Price Is That?

2026-11-04 · TourFax editorial team

Land Only or Flights Included: Which Price Is That?

Photo: Martin St-Amant (CC BY-SA 3.0)

A package tour almost always advertises a land price. The flight to the start point is a separate purchase with its own deposit, its own cancellation rules and, in the United Kingdom, its own financial protection scheme.

This guide reads the published booking conditions of G Adventures, Intrepid Travel, Exodus Adventure Travels, Explore Worldwide and Trafalgar, checked November 1, 2026, and sets out what the headline figure actually covers.

The headline price is the land price unless the page says otherwise

G Adventures states it plainly. Clause 11 of its USA booking terms reads: "Tour prices do not include international or other airfare unless expressly mentioned in the Tour's descriptions."

Trafalgar's US booking conditions carry a list of what the trip price excludes. The first item is "airfares to and from your destination, air-related taxes and fees (except where specified)", together with checked and excess baggage charges and seat selections.

Exodus arranges international airfares only on request, and its conditions say it does so "as agent for the relevant airline/carrier" while accepting "no responsibility, liability or otherwise with regards to such carriage."

Three operators, three wordings, one arrangement. The tour is theirs. The flight belongs to the airline and is sold to you through them.

Adding a flight changes the deposit, not just the total

This is the part that catches people out. Putting air on the booking can convert a partly recoverable deposit into a non-refundable one on the day you book.

Trafalgar's flight section states that "Air-inclusive bookings and some intra-trip flights require an additional non-refundable deposit at time of booking which may be up to 100%."

Its air change clause goes further. After that deposit is received, any change incurs a service fee on top of airline penalties, and "Airline imposed penalties may be up to 100% of the air ticket price."

Exodus is equally blunt. Clause 3.1.4 says that unless otherwise stated, "airline tickets are 100% non-changeable and non-refundable once tickets have been issued."

The practical consequence is that the land deposit and the air deposit run on two separate clocks. Our note on the deposit and balance timeline covers the land side.

One operator will not sell you the flight on its own

Trafalgar's conditions state that "Airfare must be booked in conjunction with a land or cruise package and cannot be purchased as a standalone product."

Worth knowing before you set a flight-inclusive quote against a cheaper fare you found yourself. With Trafalgar the choice is its package fare or your own booking, not a blend of the two.

Land only and flight-inclusive are protected by different schemes in the UK

Explore Worldwide's booking conditions show the split in one place. It holds an Air Travel Organiser's Licence issued by the Civil Aviation Authority, ATOL number 2595, covering ATOL protected flights and flight-inclusive holidays.

For its non-flight packages the protection comes from a different body. The conditions name the Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited, providing cover under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.

Same operator, same trip list, two insolvency regimes, decided by whether you bought the flight from them. A land-only booking with Explore is not inside ATOL.

The conditions add one more limit: bookings made outside the EU are only protected by that scheme when purchased directly with Explore Worldwide Ltd.

Flights inside the itinerary are a third category

Internal flights are usually part of the land price. Trafalgar's inclusion list describes transport "By air-conditioned luxury motorcoaches, minibus or 4x4 vehicles, trains, cruises, ferries and intra-trip flights including light aircraft as described in the respective itinerary."

That matters when comparing prices. Two trips that read almost identically can differ by one internal flight, and that single line explains a gap of several hundred dollars.

Our guide to two itineraries that look the same sets out the other lines worth lining up side by side.

When the operator changes the trip, the refund is usually land only

Both large small-group operators cap the refund at the land portion when they make a significant change before departure.

Intrepid's clause 17 offers three choices, one of which is "obtaining a refund of money paid on the land portion of the trip only."

G Adventures' material change remedies include the option to "cancel the amended product or service and receive a full refund for the land-only portion of the applicable product or service."

Intrepid's conditions also state that the operator is not responsible for incidental expenses including visas, vaccinations, travel insurance excess or non-refundable flights.

Credits it issues carry the same boundary: they "may not be used to book flights or insurance as they will have their own booking conditions."

This is why the departure guarantee gives less comfort than the badge suggests. Our reading of what a guaranteed departure guarantees goes through the carve-outs.

Five things to check before comparing two quotes

  • Is the headline figure a land price? G Adventures and Trafalgar both state in their conditions that airfare to the destination is excluded unless named in the trip description.
  • What is the air deposit, and is any of it recoverable? Trafalgar allows for an additional non-refundable air deposit of up to 100 percent at the time of booking.
  • Are internal flights inside the itinerary price or sold as an add-on? Trafalgar lists intra-trip flights among included transport; other operators vary by trip.
  • Which insolvency scheme applies? With Explore Worldwide a flight-inclusive booking sits under ATOL 2595 and a non-flight package sits under ABTOT instead.
  • Is a change refund limited to the land portion? Intrepid and G Adventures both say so in writing, which leaves a separately bought fare unprotected.
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The gap is widest on long-haul trips

On a two-week trip to Peru or Japan the intercontinental fare can be the single largest line in the budget, and it is the line the operator's terms protect least.

That asymmetry is the reason the operators keep repeating the same sentence about non-refundable flights. It is not boilerplate. It is where the risk sits.

If the dates are not firm, the cheaper flexible fare can be worth more than the saving on a restricted one, because the land cancellation scale is already moving against you. Our note on when cancellation fees jump shows how fast.

Bottom line

A land price and a flight-inclusive price are two products with two risk profiles. The second costs more, is harder to change, and in the UK is the better protected of the two if the operator fails.

Price them separately before you decide, and read the air clause before the cancellation table. Our comparison of a package against doing it yourself covers the wider trade-off.

Where you buy also changes the paperwork. Our note on booking direct against a marketplace explains which set of conditions governs the booking.

Kyoto package checklist

Sources