(a) For the purposes of this section, “major change” means any of the following:

(1) A change in the departure or return date shown in the operator-participant contract, (or, if the contract states alternative dates, the date designated to the participant by the charter operator in accordance with §380.33a(b)), unless the change results from a flight delay. In any event, however, a date change that the operator knows of more than 2 days before the scheduled flight date, and any delay of more than 48 hours, will be considered a major change.

(2) A change in the origin or destination city shown in the operator-participant contract for any flight leg (or, if the contract states alternative cities, the city designated to the participant by the operator in accordance with §380.33a(b)), unless the change affects only the order in which cities named in a tour package are visited.

(3) A substitution of any hotel that is not named in the operator-participant contract; and

(4) A price increase to the participant that occurs 10 or more days before departure and results in an aggregate price increase of more than 10 percent.

(b) The charter operator shall not increase the price to any participant less than 10 days before departure.

(c) The charter operator shall notify all participants of major changes, as required by the operator-participant contracts. This notification shall include the participants' rights to refunds required to be described in the operator-participant contract. The operator shall, if applicable, also notify the participants that the acceptance of a refund constitutes a waiver of their legal rights.

(d) Except as otherwise specified, notifications and refunds required by this part are considered made at the time they are mailed or sent by an equivalent method.

(e) The charter operator shall make all refunds required to be described in the operator-participant contract within the time limits set forth in paragraphs (k), (n), (r), and (s) of §380.32, as applicable.