RyanAir 2% charge for Mastercard prepaid card

[Meanexpat]

RyanAir is charging 2% for payment via a Mastercard prepaid card.

I quote from RyanAir "How can I pay for my flights?"
"Bookings paid for by credit card or a Mastercard Prepaid card will incur a fee of 2% of the total transaction value."

Is this legit?
Surely it does not cost them any more (i.e. nothing) than via a debit card?

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[Hotel Tango]

I guess it is legit because you still have the choice of cheaper alternatives, or not flying RYR. I choose the latter.

[PAXboy]

With RyanAir, the question is - what is the final cost going to be?

When you have added all the adds and %'s - do you want to pay that price? Is that final price (an offer of a ticket/s for a journey/s) one that you want to pay?

How it is made up has (in my view) long ceased to be relevant. They have reached this kind of pricing structure because people want to think they are getting a low price. Since a low 'headline' price will often get people to the web site - they might then purchase eventhough the final price is higher.

If it's anything, I agree and I would prefer to have an 'honest' upfront price from all suppliers not just FR. But a very considerable number of suppliers now 'slice and dice the price' so that you CAN pay less or more if you want.

Over the last 20 years, millions of customers across the world on numerous LCC companies have shown that this system works. It might not work for you.

[AirborneAgain]

In at least some EU countries it is not legal, but I guess as long as it is legal in Ireland, MOL couldn't care less.

[ExXB]

I think the EU rules say that airlines can't charge more than their actual costs … but don't define what those costs could be. LCC's consider the cost of providing a web-site, booking engine, etc. to be costs that they attempt to recover through their fees. There is also transaction fees that apply to both debit and credit cards.

Are they being reasonable? Who knows? I haven't heard of anyone trying to challenge them in court.

[Laarbruch72]

Fashionable as it may be to boot Ryanair (and I'm not a fan), this isn't a Ryanair thing. Countless companies (I can think of another UK airline, a bus company and a train company off the top of my head) charge a similar fee for credit card payment while allowing free payment by debit card. There is indeed a small cost to the retailer to process credit cards, often that's borne by the suppliers (even the tiniest convenience store for the smallest items) but increasingly, large companies are choosing to pass it on to the customers rounded up with the addition of an admin charge.
It's certainly legit, you do after all have a choice of products, a choice of whether to buy them at all, and the choice to own a debit card.

[AirborneAgain]

It's certainly NOT legit in Sweden, no matter what kind of card you use. But apparently this is a national law and not based on EU legislation, so as Ryanair operates under Irish law...

[Laarbruch72]

I doubt that there is such a thing as EU legislation banning fees for paying with credit cards, I've certainly never seen anything of that ilk and Ryanair are subject to EU law just as any other EU based carriers are. As I said, many UK companies charge such a fee, usually 1 to 2 pounds.

[ExXB]

From an ICAO report: http://www.icao.int/Meetings/atconf6/Documents/WorkingPapers/ATConf6-ip001_en.pdf


3.8 Price transparency — EU
3.8.1 Regulation 1008/200821 on air services in the EU requires that the published price for the service shall include the fare and all applicable taxes, charges, surcharges and fees which are unavoidable and foreseeable at the time of publication. In addition, details must be given of the different components of the price (fares, taxes, airport charges and other costs).
3.8.2 The Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU22 aims at increasing transparency for passengers, especially when purchasing tickets online. The Directive explicitly bans pre-ticked boxes, internet cost traps and any additional charges which passengers were not duly informed of in advance. Additionally, it prohibits traders from charging fees for the use of means of payment (e.g. credit cards) that exceed the cost borne by the trader for the use of these means..

and http://www.ryanair.com/en/questions/how-can-i-pay-for-my-flights/

MAKING PAYMENT
How can I pay for my flights?

Ryanair accept American Express cards, Visa and Mastercard credit cards and the following debit cards Maestro, Visa Connect, Visa Electron, Mastercard Prepaid & Visa Delta for payment of your flights.
Within Germany ONLY, SEPA direct debit payments can only be accepted up to 10 days prior to the flight departure.
Bookings paid for by credit card or a Mastercard Prepaid card will incur a fee of 2% of the total transaction value.
No credit card fee applies when paying with a debit card or SEPA bank transfer (Germany only).

[meadowrun]

I suppose this could be considered reasonable and it's a practice not entirely confined to the airline industry. Credit card companies typically charge the merchants 2.5% in transaction fees. Amex is a bit higher which is the reason they are not accepted in so many places.

