Ryanair cash passport advice - foreign loading an...

[ernie-money]

Hi all,

My other half is working in Germany at the moment & we're bookng quite a few flights for him to come home. I was thinking about getting the cash passport, to avoid the fees, but unfortunately, as the flights originate in Europe, prices are quoted in Euros and would incur the 5.75% foreign loading fee.
I just wondered if this is still the case, even if you tick to accept the guaranteed exchange rate, which gives you a sterling amount?

Even if it does, it would mean a small saving each time and may just be worth it after all - any thoughts?

Second question... I looked at their "reward scheme" where if you spend £2000 on the card in a quarter, you get a free return flight - does anyone know anything about this? A, it doesn't state if this include taxes etc, or just the base fare, which wouldn't be worth a lot, but if it covers the whole lot, and B, I can't see if it's any 3 months of the year, or set (ie Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun etc) I was half wondering whether to get the card, load it with 2k, and use it for everything like grocery shopping, petrol, and anything else that I don't need the credit card protection for, as well as paying for flights - can you see any disadvantages in doing this?

I would use my cashback credit card to load it, so wouldn't miss out on normal cashback either...

I did consider trying to get my partner to get the German version of the cash passport over there, but they charge €3 for loading the card etc, and if we did that, we could only use the card for flights, and wouldn't like to tie money up in a Euro card...

I look forward to hearing your views on this!

[alwaysskint96]

Wouldnt the fairfx card be better for the euro origination flights. I didnt get charged booking my espana to uk flights recetly

[Louisdf]

Originally Posted by alwaysskint96

Wouldnt the fairfx card be better for the euro origination flights. I didnt get charged booking my espana to uk flights recetly

No, Ryanair now treats this card as a regular mastercard.

[ernie-money]

Originally Posted by 2sides2everystory

I don't suppose the destination in Germany is anywhere near a border i.e. near an alternate non-German Ryanair destination? I fly out of UK and back again with Ryanair typically twice a month but I have survived without Ryanair's card and incurred only one £6 fee I think! "How can that be?" you may ask. I book all my return flights to this non-German non-Spanish non-Italian non-Irish non-UK destination the other way round (my return flights originate in Europe not UK)

As for your particular conundrum I am not sure what people are doing ... I haven't noticed too many workarounds being reported.

Don't the terms of Ryanair Cash Passport say you get charged 50p for every non-Ryanair purchase?

In a cash ISA your suggested £2,000 could be earning a little interest rather thanearning Ryanair interest.

In answer to your question about whether Ryanair's guaranteed sterling exchange rate versus Ryanair Cash Passport 5.75% FOREX rate surcharge rate makes any difference then No, basically the surcharge is probably about the same in each case.

If you used a "normal" credit card then you would of course incur the £6 each way card fee BUT unless you take the right tick OUT of the right box before you buy when you want to pay for Euro priced flights, you risk getting hit by Ryanair's slippery Dynamic Currency Exchange surcharge which could cost you an inadvertent EXTRA up to +6% I think just when you thought you'd already been bled dry That's the same up to +6% you'd get if you deliberately chose to pay in Sterling using you Cash Passport but at least then you would not pay the card fee.

It may be a question of how much the base price typically of each flight on the preferred route will be i.e. you may need to calculate the actual amounts arising from Ryanair's inflated FOREX charge percentages versus the £6 card fee if you avoided getting Ryanair Cash Passport..

If your other half is likely to have flexibility of dates e.g. changing them at short notice then you may decide to constantly revisit the website as relatively cheap flights are released maybe 3 or 2 months ahead, and then revisit again to snap up "flexibility" or "insurance" flights one way or return (to suit you) on dates around your original booking. What do I mean by flexibility or insurance flights? Well it means your other half can arrange more than one alternative flight for each journey. It makes not a jot of difference with Ryanair whether you actually use one flight of a return or not. You can skip the outbound and still use the return leg for example.

If you do get Ryanair cash passport then you can bargain hunt their lowest fares and the prices may be low enough for you to select two or three alternatives each way on some trips.

I suppose the only other recommendation is that if you had not already worked it out, you always as a matter of course seek to buy return flights starting in Germany in Euros because what might cost £50 as a UK>Germany>UK flight might typically be priced at only 50€ as Germany>UK>Germany i.e. an instant 17% discount before you have to work out what the card fee and or the FOREX charge does to it.

