Beat Ryanair, Easyjet, BMIBaby etc booking fees.

geoff_s---r

Martin warns that Ryanair's 'special offer' policy of 'no charge for payment by electron' may be temporary

I believe Ryanair can't advertise a price that is unattainable, so I suspect this will stay until they discover an even more obscure way to allow payments without added charges.

geoff_s---r

Pee wrote: »

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.

Regret I think so also Pee. But that's my point. Must we all now be forced to demand small print before we consider paying for train tickets, car tyres or order a meal? Surely we now need a law (or a common law ruling) that a single card payment can't incur multiple card handling charges.

I believe courts can declare unfair terms invalid. For instance, I'm confident that B & Q can't count the screws in a multipack & add 100 charges of £5 to 'handle' your card payment. I'd assume a court would rule for a £500 refund, no matter what B&Q's small print says & establish a common law ruling, that 1 payment=1 payment charge?

Stemondo

When I buy flights I usually end up going with one company and coming back with another. Which means when i book the coming home flight I always get charged in euros. Does this mean I will need 2 Travelex cards, 1 in pounds to book the outgoing flight and 1 in euros to book the incoming flight?

apt

I think the OFT should rule against Ryanair. If it thinks it is wrong for the banks to charge excessive fees, then it should also be wrong for Ryanair to charge 'debit/credit card fees' that are clearly far in excess of the actual costs to Ryanair. The Ryanair debit/credit card fee has already been found illegal in Germany, though Ryainair is dragging out the case by appealing.

geoff_s---r

apt wrote: »

I think the OFT should rule against Ryanair. If it thinks it is wrong for the banks to charge excessive fees, then it should also be wrong for Ryanair to charge 'debit/credit card fees' that are clearly far in excess of the actual costs to Ryanair. The Ryanair debit/credit card fee has already been found illegal in Germany, though Ryainair is dragging out the case by appealing.

OFT's help desk thought that if it was in Ryanair's terms, it was legal.
I was hoping OFT were being lazy & someone here with legal knowledge could offer me an argument to encourage them to take the complaint onboard.
Maybe the Germans are helped by logical minds, because allowing multiple payment handling charges for a single payment, seems a bizarrely illogical way for the UK to allow traders to overcharge consumers

paddlingpool

mystic_trev wrote: »

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.

Hi, is the transfer of cash to the account instant or do you have to wait a few days?
also if you have no money in the account and you use the card to buy something, do you get charged by the bank?

Thanks,

koru

I am interested to note that easyjet have a much more reasonable policy on this than any of the other budget airlines. £2.95 per booking, rather than £5 per person per flight. Easyjet have their faults, but they aren't even close to Ryanair in terms of cynical charges and rip offs. Personally, I make a point of using Easyjet in preference to Ryan whenever I possibly can. Ryan would have to be significantly cheaper before I would use them.

Easyjet do charge extra for credit cards, but this is pretty common. Even BA charges extra for this. They do have to pay fees to the credit card company, so I don't begrudge paying extra for this, especially as I can avoid it by using a debit card.

apt

paddlingpool wrote: »

Hi, is the transfer of cash to the account instant or do you have to wait a few days?
also if you have no money in the account and you use the card to buy something, do you get charged by the bank?

Thanks,

Cash deposits are credited immediately and the accounts receive faster payments. The account has no overdraft and with VISA electron you cannot spend more than what is in your account. You cannot buy something unless the money is in your account.

umberto_3

I tried to use a travelex visa prepaid card on Ryanair last year and it just did not work. Ryanair's websiet was running like a pig at the time so trying the card multiple times was torture.
Travelex phone support was neither use nor ornament and I was not going to phone the Ryanair support line at 60p per min.
I managed to return the card to Travelex and get the fee refunded after some debate. Customer support and people at hut at the airport seemed to have different ideas.:mad:
I use a Post Office visa electron card now which works fine althought sometimes the loading exchange rates seem poor.

paddlingpool

apt wrote: »

Cash deposits are credited immediately and the accounts receive faster payments. The account has no overdraft and with VISA electron you cannot spend more than what is in your account. You cannot buy something unless the money is in your account.

thanks for the quick response!
just to clarify though, if i were to transfer the money from an online bank account to this halifax easy cash account would it also be immediate?