[Hipennine]

What annoys me is the fact that credit cards tend to be singled out for these charges. A business generally pays a service provider for any monetary handling facility, whether debit card, credit card, cash card, cheque or cash.

I do wonder if credit cards attract the charge because the beneficiary knows that many customers prefer to gain the financial protection (especially online) that a credit card offers, or that a high proportion of credit card transactions are with company credit cards, and therefore the user isn't too bothered about the extra charge.

[AirborneAgain]

or cash.Indeed. It is not uncommon in my country that merchants encourage you to pay more with your card that the cost of your purchase and then give you cash in return.

Their cost of handling cash (including the bank fees for depositing cash) is higher than the card transaction fees!

[Meanexpat]

My original post has nothing to do with Credit Cards which involve getting a... "credit".

With a PREPAID CARD, as with a debit card, the money is in the account.

What I don't understand is: Why are they not treated in the same way?

[PAXboy]

Meanexpat
What I don't understand is: Why are they not treated in the same way?
Because they can charge you more and get away with it? :hmm:

[Piltdown Man]

I think the EU rules say that airlines can't charge more than their actual costs

How naive people are. If I were Mikey the Pikey I would ask a specialist financial organisation (say RyanAir Payment Experts Ltd) to do my credit card transactions for me. And they would charge exactly whatever I told them to charge. And your complaint was....

[Phileas Fogg]

Ryanair accept American Express cards, Visa and Mastercard credit cards and the following debit cards Maestro, Visa Connect, Visa Electron, Mastercard Prepaid & Visa Delta for payment of your flights.

Bookings paid for by credit card or a Mastercard Prepaid card will incur a fee of 2% of the total transaction value.

No credit card fee applies when paying with a debit card

Despite what people, myself included, think of Ryanair they are actually trying to help one explaining to one that if one goes and finds a debit card to pay with then one can save 2% on their flight(s) purchase.

If Ryanair don't pass on the costs of credit card transactions then all passengers, those that do have a debit card, will find themselves paying for and subsidising those that pay with credit cards and this Mastercard Prepaid.

Like the guy that successfully sued Ryanair over the wheelchair situ, honestly, if he needed a wheelchair then he should have booked with a regular carrier, he paid nigh on bugger all for his Ryanair flight and expected wheelchairs free of charge at every airport, as a result every able bodied Ryanair passenger has been compelled to pay a wheelchair charge in the event that they should require one.

The moral of this story ... unless one has a negative credit rating preventing them from doing so then go and get a debit card!

[mixture]

How it is made up has (in my view) long ceased to be relevant. They have reached this kind of pricing structure because people want to think they are getting a low price. Since a low 'headline' price will often get people to the web site - they might then purchase eventhough the final price is higher.

Yup, the headline rates attract the gullible tightwad punters, but the business model of most LCCs (whether FR, EZY or otherwise) has a high dependency on ancillary revenue (i.e. pre-flight fees and in-flight charging). Somewhere in the 20%-30% region of revenue is an oft quoted figure for FR ancillary revenue..... on overall revenues of 4bn or so, that 20-30% is a much needed boost to the company's coffers !

To give them the benefit of doubt, it should be noted though, that with credit cards, they are likely merely passing on the merchant fee because because they are unlikely to have the option to otherwise absorb it.

[Heathrow Harry]

Mr RyanAir himself has always said his aim is to charge NOTHING for the seat and make all his money "elsewhere" :*:*

[Phileas Fogg]

They'd sell a lot more if their sandwiches were fresh and their beer cold!

[Metro man]

I recently booked a hotel room in the Philippines and was quoted a price which stated it was + tax and service charge. The final price was not stated and only appeared on the screen AFTER payment had been made.

Knowing the tax and service % charge I worked it out before pressing the enter key. I wonder how many people have been caught out with an extra 22% ?

[Phileas Fogg]

I recently booked a hotel room in the Philippines and was quoted a price which stated it was + tax and service charge. The final price was not stated and only appeared on the screen AFTER payment had been made.

Knowing the tax and service % charge I worked it out before pressing the enter key. I wonder how many people have been caught out with an extra 22% ?

Mm,

I own and operate a resort here in Philippines and when I loaded my room rates on to a site, similar to "agooda", they made up all sorts of nonsense such as that I'm convenient to the city centre (the nearest city being 4 hours away by boat) and what my room rates were supposed to be but then they're offering a mega non existent discount etc.

Where I am there is 12% VAT and a 10% local tax, these are incorporated in to my room rates so when I advertise room rates at the infamous "PHP999" I don't expect agooda to be adding all sorts of percentages to my room rates ... and the battle continues :)