Ryanair credit card

[RAT 5]

Can someone with real knowledge please help.

1. RYR news announces the re-launch of RYR's MBNA credit card. Big fanfare. Available to use on our vast network of 150 routes etc. etc. I click on RYR's credit card link and see an image of a M.C in RYR's name. It is available ONLY to UK residents. RYR is an Irish based Euro currencied airline. What are they playing at? One day they are Irish, the next they offer their credit card to UK-only residents.
Is the MBNA card something different?
If you have one of either of these, are flight bookings free of charge?

2. RYR makes further fanfare, following a German court decision, about being allowed to charge credit card fees. "The German Court ruling clearly said that credit card fees are legal and can be applied as long as a widely available free payment method is offered." I presume this is their 'electron' option. For European based customers does anyone have confirmed details how to obtain this? I've tried every which way, but no success via my 4 banks. If this card is not 'widely available' then RYR's defence collapses.

Please, sensible helpful informative comments only.

[virginblue]

The usual misleading Ryanair fanfare.

The German court held that:

Ryanair can charge a credit card fee as long as it offers a widely used method of free payment. Which VISA Electron is not in Germany. So in Germany Ryanair's free method of payment is in breach of the legal requirement and the relevant part of their T&C void under German law.

Note that Ryanair now has Mastercard Prepaid as their free method of payment. MAkes no difference in Germany as neither nor is "widely used" as required by the German court.

[FR-]

1) Ryanair UK Ltd is different to Ryanair else where in europe. I mean if you walk airside in DUB you will get someone trying to sell you a Ryanair CC and its been like it for a few years now. And if you looked on Ryanairs website you would know that you still get charged a booking fee. Only way to get it free is to use a prepaid mastcard.

2)You wasting your time asking banks for a visa electron to try and not be charged. You must use a prepaid mastcard.

3) Are you some sort of reporter who cant be ars@d to do research for a biased artical, and just asks on here.

4) Ask in the Ryanair forum please.

Fr-

[davidjohnson6]

RAT 5 - consumer credit laws vary between countries. If in the past you chose to look at the UK version of the Ryanair website, then you will be deemed to be a UK resident, and thus shown the credit card advertisement for UK residents that complies with UK consumer credit law. If however you were looking at the Italian version of the website, you would likely see credit card marketing that complied with Italian law.

It is extremely unlikely that if you applied for a credit card with UK terms+conditions, but supplied an address outside the UK on the application form, that a credit card would be issued

[EI-BUD]

Ryanair offer a Visa Card via Mbna in Ireland and they offer a Mastercard in the UK which is issued by Santander UK.

And what davidjohnson6 says is correct - If you are UK resident you will get accepted in UK for Mastercard, otherwise unlikely. Same in Ireland will only get approval for Visa if resident in Ireland.

If you change the country on the main Ryanair page and follow the link to Credit card you will be taken to the appropriate offering for the appropriate country.

Clearly Ryanair would rather people pay credit card fees rather than offer no booking fees with a Ryanair credit card.

The UK Mastercard is not a prepaid one and therefor does not allow you to avoid a booking charge!

[Coquelet]

One can quite easily get a virtual card on the net, that saves the 5 euros fee at each booking.
There are many such cards available; mine is a "mywirecard.com", they take a fee of 1 euro each time I feed my account, and it has already saved me some 150 euros on Ryanair credit card fees.

[al446]

There is an easier way to avoid RYR's fees without hassle, just dont use RYR. Simples.

[ExXB]

Not certain if the German court took this into account, but EU Regulations require airlines to advertise / offer prices inclusive of all non-optional charges.

Ruling that Visa Electron (and pre-paid MC by inference) isn't a valid payment option leads me to the conclusion that FR (at least in Germany) now has to include their CC charge in their advertised prices and in their booking engine prices (and not as a final 'option'). i.e. No more 1 euro [cough] fares

Interesting - and I hope this conclusion spreads.

