Your rights over your data

We need your order number and the email address the order was placed with. If they match, we email a link to that address, and the request only goes ahead when somebody opens it. The link lasts an hour.

We do it this way because the alternative is worse than inconvenient. An order number is six characters. If we acted on a request without checking, anyone who guessed one could obtain a stranger's passport name, their travel plans and their documents — or have all of it erased. Sending the link to the address already on the order means only the person who can read that mailbox can go further.

It proves you control the address. It does not prove who you are, and we would rather say so than imply a check we do not make.

We answer within 7 days. Most of these are immediate — the link does the work.

Everything on your order, decrypted and readable: your name, email and phone, every traveller's name as we hold it, your travel dates and cities, the bookings made for you and their references, who we shared your data with and why, and when your consent was recorded.

You can correct your email address and your phone number at any time.

A traveller's name can only be corrected before the booking is made. Once the airline or the hotel holds a reservation, the name on it is theirs, not ours — and we do not re-book a reservation to change it. A name corrected in our records but not with the supplier would be worse than one you know is wrong, because you would believe it was fixed. If a name is wrong on a booked order, tell us and we will cancel and refund it so you can order again with the right one.

We erase your personal details automatically 180 days after your order is delivered or cancelled. You can ask us to do it sooner and we will do it immediately.

There are two moments when we will ask you to wait, and say why:

• While we are making your booking. Between your payment and the documents arriving, the traveller names are the only way we can place the reservation. Erasing them would mean we had your money and no way to deliver. Ask us to cancel and refund instead, and we will erase everything as soon as that is done.
• While a hotel booking is still live. We hold the reservation until its free-cancellation deadline so you are never charged, and we need the booking record until the hotel confirms the cancellation. Otherwise a charge could appear that neither of us can trace. We erase everything once it is cancelled.

Your payment record survives erasure in both cases, because tax law requires it. It contains the amount, the date and the gateway's reference — not your passport name.

You can nominate another person to exercise these rights on your behalf, as the Act allows — useful if you are unwell, travelling, or would simply rather somebody else handled it. Verify a request first and you can add a nominee on the page the link takes you to.

Our grievance officer is Nirmal Singh, at grievance@visareserve.com. You can raise a grievance here.

You can also complain to the Data Protection Board of India directly. You do not have to come through us first, and you do not need our permission.