Liftbrief / Do-it-yourself game plans
Stage 6: What should you negotiate before signing?
Negotiate the consequences of change, not just the base price. Ask counsel to review material provisions against the actual mission and your organisation’s risk tolerance.
Use this proposed contract-review table:
| Clause | Buyer question | Evidence or revision to seek |
|---|---|---|
| Contract formation | When does the commitment become binding? | Clear acceptance, funding and confirmation sequence |
| Price adjustments | Which charges can change after signature? | Defined mechanism, notice and approval process |
| Customer cancellation | What triggers each penalty? | Dated schedule covering signing, departure and peak periods |
| Itinerary changes | Does changing time, airport or passenger count trigger repricing? | Written change procedure |
| Aircraft substitution | What is an acceptable replacement? | Minimum capability and notification/acceptance process |
| Mechanical disruption | Who sources replacement lift and pays the difference? | Defined obligation, exclusions and financial limits |
| Weather or restrictions | Is the remedy delay, refund, credit or alternative travel? | Explicit treatment of each event |
| Refunds | Who owes the money and when? | Payment method, deadline and treatment of unused services |
| Liability and indemnities | Which losses are excluded or transferred? | Legal and insurance review |
| Document precedence | Which document wins if terms conflict? | Agreed hierarchy of quote, contract and schedules |
Why is a refund not the same thing as recovery?
A refund returns money; recovery gets the passengers to their destination. As a concrete contractual example, Aircraft Charter’s published terms contemplate replacement transportation at additional customer cost and, in specified circumstances, a refund instead. Its empty-leg clause makes performance dependent on another flight and limits the stated remedy to returning the charter price if that underlying flight is cancelled. These are that supplier’s published provisions, not universal market terms. (aircraftcharter.com)
Ask two separate questions:
- Service obligation: What will the supplier actually do when the original aircraft cannot operate?
- Financial obligation: What amount, if any, will it absorb?
How should you plan fixed-deadline travel and empty legs?
For a fixture, performance, board meeting or other immovable deadline, build a fallback before booking:
- Establish the latest acceptable arrival at the event—not merely at the airport.
- Calculate a decision deadline for switching to the fallback.
- Identify an earlier departure, alternative airport, commercial itinerary or road option.
- Obtain a replacement-lift estimate where possible, labelled non-binding unless contracted.
- Pre-authorise who may approve additional expenditure and up to what amount.
- Record whether the fallback is actually reserved or only researched.
Our recommendation is not to use a contingent empty leg as the sole plan for a mission whose failure is unacceptable. A second brochure or an unreserved airline search result is not a secured backup.
Stage gate: the approver accepts the cancellation and disruption exposure consciously, rather than discovering it after a breakdown.