Airline network credit card surcharge

talksalot81

Hi there,

We are considering buying holiday flights from airline network but cannot find anything comprehensive about credit card surcharge. They say that one may be charged, but they only tell you what it is after you have entered all your details and get to the final payment stage. Can anyone tell me what charge there is likely to be for using a VISA?

Opodo is an alternative and I can find on their FAQ that the rate is 1.75% up to a max of £20 per transaction....

cheekymole

Can't you phone them to ask?

waterbaby

bmibaby charge £4.95 for using a credit card, but 50p for a debit card. Both can be Visa.

talksalot81

I gave them a call.... 1.75%.... so on £4k that is £70 - I am galled to have to pay all of this for what is no more than an admin fee (admittedly on the visa side).

How can opodo cap this at £20 yet airline network would charge me £50 more? I see that meaning one of two things: a) opodo lose money b) airline network are sticking their arm in. I doubt the first possibility!

I wish things like this werent hidden. As a small business, we always quote including everything... our customers wouldnt accept it if this were not the case.

mars_2

If your only booking the flight its worth having a look at the airlines own website that your going to be using and check what they are charging for the same flight, sometimes they are cheaper.

And for example Klm only charge £3 for credit cards.

polarbearit

Erm, why not pay with a debit card - Airline Network charge nothing for that? When you come to pay on a CC then it is made clear what charges will apply!

That said I've always been able to get better flight deals by going direct rather they using Airline network (And CC charges are lower than a fixed % usually).

I'd suspect that the fee charged will be similar to that payed, as the deals banks do on card fees vary and can be structured differently depending on what is wanted.

talksalot81

Checked the alternatives already. Belfast departures almost always include an extra flight, that means that it is rare to travel long haul and find the airline directly to be cheaper.

We dont want to pay by debit card as it afford us rather more limited protection and in addition, we dont have a debit card on our account, so no choice really!