Frequently Asked Questions

Search, build an itinerary and run the booking flow end to end — during open beta these flows may use supplier test environments, so treat a beta confirmation as a test rather than a guaranteed commercial reservation.

Search a destination and dates from the home screen, then add flights, stays and activities to a single itinerary. You can run the whole flow, including checkout, and nothing is ever confirmed without your explicit approval. Because we are in open beta and our licensed travel provider is not contracted yet, these flows may run against supplier test environments — a beta confirmation is not a guaranteed commercial reservation, so book anything you genuinely need directly with the airline or hotel for now. Every segment is confirmable per traveller, so group members always approve their own bookings.

Updated 2026-07-31

Beta bookings can be reviewed from your trip dashboard or tickets page. Because they may be test reservations, contact support@avara.global rather than assuming a supplier will honour a change.

Open your trip dashboard or the tickets page and select the segment. During open beta these may be test reservations rather than commercial ones, so if you need something changed or cancelled, email support@avara.global and we will tell you exactly what the reservation is and what can be done with it. Once our licensed travel provider is contracted, cancellation windows, fees and refunds will be set and processed by that provider and the underlying supplier (airline, hotel, rail operator), and shown before you confirm. See our flight delay compensation guide for your statutory rights, which apply regardless of who you booked through.

Updated 2026-07-31

Invite travellers to a group trip; each person confirms their own segments, so nobody is committed by someone else.

Create or open a group trip and invite travellers by email or link. Everyone sees the same shared itinerary and adds their own plans to it, and each traveller approves their own segments — which keeps names on tickets accurate. During open beta these confirmations may be test reservations rather than commercial ones, so treat them as a rehearsal of the flow rather than a booking you can travel on.

Updated 2026-08-21

Not yet in search — each search takes one origin, one destination and an optional return. You can still assemble a multi-city trip by adding several legs to one itinerary.

Search today covers one origin, one destination and an optional return; a dedicated multi-city and open-jaw search (fly into one city, out of another) is built but not yet switched on, and it is on the near-term roadmap. In the meantime you can build the same shape of trip by adding each leg to a single itinerary, where every service is priced separately by its provider. Connection times and entry requirements are yours to check against the airline and the official government source for your nationality. See the multi-city itinerary guide for planning patterns and pitfalls.

Updated 2026-08-21

Rules vary by airline and country: minors normally need full legal name and date of birth. During open beta, treat any booking you complete as a test rather than a travel document.

Requirements differ by airline, route and country. Minors normally need their full legal name and date of birth on the reservation, some carriers allow passport and Advance Passenger Information to be added later through their manage-booking tools, and the data each country demands varies. Always check the operating airline, and never enter invented or placeholder document details — including in beta, where a booking you complete may be a test reservation rather than a commercial one. See the passports & minors booking guide.

Updated 2026-08-21

Entry requirements are yours to meet — passports, visas, transit rules and health requirements are set by the country you are entering, not by AVARA.

Passport validity, visas, transit rules and any health or vaccination requirements are set by the country you are travelling to or through, and they change. Meeting them is your responsibility — airlines can and do refuse boarding, and no booking protects you from that. Requirements are specific to your nationality, your destination, every transit point and the document you hold, so there is no single rule of thumb that works everywhere. Check the official government source for your nationality and destination, or the IATA Travel Centre, before you travel. If you save passport details with a trip, AVARA warns you at the point of planning when the document expires before your travel date or within the six months some countries require — there is no scheduled expiry reminder yet.

Updated 2026-08-21

Never AVARA. In beta, checkout runs against supplier or test systems; once our licensed travel provider is contracted, your contract will be with them or the underlying supplier.

AVARA does not sell travel and will never be the merchant of record. During open beta the booking flow is open for testing and may run against supplier test environments, which is why a beta confirmation is not a commercial contract you should rely on for travel. Once our licensed travel provider is contracted, the contract will be formed between you and that provider, or the airline, hotel or rail operator they route you to; their terms will govern the booking and they will handle payment, refunds, changes and any dispute about the travel itself. We will publish their details here before commercial booking opens. Full detail on our role and responsibility page.

Updated 2026-07-31

Commercial booking has not opened yet. Insolvency protection under EU law applies to packages and qualifying linked travel arrangements, and we will publish the exact arrangement before the first commercial booking is taken.

