Beat Ryanair, Easyjet, BMIBaby etc booking fees.

kevanp

The other thing about buying from the Travelex website (apart from having to choose any country that shows the currency denominated in ££) is that you apparently have to collect it from a Travelex shop. I can find nowhere on the site about the possibility of them sending the card in the post. Has anyone discovered how to get it sent?

apt

It would be much easier to get a Halifax easycash account instead. You can apply online, its free, you do not need to fund it until you want to buy flights and Halifax will post the VISA electron card to you.

jhnalford

Interestigly Spanish banks automatically issue Electron cards to current account holders and as I have a current account in Spain ..........

mystic_trev

I got a Halifax Easycash account a couple of years ago. One of the advantages is, if you haven't received a confirmation from the Airline, you can check to see if the amount has been debited immediately. Easycash is a basic bank account, not a current account.

Shellie_Squirrel

I've just applied for a Halifax Easycash account too. I was looking to go the route that Martin suggested but couldn't find a Travelex branch near to me and didn't want to load the card with £500 to have the card delivered. The Halifax card is free, it doesn't cost anything to transfer money to it and it gets delivered to me! So it's a much easier option that the Travelex one!

Shellie_Squirrel

Forgot to say....that with the Halifax Easycash account there isn't any minimum amount you need to transfer to it. Just leave £1 or so to keep it open until you need to transfer to it to pay for a flight etc. Also you don't need to use it every 12 months or you pay a £2 fee like the Travelex card. So all told, it's a much better, easier option. I rang to request an application pack and they did say there was a few weeks wait for cards at the mo.

geoff_s---r

Good thing about the Entropay card is that it's a virtual card, so you can apply online, stick £10 on it and buy your £10 flight all within 5 minutes without leaving your desk.

The £10 transfer costs just 49p (4.9%) & you've avoided being blatantly mugging by Ryanair & £9.51 of Ryanair charges

If you only need it occasionally & only to pay for cheap flights, I'd suggest Entropay may be the better option. The £100 minimum transfer of Travelex means it will probably cost you several pounds a year in lost interest.

geoff_s---r

If there's a lawyer out there, can I ask. Might it be illegal for Ryanair to charge a 4 person family, 8 times for 'handling' one single card payment?

When you go to a restaurant you'd be outraged if they tried to charge you 20 handling fees on the one card payment because there were 20 items in the bill. You'd rather hope that would be illegal (regardless of smallprint)?

It's hard for competing airlines to advertise good prices when Ryanair can advertise £5 flights knowing most customers will end up paying £10, Aer Lingus has already copied them, others will no doubt have to follow.

If it's not already against the law now, it seems we'll need legislation to plug this loophole before this insanity spreads to other areas.... When you buy a day return from train & coach companies will you be forced to check if they will add two card handling charges? When I buy a set of tyres, might there be 4 card handling charges smuggled onto the bill?

geoff_s---r

I believe you can get Entropay in either Sterling, Euros or Dollars flavours, so I suspect 'Edingburghlas' may have ticked the Euro option by mistake. There's certainly no euro recalculation when I pay with mine.

(Having a Euro card was particularly useful when exchange rates were higher & £10 flights were available for 10euros if you could pay in euro)

Pee

geoff_soper wrote: »

If there's a lawyer out there, can I ask. Might it be illegal for Ryanair to charge a 4 person family, 8 times for 'handling' one single card payment?

When you go to a restaurant you'd be outraged if they tried to charge you 20 handling fees on the one card payment because there were 20 items in the bill. You'd assume that would be illegal?

It's hard for competing airlines to advertise good prices when Ryanair can advertise £5 flights knowing most customers will end up paying £10, Aer Lingus has already copied them, others will no doubt have to follow.

If it's not already against the law now, it seems we'll need legislation to plug this loophole before this insanity spreads to other areas.... When you buy a day return from train & coach companies will you be forced to check if they will add two card handling charges? When I buy a set of tyres, might there be 4 card handling charges smuggled onto the bill?

I think it's legal as they tell you clearly what the charges will be before you decide to proceed. If you don't like the charges, you don't have to buy the tickets.