An Act of God is a legal term for natural events outside human control — earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, severe storms — that may excuse a party from performing under a contract. It typically appears alongside or inside broader force-majeure clauses in travel terms and conditions and can affect what payments are refunded, what cancellation fees apply and whether insurance or supplier protection covers the disruption. The definition varies by jurisdiction, so identical wording can produce different outcomes in different countries.
Travel payments glossary
Act of God
A clause for events outside human control, often referenced in travel cancellation and payment terms.
Why it matters in travel
Travel sits squarely in the path of these events: volcanic ash clouds grounding flights, hurricanes closing destinations, wildfires interrupting tours. An Act of God in the terms can determine whether a customer gets a refund, a credit, a rebook or nothing, and how supplier commitments already paid out are treated. Finance teams often need to pull payment, refund and supplier-payment evidence quickly to support insurance claims or chargeback responses.
When an Act-of-God event hits, the speed of response is the difference between an orderly customer-care response and a chargeback wave. Customers locked in airports want answers, not legal exegesis. Finance teams need to know within hours how much customer money is on the line, how much supplier money has already moved and what the protection regime will cover.
The travel businesses that handle disruption well have the booking-level evidence assembled before they need it, and the supplier and protection details documented term by term so the right answer is the same answer no matter which agent the customer reaches. The businesses that do not have a busy week of bespoke decisions, contradicting answers and chargebacks that survive representment because the evidence was assembled too late.
How felloh helps
felloh keeps every payment, refund and supplier movement attached to the underlying booking so an Act of God disruption does not collapse the audit trail. When a cohort of bookings is affected, the evidence needed to explain refund decisions or push back on chargebacks is one query away.
Where this shows up in compliance and protection.
Act of God touches more than one workflow at felloh. Start with the pages most travel teams reach for next.
- Compliance & Reporting
Prepare ATOL, APC, trust and audit evidence from live booking data — without a separate reporting layer.
Explore - Simplify ATOL & Trustee Reporting
Trust, escrow and protected-funds evidence drawn from the same record as the underlying payment.
Explore - Financial Protection Data
Authentication, settlement and protection evidence held against the booking for audit and regulator queries.
Explore
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Connect the dots.
See how payments, settlement, refunds and reporting evidence connect around every booking.