[EuroWings]

There is an easier way to avoid RYR's fees without hassle, just dont use RYR. Simples.

That's all fine and good. However, it is not always possible. I am no huge fan of FR, and would much rather travel 'full service' if it's viable and not too expensive.

Sometimes it is a choice between going with FR direct or using alternative methods of transport! On an upcoming quick trip to Germany (BRE) I can pay £50 to travel with FR, £210 with KL (via AMS), £220 with BA (via LHR), or £250 with LH (via FRA). I cant really afford the other three , it's a choice between the ferry/car or FR. FR anyday....

At least you know FR is generally reliable which is more than can be said for BA this summer!

Just get a prepaid mastercard to avoid fees (available worldwide). Simples.

[Chuchinchow]

Have any of you considered eschewing air travel altogether and using trains for travel between the UK and European destinations?

[ExXB]

Have any of you considered eschewing air travel altogether and using trains for travel between the UK and European destinations?

Oh what a good idea. Let's see Geneva to London:

Genève We, 26.05.10 dep 07:17 TGV 6564 Paris-Gare-de-Lyon arr 10:51

Paris-Gare-de-Lyon walk 15 min., Paris-Gare-de-Lyon RER

Paris-Gare-de-Lyon RER dep 11:26 S 29814 Paris-Nord RER arr 11:33

Paris-Nord RER transfer 40 min. Paris-Nord Eurostar

Paris-Nord Eurostar dep 12:13 EST 9027 Eurostar London St. Pancras ES arr 13:28

Duration: 7:11;

Neither the SBB/CFF or SNCF websites would quote me a price but it's likely to be sum of sector fares GVA-PAR-PAR-LON. The railroads don't know how to interline, do they.

Now Geneva airport (6 minutes by train from city centre) to London City

07:30 GVA - 08:10 LCY -- CHF 247 (all in)
plus 10 pounds for an oyster card

London City Airport DLR Station
Take Docklands Light Railway towards Bank DLR Station
Average journey time: 25 mins

Bank Underground Station
Take the Northern Line towards High Barnet
or Northern Line towards Mill Hill East
or Northern Line towards Edgware Average journey time: 9 mins

Walk to King's Cross and St Pancras Transfer time: 9 mins

Duration (aprox) 2.5 hours

[PAXboy]

Within a country, or continent, then high speed trains should be able to help but if, as in the example given by ExXB, the TGV arrives in Paris South and your local stop is in the North of the City, then you have another connection and the story changes.

Each journey will have it's own pressures. You might WANT to have a leisurely ride across Europe at ground level enjoying the scenery, or you might be a self employed person who has to get there and back as fast as possible to save time. Or just want to get home to family who would like to see you (I should be so lucky!)

[Meanexpat]

The Neteller prepaid mastercard is absolutely free and allows me to pay for RyanAir flights without card charges.
Not sure whether you have to be a UK resident. Worth checking.

Travelling by train? Yes, I'd love too:
To travel my usual 1000 miles, not only would it cost at least 10 times more, but also I 'll have to spend a night in Paris (unfortunately not included in the train ticket).

With RyanAir, it costs me about £15 each way (which is about 15 times more than it used to be, but I can still just about afford it ;o)

Just one silly question: even if I paid an extra fiver for paying or paid for a piece of luggage, it still would only cost £35. How does RyanAir manage to make money?

[Pohutu]

Just one silly question: even if I paid an extra fiver for paying or paid for a piece of luggage, it still would only cost £35. How does RyanAir manage to make money?

They make money from me, because if the flights are very cheap then I'll often book more than one flight to give myself a semi-flexible fare. Of course I don't claim a refund of the taxes that I've paid, because of the 'admin charge' :ouch:, so it's all profit for Ryanair. To be honest, I don't have a problem with this, I get a very cheap fare with a bit of flexibility, and Ryanair get to make money.

I haven't ever gone to the trouble of getting one of the fee-free cards, though - I've always assumed that the one free card would change too often to be worth bothering with.