As for the "free flight reward" well I would suggest that the average Ryanair customer is sceptical of and barely uses such promotions. Unfortunately you might need to check the Ts & Cs of the promotion to see if there is really something of value in it for you.

Finally, how long is the other half expected to be in Germany?

I think I read that these card outrageous card fees are to be outlawed at the end of the year?

Thank you so much for your long reply!
No, unfortunately he needs to fly from Frankfurt, which isn't a reasonable distance from any other country where there are no charges, so that doesn't work...
And yes, you are right - I didn't read the "fees" section properly - I just saw Purchase from merchant (e.g. shops and restaurants) "Free" & didn't see that it said "abroad" afterwards...

As I was going to use my credit card to top up the cash passport, I wouldn't have got the interest on the money anyway, I expect I would've spent about half the money in a month, and the rest after another month, so less than £3 interest at the best, if I hadn't already used up my ISA allowance, but given the 50p purchase fee, I guess it's irrelevant anyway - silly of me thinking that Ryanair would have left themselves open to using their system to make something out of them!
Besides I had a look again and found the terms and conditions for the promo, and taxes and charges aren't included in the free flight, so not really a massive incentive anyway...

Back to your comments regarding the guaranteed exchange rate box - not sure if i understood properly... I've always wondered whether it would be best to leave it ticked or untick it? Do I take it that it's just another scam to let you think it's best to leave it ticked, or could it potentially save you money leaving it ticked...?

Thank you so much for all your helpful pointers - a lot of food for thought. I've taken your comments on board, and I think, as we're not certain how long he is going to be over there for, I'll prob stay clear of the passport idea & just swallow the €6 fees, as if I pay using my Halifax Clarity card, at least there's no foreign loading, or does that sound like the best option...?

Thanks again!

[tobiascurious]

Originally Posted by ernie-money

No, unfortunately he needs to fly from Frankfurt, which isn't a reasonable distance from any other country where there are no charges, so that doesn't work...

Frankfurt is a considerable distance from the nearest Ryanair airport actually....

[budgetflyer]

If its a GB Ryanair Cash Passport + you are paying in Euros then you are 2 cents per Euro better off paying the outrageous 5.75% loading.

Typically today Ryanair DCC is aprox 0.86 £GB to Euro where as the cash passport is aprox 0.84

However with a travelex Globe card with only 1.5% loading (0.82) a fare of 155 Euro+ Euro6 payment fee is cheaper than using using a GB Ryanair cash passport with 5.75% FX loading

and definately beats the Ryanair Cash Passport + DCC

Of course these 0% Halifax cards are even better

[stuart677]

hi were flying with ryanair in a couple of weeks as our first ever holiday abroad i have to go through online check in but as weve never flown before not sure what to do or if there will be a charge or if there is how not to incur such charge also i no i have to print out my boarding passes but we booked our holiday flights transfers etc through an online holiday firm should i get flight tickets or is it just the boarding passes any help please

[stuart677]

thanks for all your advice and i hope ernie will accept my apologies

[SaveTheEuro]

Originally Posted by budgetflyer

If its a GB Ryanair Cash Passport + you are paying in Euros then you are 2 cents per Euro better off paying the outrageous 5.75% loading.

Typically today Ryanair DCC is aprox 0.86 £GB to Euro where as the cash passport is aprox 0.84

However with a travelex Globe card with only 1.5% loading (0.82) a fare of 155 Euro+ Euro6 payment fee is cheaper than using using a GB Ryanair cash passport with 5.75% FX loading

and definately beats the Ryanair Cash Passport + DCC

Of course these 0% Halifax cards are even better

Have I got this right, if you are buying a ticket to the UK from Spain, Italy, Ireland and Germany costing more than €104 it's better to use a Santander Zero/Metro Bank/Norwich and Peterborough debit card and pay the €6 fee, because the "free" option of a Ryanair Cash Passport works out more expensive once the 5.75% foreign exchange fee is added?

[Bob the Saver]

costing more than €104

I'd walk rather than pay that, I can wait for the 10.99 Euro deals