Under Directive (EU) 2015/2302, insolvency protection — refunds and, where relevant, repatriation — attaches to package travel and to qualifying linked travel arrangements, rather than to every standalone travel service sold. AVARA has not yet contracted a licensed travel provider, so the booking flows you can use in open beta are for testing and are not commercial sales. Once that provider is contracted we will publish here, and on our role and responsibility page, exactly which protection applies to what, the scheme involved and how to claim against it — before the first commercial booking is taken.

Updated 2026-08-21

AVARA does not sell or underwrite insurance. Cover may be offered by the travel provider or a specialist insurer at checkout; buying it is always your choice.

AVARA is not an insurance intermediary and does not underwrite or sell policies, and no insurance is offered in the beta booking flow. Once commercial booking opens, cover may be available from the travel provider or a specialist insurer under their own terms, and will never be added automatically. We recommend cover for self-connected itineraries and non-refundable bookings, since those sit outside airline duty-of-care rules. See our Terms for the full position.

Updated 2026-07-31

Never AVARA. Card details are entered into Stripe's hosted fields, not into AVARA — and during open beta checkout may run in test mode against supplier test environments.

AVARA never sees, stores or holds your raw card number or CVV: card details are entered directly into Stripe's hosted payment fields. During open beta the checkout flow is open for testing and may run in test mode, so a payment you make in beta may not be a real charge — and equally, do not enter a card you are not willing to have processed. Once our licensed travel provider is contracted they will act as the merchant of record for every travel payment, and we will publish accepted cards and regional payment methods here. Manage saved cards in Payment Methods.

Updated 2026-07-31

Nothing available on AVARA today carries an AVARA fee. Travel prices come from the supplier, and any future paid feature will be shown clearly before you commit.

Nothing available on AVARA today carries an AVARA fee — there is no subscription and no AVARA booking fee or service charge, and the beta checkout adds nothing of ours on top. Travel prices come from suppliers, and once commercial booking opens EU pricing rules require the total price, including taxes and unavoidable charges, to be shown before you commit; charges collected later by a supplier — resort fees, city or tourist taxes payable at the property, optional baggage or seat selection — are identified separately. If AVARA introduces optional or premium features with a fee in future, that fee will be disclosed clearly before you commit to it. This is the same position stated in our Terms.

Updated 2026-08-21

Log a shared expense on the Expenses page and pick who it splits across; AVARA divides it evenly between them and keeps a running balance. Settling is recorded in AVARA — money moves outside it.

Open Expenses inside a trip, add the amount and currency, and pick which group members it splits across. Splits are currently divided evenly between the people you select — custom shares and percentages are being built, so for an uneven split, log it as separate entries for now. AVARA keeps a running ledger of balances and lets you mark an amount as settled once it has been paid. AVARA does not move money: transfers happen through your own bank or payment app, and marking something settled simply records that. Downloadable expense reports are not available yet.

Updated 2026-08-21

Prices display in your account currency using an indicative mid-market rate that is fetched periodically; the source data may only update daily, and the final rate is set at checkout.

AVARA displays prices in your account currency by default and lets you switch. Display conversions use an indicative mid-market rate from a third-party exchange-rate service; we cache it for up to an hour, and the underlying free data may only be refreshed once a day, so treat it as approximate rather than a live trading rate. Once commercial booking opens, the final charge currency and rate will be set by the travel provider and shown on your confirmation, and your card issuer's own FX rate may differ again.

Updated 2026-08-21

Yes — nothing available during open beta carries an AVARA fee, and there is no subscription.

Planning, group trips, the Concierge, disruption alerts and expense tracking are all free to use, with no subscription, and nothing available during open beta carries an AVARA fee. Our intended revenue once commercial booking opens is commission paid by the travel provider and suppliers. If AVARA introduces optional or premium features with a fee in future, that fee will be disclosed clearly before you commit to it.

Updated 2026-08-21

Open Group Trips, invite members by email or link; each person adds their own segments to a shared timeline.

Open Group Trips, name the trip, and send email or share-link invites. Members add their own flights and stays to the shared timeline so everyone sees who's arriving when and from where. See the group trip booking guide for playbooks.

