FR has a €5 credit card handling fee. Now isn't that a bit Oirish!

[Omaha]

I've just booked a flight with Ryanair. There credit card handling charge seems to be going up all the time. What do they have to do, run around the perimeter of the airport with it, is it really that major a task. Infact no it's not!

I handle credit card transactions at work & it's the easiest, piddliest, non time consuming, button pushing task in the world, reckon at most it takes me less than a minute to get an authorisation on a card. It's another underhanded ploy for airlines to milk customers of their money if you ask me & shouldn't be legal IMHO. Us customers need to stand up for our rights over this cause we're being exploited. :mad:

As far that sneaky way of trying to make people buy their insurance, its not on. For the umteenth hundredth & one time No Michael I do not want your friggin insurance. What part of that sentence do you not understand :p

Still have to admit the flights were much cheaper than Aer Lingus's even if I am landing at a tin shack from what I've heard in the middle of nowhere and miles from my destination. :rolleyes:

[Omaha]

On a lighter note who ever thought they'd see a paddy head one of the stalwarts of the British establishment, I mean BA. :D :ok:

Hope you enjoy his Irish charm! :E

[MarkD]

omaha

IIRC if you use debit you don't get charged a fee but it's a while since I used FR. EI charges 3.50 I think?

[FormerFlyer]

Blame the (I think) Consumer Credit Act in the UK for them having differential pricing WRT credit card transactions.

So long as it is clearly posted in either the shop or the website at any point before purchase then you can charge what you like as a card charge - the main reason is to recoup the charges imposed on us retailers by the merchants for transacting the business in the first place.

Switch/Maestro is the cheapest to transact and AMEX & Diners the dearest - they're usually charged to the retailer at around 5% of value presented.

VISA/Mastercard will be somewhere between 1.5% & 2.5% depending on your volume with the merchants.

cheers ;)
FF

[PAXboy]

FF is correct (I was in retail telecomms at one time). Nowadays, when you book online, it is a fully automated credit check, so no button pushing by humans at all. Thus making even more money.

If FR are charging EUR 5, that is approx GBP 3.48 (xe.com) but EZY charge £4. for the same service. Yes, I know Michael, you're always the cheapest ... :rolleyes:

--------------------
"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

[ATNotts]

Are Air Berlin the only LCC operating out of UK that doesn't screw you for a CC fee?

OK, so they wrap it up in the total fare somewhere, but it doesn't hurt quite so badly that way!

[Crepello]

Personally, I've no problem with this.

Counterpoint: In the sandwich outlet near my office, many folks use credit cards for minor purchases. The proprietor would lose business if he surcharged CCs or had a minimum spend, so the card fees are worked into the pricing structure. So when I pay cash, I'm subsidising card users. Sound fair?

[WHBM]

Every customer subsidises every other customer to some extent. What about places open on Sundays, they charge the same price as weekdays but staff get paid more. Same true of airfares.

The Credit Card surcharge surprises me though as when I worked with Visa/Mastercard a while ago their merchants agreements specifically forbade their merchants from levying any form of surcharge for paying with the cards. Have they stopped doing this ? Why would they ? Someone in the airline commercial side can maybe advise.

[Globaliser]

WHBM: The Credit Card surcharge surprises me though as when I worked with Visa/Mastercard a while ago their merchants agreements specifically forbade their merchants from levying any form of surcharge for paying with the cards. Have they stopped doing this ? Why would they ? Someone in the airline commercial side can maybe advise.IIRC, the OFT put pressure on the credit card companies to allow differential pricing and surcharging for credit cards, so the merchant agreements were changed to allow it.

[Re-Heat]

The Credit Card surcharge surprises me though as when I worked with Visa/Mastercard a while ago their merchants agreements specifically forbade their merchants from levying any form of surcharge for paying with the cards. Have they stopped doing this ? Why would they ? Someone in the airline commercial side can maybe advise.
I believe instead that 2.5% is deemed to be the maximum allowable by HMC&E to be charged for handling of credit card transactions - ie the settlements and finance functions within companies. This was set up to effectively lower overall company charge to VAT of 2.5% of the cost of goods as no VAT is payable on any financial services, therefore making this a financial service - this amounts to a great deal for many large companies in VAT savings.

Whether they pass this on to you or not is the retailers issue - the card companies still do not allow surchages to be made for credit card transactions I believe. As this is the the company's finance function however, they can do nothing about it at all, especially as it is sanctioned by the VAT man.

[Scottie Dog]

Another thing with FR is that they charge GBP1.75 per passenger PER sector - ie GBP7.00 for 2 people booking a return flight.

EZY on the other hand charge a flat rate of GBP4.00 - no matter how many passengers.

The above is assuming payment by credit card and not debit card.

Seems to me that Michael is ripping you off again!!

[Omaha]

He's a cute hoor Scottie Dog if ever ya met one. ;)

Oh BTW I'd like a breakdown of the taxs, fees & charges

For all I know I may be subsidising the toilet paper on the aircraft.
Twasn't off the turnip truck I fell yesterday, I'll tell you that much. :*

[Omaha]

My Gawd I've had to pay a
6.56 EUR Ins/Wheelchair Levy

Now much as this looked like they finally tricked me into paying insurance I don't want as I endeavoured to get through their minefield of a quagmire of a site avoiding doing so at each prompt & tick (buying insurance is ticked by default) , no its not cause that's listed separately. I'm being shafted with almost a full €7 for wheelchair charges, I know my former wheelchair bound friend must be laughing up her sleeve at this one. I knew the figures didn't add up.

[Paul Wilson]

With retailers every payment type costs them to take, which is why they don't charge more for CCs. With cash someone has to count it and take it to the bank, with cheques you have to pay to bank it, plus there is greater scope for fraud.

[MarkD]

omaha

this arose out of a court case - search for Ryanair and wheelchairs (and BAA) and a thread or three should turn up.

[Omaha]

I know mate & I wouldn't be surprised if my wheelchair bound friend was behind it cause she was very pissed off with FR's policy on this subject & very very militant.

She didn't get the nickname from one bus inspector of the b*tch in the wheelchair
for nothing (incidentally it's a nickname she wears with pride). She may have been physically incapacitated but she sure as hell wasn't mentally. She even made the Taoiseach, 'Prime Minister' to you, issue a public apology for being late at a function she was attending. :uhoh:

[MarkD]

omaha, he's Taoiseach to me too (although isn't he supposed to be Bertie to everyone, especially on Hill 16? Those were the days...)

[PilotsPal]

BMI charge £4 for credit card transactions too. I have been charged for debit card use recently too.