New Ryanair Credit Card Charges

[egnxema]

This will come as no surprise, given the FR are looking for ways to increase profits this year.

As of 0600 this morning FR are charging a new handling fee for customers purchasing fares on the internet with a credit card.

The charge is £1.75 per person per sector.

So family of 4 flying STN CIA return will have to pay a stonking £14.00 credit card fee.

Granted, if their airfare is low enough, the overall price is still low, but considering that yesterday the same booking would have only incurred a £3 credit card fee this increase is beyond all explanation.

Gits.

:mad:

[PAXboy]

"... this increase is beyond all explanation."

"This will come as no surprise, given the FR are looking for ways to increase profits this year."

egnxema - you answered your own question! With a profits warning out, they grabbed the first 'stealth tax' they could. Incidentally, do they charge this fee for those using a debit [Switch] card as well? I guess that most folks will use credit cards. I know that EZY do not make a surcharge for debit cards.

[Scottish Flyer]

The charge for Switch is 40p per sector. The new charges make it cheaper for single passengers but much more expensive for 2 or more. I have checked the charges of some other carriers. FlyBE charges £4 per booking for credit cards and £1 for debit cards. EasyJet & BMI Baby also charge £4 for credit cards but have no charge if using a debit card. BMI charge £3 for credit cards and again no charge for debit cards. Aer Lingus appear to charge £3 a booking made onmline irrespective of the means of payment.

How much Ryanair makes on this depends on the ratio of individual passengers to groups/families of 2 or more. I guess it will add some more to the coffers.

[eurostar builder]

Sorry RYR

With that news just out I have just booked my family
on Easy jet..

Bye Bye RYR.

[Herod]

Also of note is the fact that, following the loss of the case concerning the wheelchair provision, fares will have a 50p "wheelchair tax" added. Since the charge for the wheelchair was £ 18, if the ratio of wheelchair users is less than one in thrity-six, there will be a gain of 50p per passenger travelling.

[ecj]

I would be interested to know how a beancounter came up with a figure of £18 for a wheel chair.

:confused:

[zed3]

BA charge e20 (£14 +/-) for a telephone booking which is explained over the phone whilst hanging on waiting to be connected , further they explain that booking via internet - ba.com - doesn't have this charge . Fine but living in the Netherlands and wanting to fly from Dusseldorf 45 mins away ( Amsterdam is 2hrs 30mins away)and having a Dutch issued credit card I cannot book via internet . OK they waive the booking fee BUT the fare is e10 higher , probably because of Dutch taxes!!! So much for a European.....no.....world airline!!!!!

[MAN777]

Have used Ryanair several times with some of the low fare deals, but these latest additions to fare costs are making the airline less and less attractive, also that O Reilly or whatever his name is, really gets up my nose !!

Hello Bmibaby !!

[jetstream7]

Ryanair's charges and justification are complete :mad:

Debit card transaction are charged by the transaction, and even for a small business amount to around 25p per sale - to charge 40p (for one sector, for one person) represents a small profit for Ryanair, but to charge £3.20 (family of 4, return flight) is outrageous.
I'd hazard a guess Ryanair are charged somewhat less than the 25p per transaction I've quoted given the scale of their business.
If not, then they're being ripped off.

Credit Cards are less clear as transaction charges are based usually on a %age of the total value - 2.5% appears to the norm, so £1.75 is not unreasonable for fares costing £70.00 upwards, though profiteering for anything less than this (most fares are less than £70.00 per sector...)

So long as FR have stripped the charges out of their fares, than ok....:suspect:

Strange how FR haven't made the change in charging a 'news item' on their website too... :rolleyes:

On the wheelchair charges, my recollection was that much of Ryanair's argument was with BAA as their airports were amongst the few that charged - yet afaik all routes have the charge... am I being cynical, or is there another hint here of profiteering?

[LTNman]

Ryanair have taken their lost court case to appeal. I wonder if Ryanair win their appeal whether BAA will slap a 50p charge per passenger on Ryanair! I can’t see how Ryanair could complain about it seeing they did it.

[newswatcher]

On a similar note, beware Travelocity online booking. Yesterday evening they levied a "delivery charge" for a bmi flight, on the basis that "this airline" does not use e-tickets. Having purchased several e-tickets this year on bmi, I can only believe that Travelocity is also in the "rip-off" market. :mad:

To forestall the inevitable question on this, unfortunately none of the other leading internet sites could offer the same "low" fare that I "found" on Travelocity. You win some..........

[WHBM]

On a similar note, beware Travelocity online booking Travelocity stung me too, at the end of a very long and convoluted booking process, with "oh what a surprise, we've just noticed the only way we can get the tickets to you is by FedEx next-day delivery at US$ 39.75".

TWO days later the tickets turned up having just been sent by Royal Mail.

I don't know which annoys me more. Charging for a service and then not providing it, or taking me right through a web transaction and then suddenly announcing at the end extra charges that could have been advised at the start.