Updated 2026-07-29

Yes — every traveller can depart from a different city and add their own legs to the shared trip, so the group can see who is arriving when.

AVARA supports fully asymmetric group trips: each traveller picks their own origin and travel mode and adds those legs to the shared group trip. Everyone sees the same plan, so the group can work out who lands when and agree a meeting point without a spreadsheet. A single side-by-side arrival board comparing every traveller's route is still being built — today the legs appear on the shared trip as members add them.

Updated 2026-08-21

Only the organiser can remove members and edit the shared trip; other members contribute to the plan without those controls.

The trip organiser manages the roster — sending and revoking invitations, and removing members — and can edit the shared trip and its schedule. Removing a member is restricted to the organiser role. Everyone else can view the trip, take part in the group chat and add their own plans. Roles only govern coordination inside AVARA: each traveller approves their own segments, so no role can book or pay on someone else's behalf.

Updated 2026-08-21

Not yet — group itineraries live in the shared trip view, and PDF export, read-only share links and calendar subscription are still being built.

Everyone you invite to a group trip sees the same shared plan inside AVARA, which is how the group stays aligned today. Exporting that plan as a PDF, sharing a read-only link with someone outside the trip, or subscribing it to Google, Apple or Outlook Calendar is not available yet — we would rather say so than promise it. Individual trip itineraries can be added to your calendar from the itinerary view. Tell us what you need most at support@avara.global.

Updated 2026-08-21

Circles are your private groups, Events are gatherings you host or join, and messaging keeps the conversation with your people in one calm place. Events are private unless the host publishes them.

A Circle is a hand-picked private group — family, sailing crew, a work team — that you plan with over time. Events let you host or join a gathering, invite your Circle and track who is coming. Messages keeps the conversation attached to the trip or event instead of scattered across chat apps. Circles, trips and messages are private to the people in them. Events are private by default, but a host can choose to publish one — published events appear in the Public Events and Discover tabs for other members to find, so only publish when you want to be found.

Updated 2026-08-21

AVARA shows the disruption on your trip and helps you work through the alternatives — you decide what happens, and any rebooking is completed by the airline or travel provider.

When a cancellation is recorded against your trip, AVARA surfaces it on your trip dashboard and can notify you by push and email; alert timing depends on when the airline publishes the change. From there the Concierge helps you compare alternative routes against your original plan and budget. Nothing is rebooked without your approval, and the rebooking itself is carried out by the airline or, once commercial booking opens, our travel provider. See the full flight cancelled playbook.

Updated 2026-08-21

You may be entitled to €250–€600 under EU261 on covered flights delayed 3+ hours at arrival; eligibility depends on route, operating carrier, notice and the cause.

EU Regulation 261/2004 covers flights departing the EU, and flights arriving in the EU on an EU carrier. Where it applies, compensation of €250–€600 by distance may be due for delays of 3 or more hours at arrival, unless the airline shows "extraordinary circumstances". Whether you qualify depends on the route, the operating carrier, the notice you were given and the actual arrival delay. The US, UK, Canada and Brazil have their own separate rules. The flight delay compensation guide breaks down each region; an in-app eligibility calculator is planned, not live.

Updated 2026-08-21

On a single ticket the operating carrier is normally responsible for getting you to your destination; on two separate tickets you usually are. AVARA helps you tell which case you are in.

If both legs are on one ticket, the operating carrier is normally responsible for rerouting you, and under EU261 assistance such as meals or accommodation can apply where the regulation covers your flight. If you self-connected on two separate tickets, the second airline has no obligation to you and travel insurance is usually your route to recovery. Duty-of-care entitlements differ sharply by jurisdiction — in the US there is no general federal right to meals or hotels for ordinary delays; what you get depends on the airline's own published commitments. See the missed connection playbook.

Updated 2026-08-21

Report it at the airport and get a Property Irregularity Report reference, keep every receipt, and submit a written claim within the deadlines. Montreal Convention liability is capped at 1,519 SDR (approx €1,780) for covered international carriage.

