Electron cards no longer fee-free on Ryanair

[Rusland 17]

From tomorrow, passengers using Electron cards to book Ryanair flights will be charged the £5 per passenger, per sector charge that other card holders have to pay.

From tomorrow, only passengers who use a Mastercard Prepaid card to book their flights will escape the fee.

BBC News - Ryanair changes card charging policy

Clearly, too many people now have Electron cards for Ryanair's liking...

[racedo]

Electron still valid to 31st of December for fee free charges.

[Rusland 17]

Yep, you're right. That wasn't clear from the BBC story I read.

It seems that prepaid Mastercard can be used from tomorrow, and Electron will start attracting a fee from 1st January.

As far as I know, prepaid Mastercards are easier to get than Electron cards, as no identity or credit checking is required, but the disadvantages are that you will almost always have an unused balance sitting on the card, and many providers charge a fee when making a purchase or topping up the balance.

[davidjohnson6]

Looks like quite a few people will be reading up on personal finance websites in the next few weeks !

[raffele]

Wonder if this has anything to do with the fact Visa are phasing Electron out over the next two years...

BBC News - Visa Electron cards to be phased out

Why MasterCard prepaid as a fee-free option I cannot fathom. I say that - the most obvious answer is that a very small proportion use prepaid cards I suppose...

Oh well - any new way to line their coffers without charging for using the facilities...

[Sober Lark]

Flying with low cost airlines has become too expensive these days.

[davidjohnson6]

Why MasterCard prepaid as a fee-free option I cannot fathom

There are various fees attached to getting hold of a prepaid Mastercard. This includes things like a card purchase fee, fees to use the card or monthly account maintenance fees, ATM fees, card replacement fees, fees to talk to a person on the phone, fees to load money on your card, etc. etc..

All this means that unless you spent quite a lot of time searching through the Terms&Conditions of the various card providers and will be purchasing several round trips per year, it's not worth the hassle. That family of four who fly FR for their summer holiday get charged £40 in card fees..... is it really worth buying a card for £10 and going through various card fees and hassle to save maybe £20 per year ? Probably not.

I have to admire FR on this though - they've found a card payment mechanism that is technically available in every country in which they fly, but is more expensive and higher in hassle factor than an Electron card. Furthermore, FR can disclaim all responsiblity for the fees that card providers charge. The net result is that apart from the cheapskate brigade, people are more likely to end up paying FR's card fees. Lousy for the consumer, but a truly brilliant way at raising more revenue while destroying one of the arguments of its critics

[PAXboy]

It was only a matter of time before they changed horses and, if as seems the case, the 'horse' was being withdrawn, then they could not have asked for anything better.

Once again, I take my hat off to FR and all they have achieved. (for themselves and sôd the rest of the world).

[Scumbag O'Riley]

Quite like this one. Could never be bothered going through the hassle of opening another bank account just to get an electron card but a prepaid card seems a lot easier and atttactive. Though having looked at several card web sites, the options and charges are far more complicated and deceptive than even buying airline tickets.

Just with five minutes surfing, it looks like the only totally 'free' card which is denominated in pounds sterling requires you to put in £1000 a month. Others either hit you with a monthly charge, or take a cut on each transaction. Some which appear to be free are only denominated in euros or US Dollars so you pay a exchange fee commission if you use them in the UK. And they have your money of course and there is a good chance you might forget that. So not as straightforward as you might think.

[Anansis]

Once again, I take my hat off to FR and all they have achieved. (for themselves and sôd the rest of the world).

Hear hear Paxboy- never has a company simultaneously awed and repulsed me so much in equal measure...

In this case though, acquiring a pre paid mastercard is actually not a big deal at all. A quick google search will provide you with hundreds to choose from, many of which are not expensive at all. The only question I have is how do ryanair know whether your mastercard is pre paid or not?

[Llademos]

Moneysavingexpert.com has the 'best buy' for prepaid MC. Having

[raffele]

To complete Llademos' post, Martin Lewis has hunted out the cheapest prepaid MasterCard (in the UK at least):

Ryanair ends free payment for millions - MoneySavingExpert News

[Llademos]

Thanks raffele ... the iTouch is great until itloses the signal halfway through a post edit! Anyhow, the MC at the top of the list appears to be the best, with no ongoing fees and is free if you go via the link. The exchange rates also seem to be very good too.

Ll

[Pax Vobiscum]

Buying stuff with a credit card gives you some additional protection if (when!)things go wrong. I've always understood that this was because you're effectively taking out a short-term loan and therefore all sorts of consumer credit protection legislation applies.
Now, with a prepaid card there's no 'loan' involved (except from you to the bank), so does it provide the same level of protection? I've had a quick scan, but haven't found a definitive answer on t'Internet. Does anyone know for sure whether this is the case? If not, it may be worth the £5 fee to gain the additional protection. (Not if you're only paying 1p for the flight, of course ).

[raffele]

Generally prepaid cards don't have any additional protection as offered by credit cards and Visa Debit cards, but depends on where you get the card from...

[Scumbag O'Riley]

Now, with a prepaid card there's no 'loan' involved (except from you to the bank), so does it provide the same level of protection?

No, needs to be a 'credit' card, i.e covered by consumer credit legislation. Debit cards don't provide additional protection either if the supplier doesn't supply. And even if a credit card, the amount needs to be above £100 before the bank is jointly liable for the supply, so the real cheapo deals will not be covered anyway. No chance of Ryanair going bust in the near (or even distant) future though so I wouldn't worry about it.

[UniFoxOs]

OK, tried to get the "ICE Travellers Cashcard", as quoted as best bet by MSE (apparently no charges at all if you get one in Euros, which Ryanair use). Complete waste of time. Registered on the web site. Click on link to order a card, takes you to a screen that insists you have to put in Driving Licence or Passport details. Get the passport out the safe, put the details in, click on the link again, get back to same screen again wanting D/L or passport details.

Sod them. 2@s

Cheers
UFO

[Scumbag O'Riley]

Ryanair will take your cash in Euros, but only if your first sector starts in Euroland. Also I don't know the numbers, but I will bet that buying their euros with your pounds doesn't come cheap. Probably far better to get a sterling card and try to minimise charges on that one. Of course if you spend a lot of time in Euroland it might make sense, but not, I suspect, for buying Ryanair tickets in the UK.

[raffele]

Debit cards don't provide additional protection either if the supplier doesn't supply.

Not completely true. Visa Debit cards offer limited protection, called Visa Chargeback. It's little known, not written in law but its part of the code the banks sign up to in order to use the Visa brand and products.

[UniFoxOs]

but I will bet that buying their euros with your pounds doesn't come cheap.

The rate quoted on their website was about the same as I got using my credit card in Krautistan last week, so seemed quite acceptable, especially as the fee for topping up in EUR is zero, but 2% to top up in GBP. But if you can't get the card it's doesn't matter much what the rate is!

Cheers
UFO