Transfer terms

The word transfer means two things in an Umrah booking, and both belong here. The first is moving a booking - to another traveller, or to another date. The second is the vehicle that moves you between the airport, your hotels and the two cities. This page covers both.

Part one: transferring a booking

Changing the name on a booking

A hotel booking can normally be moved to a different guest up to 48 hours before arrival. Ask us as early as you can, because after that point the hotel is under no obligation to accept the change.

A flight is different. Airlines treat a name change as a new ticket far more often than not, and what your ticket allows depends on the fare it was issued in. We will tell you exactly what your ticket allows before you commit to anything, and any airline fee or fare difference is yours.

A visa cannot be transferred at all. It is issued to a named person against their own passport, and a different traveller needs a new application.

Changing dates or the shape of the journey

Any revision to a confirmed reservation is subject to availability at the time you ask, and may carry a rate difference. Prices move, so moving a booking into a busier week can cost more than the original booking did, and we will show you the new figure before anything is changed.

Ramadan bookings are non-changeable. That is the hotels' rule, not ours, and it holds for every Ramadan booking we make.

Before it is confirmed, change anything

Until a package is paid for, nothing is fixed. Tell us to change the nights, the hotels, the order of the cities or who is travelling, and we rebuild the package and send you the new document. There is no charge for rebuilding a package that has not been booked.

Rooms and special requests

Requests for smoking or non-smoking rooms, a particular view, a floor, twin beds or adjoining and interconnecting rooms are subject to availability on arrival and cannot be held in advance. Five-star hotel rooms in the Haramain are standard double bedrooms; where a triple or a quad has been booked, the extra beds are provided after check-in. Extra beds follow the hotel's own policy.

How to ask

Message us on the thread you booked in, or write to support@umrahcompanions.com with your booking reference and the change you want. What money moves when a booking changes is covered by our refund policy.

Part two: the transfers we drive

What a transfer is

A transfer is a private vehicle between two named points: the airport to your hotel, your hotel to the train station, one city's hotel to the other city's hotel. Your package document names the pickup and the dropoff for every leg, so you can see exactly what has been booked. The vehicle class is set by the size of your party and the luggage you are carrying.

What a transfer is not

A sightseeing run is not a transfer. A Ziyarah tour around Makkah or Madinah is a separate service with its own price, even when it happens to end in the other city, and we will never quote you a tour and call it a transfer.

The Haramain train

Most journeys between Makkah and Madinah run on the Haramain high-speed rail, which links Jeddah airport, Makkah and Madinah and takes roughly two to two and a half hours between the holy cities. Its luggage limits resemble airline cabin rules, so large cases travel better with a hotel transfer coach where your package includes one. Where your package includes the train, it also includes getting you to and from the stations.

Arrivals and delays

Give us your flight numbers as soon as you have them so an arrival can be met even when the flight runs late. If your flight changes after your travel pack has been issued, tell us immediately: a driver sent to the wrong time is a transfer you have paid for and will not receive.

If something goes wrong on the day

Your travel pack carries the number to call, and it is the fastest thing you can do. Do not arrange your own replacement vehicle and expect it to be reimbursed unless we have agreed to it on the call, because once you leave with another driver we can no longer recover anything from the supplier who failed you.

The paperwork that governs your booking

These terms apply alongside our terms and conditions and our refund policy, together with the specific terms printed on your travel pack. Where a supplier's terms are stricter, the supplier's terms govern that part of your journey. These terms are governed by the laws of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.