Report the loss before you leave the airport and get a PIR (Property Irregularity Report) reference — it is the evidence your claim rests on, and reporting late makes a claim much harder to pursue. Keep receipts for reasonable interim purchases; what an airline reimburses varies by carrier and is not governed by a universal daily cap. You must then submit the airline's written claim within the applicable deadline (for damage, 7 days from receipt; for delay, 21 days). Liability for covered international carriage is limited to 1,519 SDR (approximately €1,780). The lost luggage playbook has the full checklist by airline.

Updated 2026-08-21

On covered EU rail journeys, a delay or cancellation expected to exceed 60 minutes normally gives you the choice of a refund or rerouting, plus assistance where it is physically possible.

Under Regulation (EU) 2021/782, where your journey is covered and the delay or cancellation is expected to exceed 60 minutes, you can normally choose between reimbursement and continuing or rerouting to your destination at the earliest opportunity. Assistance — meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time, and accommodation where an overnight stay is necessary — applies where it is physically possible to provide it. Assistance is separate from delay compensation, and strike circumstances can affect what compensation is payable. See the European train strike playbook for country-specific procedures.

Updated 2026-08-21

One-tap emergency contact alert, live location sharing, crisis check-ins (I'm Safe / Need Help), and emergency numbers — the local number where we hold it, otherwise the regional default.

The Emergency Hub gives you one-tap access to your emergency contacts, live GPS sharing (auto-expires after 72 hours), crisis check-ins, and emergency service numbers. Our number coverage is still limited: where we hold verified numbers for your country we show them, and otherwise we fall back to 112, which works across the EU and in many other countries but not everywhere — always confirm the local number for where you are travelling. Alerts, location sharing and the number lookup all need a connection; in a genuine emergency without signal, dial the local number directly. Save the numbers you may need before you travel.

Updated 2026-08-21

Add trusted contacts in Settings → Emergency Contacts. Contacts with an email address are alerted by email and in-app; a phone number alone is stored for you to call, because SMS delivery is not enabled yet.

Open Settings then Emergency Contacts and add the people you trust, with their name, relationship, and a phone number or email address. Only contacts with an email address are alerted automatically when you press the emergency button — they receive your name, status and a live location link by email and in-app. SMS is not enabled yet, so a contact saved with a phone number only will not be alerted automatically; that number is there for you or a responder to call. Add an email address for anyone you want notified automatically.

Updated 2026-08-21

Only your named emergency contacts or explicitly-invited group trip members; live location auto-expires after 72 hours and can be revoked instantly.

Live location is off by default. When you enable it — either by triggering emergency mode or opting in for a group trip — only the specific people you name can see it, for a maximum of 72 hours. Location history is deleted after 72 hours and never sold. See our Privacy Policy for the full data handling.

Updated 2026-07-29

Settings → Account → Delete Account submits a deletion request. Your data is held for a 90-day recovery window, then deleted or anonymised; some records are kept where the law requires.

Open Settings, then Account, then Delete Account. This submits a deletion request rather than deleting instantly: your account is closed, and your data is retained for 90 days so the account can be recovered if you change your mind or the request was a mistake. After that window it is deleted or anonymised across your profile, trips, messages and expenses, satisfying GDPR Article 17. Some records are kept longer where the law requires it — for example tax and accounting records held by a payment or travel provider. The full retention detail is in our Privacy Policy; email support@avara.global with questions about scope.

Updated 2026-08-21

Data is encrypted in transit and access is scoped by row-level security in the database. We never sell your data.

All traffic uses TLS 1.2+, and the database enforces row-level security so accounts read only their own rows. We never sell personal data. Commercial booking has not opened yet; when it does, the details you confirm will be shared with the party that completes the booking, and we will publish here exactly who that is and the data-protection role they hold before the first commercial booking is taken. Full detail in our Privacy Policy and Security & Privacy guide.

Updated 2026-08-21

The Concierge remembers the preferences and trip context you share so its suggestions improve. You can view, pause, export or clear that memory at any time.

Over time the Concierge builds a picture of how you like to travel — pace, budget, food, seat and room preferences, places you have loved. You stay in control: open Concierge memory settings to see everything that is remembered, pause learning with a single toggle, download a copy of that memory as its own file, or clear it entirely. Clearing memory does not delete your trips, and the Concierge never stores card details.

Updated 2026-08-21

Use "Forgot password" on the sign-in screen to get a secure reset link by email; if the email never arrives, check spam and then contact support.

On the sign-in screen choose "Forgot password" and enter the email you signed up with. We send a reset link to that address; open it promptly, as reset links are time-limited. If it does not arrive, check your spam folder and confirm you are using the same address (including any Google or Apple sign-in you may have used originally). Still stuck? Email support@avara.global and we will verify you and restore access.

Updated 2026-08-21

Use a password you have not used elsewhere, and secure the email account behind it — that is the reset path for everything.

Sign-in uses your password or a secure link sent to your email, which makes your email account the key to everything else. Secure that first, ideally with two-factor authentication at your email provider, and use a password for AVARA that you have not reused anywhere. If you think someone else has access to your account, change your password immediately and email support@avara.global — we can lock the account while you sort it out. AVARA will never ask you for your password, and will never ask for card details by email or chat.

Updated 2026-07-31

You need to be 16 or over to hold an AVARA account. Younger travellers are welcome on a trip — they just cannot be the account holder.

AVARA accounts are for people aged 16 and over. Younger travellers are very welcome on a trip: add them as travellers on an itinerary or as members of a group trip, with the account and any confirmation held by someone 16 or older. If you believe an account has been created by someone under 16, tell us at support@avara.global and we will remove it. Full detail is in our Privacy Policy.

Updated 2026-07-31

Essential cookies keep you signed in; analytics, functional and marketing cookies stay off unless you allow them, and you can change your choice from the cookie banner.

You decide what we store beyond the essentials. Essential cookies keep you signed in and remember your currency, and cannot be switched off. Analytics, functional and marketing categories stay off until you allow them. You can change your mind at any time by reopening the cookie banner and choosing Cookie Preferences — withdrawing consent is as easy as giving it and takes effect immediately. If the banner is not showing, email support@avara.global and we will reset your choices for you. What each category does, and how long each cookie lasts, is set out in our Cookie Policy.

Updated 2026-07-31

Email support@avara.global first — if we cannot settle it, consumers in Sweden can refer the matter to ARN, the National Board for Consumer Disputes, which charges a SEK 150 filing fee.

Start with support@avara.global, or Submit Feedback in the menu. Tell us what happened and what outcome you are looking for — we aim to respond within five working days. If we cannot reach a resolution you are happy with, consumers in Sweden can refer the matter to Allmänna reklamationsnämnden (ARN), the National Board for Consumer Disputes, at arn.se. ARN requires you to have complained to the business first, charges a SEK 150 filing fee and applies its own eligibility rules and value thresholds. Consumers elsewhere in the EU can contact their national consumer body or their nearest European Consumer Centre. Complaints about a booking itself — refunds, changes, service on the day — sit with the travel provider under their terms, and we will point you to the right place.

Updated 2026-08-21

Anyone can create an account and plan with AVARA; the interface is English only and prices display in one of 20 supported currencies.

Accounts are open worldwide during open beta and you can plan a trip to any destination we hold content for. The interface is in English, with further languages in progress. Prices display in one of 20 supported currencies — USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD, CAD, CHF, CNY, SEK, NOK, DKK, NZD, SGD, HKD, KRW, MXN, INR, BRL, ZAR and THB — using an indicative mid-market rate. Commercial booking has not opened yet; when it does, availability of specific flights, stays and payment methods will depend on the provider and your location.

Updated 2026-08-21

Barely — a page you already have open keeps working, but opening a new page needs a connection, and search, expenses, the Concierge and emergency features all need one too.

AVARA is not an offline app. A page you already have open stays usable, and previously downloaded images and files load from cache, but navigating to a new page goes to the network first and shows an offline page if there is no signal — so do not count on opening your tickets or a destination guide for the first time while offline. Everything that reads live data needs a connection: search, the Concierge, expenses, emergency alerts and the emergency-number lookup, which the Emergency Hub states on screen when you are offline. Before a long flight or a remote leg, take screenshots or PDFs of your tickets and save any emergency numbers separately.

Updated 2026-08-21

AVARA targets WCAG 2.1 AA: keyboard navigation, screen-reader labels and readable contrast, plus accessibility preferences that travel with your bookings.

We are building towards WCAG 2.1 AA. Keyboard navigation, semantic landmarks and screen-reader labels are in place, and colour contrast is actively being improved — some areas do not meet AA yet, and we would rather say so than claim otherwise. Display and interaction preferences live in Settings → Accessibility, and travel needs such as step-free access, airport assistance or dietary requirements go in Settings → Travel Preferences so they can be carried into requests to suppliers. Read our Accessibility Statement, and tell us anything we have missed at support@avara.global.

Updated 2026-07-31

Profile holds your name, photo and contact details; travel style, dietary needs and accessibility requirements live in Settings → Travel Preferences and Settings → Accessibility.

Open Profile from the menu for your name, photo, contact details, identification and emergency contacts. Travel style, seat and meal defaults, airline preferences and dietary needs are in Settings → Travel Preferences, and display and accessibility requirements are in Settings → Accessibility. The Concierge uses these preferences to personalise its suggestions.

Updated 2026-07-29

Yes — Settings → Privacy → Export My Data downloads a JSON file immediately, covering your profile, trips, bookings, expenses, messages, contacts, preferences and settings. Email support@avara.global if you need anything beyond that.

Go to Settings → Privacy → Export My Data. The download starts immediately — no waiting period and no email step — and the JSON file contains your profile, privacy settings, trips, bookings, expenses, emergency contacts, messages you have sent, travel preferences, accessibility settings, the last 30 days of location history and your 100 most recent activity log entries. Older location history and activity logs are trimmed for privacy reasons rather than withheld. If you need anything outside that scope, email support@avara.global and we will compile it within the one-month window GDPR Articles 15 and 12(3) require.

Updated 2026-08-21

Anyone can join without an invitation. Planning, group trips, messaging, expenses and the Concierge are usable today, and the booking flow is open for testing — but a beta booking is not a guaranteed commercial reservation.

Open beta means no waiting list and no approval — you can create an account and start planning today. Planning, group trips, messaging, expenses and the Concierge are available to use. The booking and checkout flows are also open so you can test them end to end, but we have not contracted our licensed travel provider yet and these flows may run against supplier test environments — so do not rely on a beta booking for travel you actually need; book anything essential directly with the airline or hotel. Disruption features depend on data from airlines and providers and are still being proven end to end. Expect rough edges, and expect us to say when something is early rather than let you find out mid-trip.

Updated 2026-08-21

Yes — your account, trips, Circles, expenses and preferences carry over. Beta is not a sandbox and nothing is wiped when beta ends.

Your account and everything in it persists beyond beta: profile, trips, Circles, messages, expenses and Concierge preferences. Beta is not a sandbox for your data and nothing is wiped when beta ends. Bookings are the one exception to treat carefully — a reservation made in beta may be a test reservation rather than a commercial one, so it will not necessarily carry forward as a live booking. If anything about a feature has to change, we migrate your data rather than reset it, and we will tell you in advance. You can export everything at any time from Settings → Privacy.

Updated 2026-07-31

Open the menu and choose Submit Feedback to send a report from inside the app, or email support@avara.global. The Beta Testing Guide in the same menu explains what is most useful to us.

Open the side menu and choose Submit Feedback — tell us what you were doing and what you expected, so we can reproduce the issue quickly. The Beta Testing Guide, in the same menu, explains what to look for and what makes a report useful. For anything urgent, email support@avara.global. We read every report; beta feedback shapes what we build next.

Updated 2026-08-21

An AI travel companion that plans trips and answers questions in the context of your profile and current trip. It never books anything.

The Concierge draws on your profile, your current trip and AVARA's destination knowledge to draft itineraries, suggest places and answer questions in context. It does not book or pay for anything — where booking is available you always run the flow and confirm it yourself. If you need a person, email support@avara.global and we will pick it up; there is no in-chat handoff to a human yet. Concierge responses are generated by artificial intelligence and may occasionally be inaccurate, so check anything important before you rely on it.

Updated 2026-08-21

No — the Concierge is sent your profile, trips and stated preferences. Group chat content and payment details are not part of what it receives.

The Concierge is sent structured data you have chosen to share with it: profile, preferences and trip context, plus the conversation you are having with it. Your group chats are not included, and card details are never included — AVARA does not hold your raw card number, as card entry happens inside Stripe's hosted fields. You can view, pause, export or clear what the Concierge remembers from its settings at any time.

Updated 2026-08-21