Beat Budget Airline Charges Article Discussion

SPACON

Sbarkia wrote: »

I use Ryanair a couple of times a year to Denmark as not only is it cheap but also very convenient. My best price was the grand sum of 2p return a couple of years ago and my next flight in March is £12 all in (return flight £2 plus £10 for use of debit card). I'm lucky in being flexible as to when I fly and keep my eye out for their offers. 10kg of hand luggage is ample for a few days and I never buy anything on the plane. Incidentally so far Stansted have always had big boxes of plastic bags all round the airport so I always grab a handful

Next time get your self a pre-paid Mastercard (eg: FairFX) and avoid the £10 debit card fee.

SPACON

Hi,

I've recently got myself the sterling and the Euro FairFX pre-paid Mastercards. Just want to make sure which card should one use when purchasing flights with Ryanair. If you use the Euro version you don't get a charge for using the card but with the sterling card there is a 1.5% charge for all usage. And because they are pre-paid cards you lock in the exchange rate on the Euro card. Has anyone else given this some thought? Thanks.

$"£!$&^*"$!&*(

thelawnet wrote: »

The cheapest card is NOT the ICE Sterling Card, it is the Neteller net+ card, which costs nothing at all.

Thanks for this

maciej

SPACON wrote: »

Hi,

I've recently got myself the sterling and the Euro FairFX pre-paid Mastercards. Just want to make sure which card should one use when purchasing flights with Ryanair. If you use the Euro version you don't get a charge for using the card but with the sterling card there is a 1.5% charge for all usage. And because they are pre-paid cards you lock in the exchange rate on the Euro card. Has anyone else given this some thought? Thanks.

You're correct. I applied fot both FairFX cards i.e. Anywhere (in GBP) and Euro (in EUR).

The way I use them with RYANAIR (Im talking about RyanAir only here):
* Anywhere FairFx Mastercard Prepaid for RyanAir purchases if the original price is in GBP (i.e. when the flight originates in the UK).
Why? No currency conversion, only 1.5% fee applied on total amount.

* Euro FairFx Mastercard Prepaid - for RyanAir purchases if the original price in in EUR (most European countries)
Why? Only one currency conversion (when you top-up using GBP it gets automatically converted to EUR using FairFX rate - which I checked is 0.3% off the inter-bank rate and that is a VERY GOOD rate). + you do not pay any fee (0%) on payment.

For other European flights (not EUR nor GBP) - you would have to do the calculations what is more advantageous:
a) with Anywhere card; conversion from local currency (e.g. polish PLN) to GBP (using FairFx rate) + 1.5% total payment fee
or
b) with EuroCard; double conversion (PLN->EUR->GBP) but no payment fee (0%)

I'd assume option b, since it would (more or less) be 0.3% + 0.3% (double conversion) so somehow less that 1.5%.. But in reality it might be better or worse than that since FairFx Euro Card coverts your topped up GBP into EUR AT THE MOMENT OF HE TOP-UP not at the moment of purchase/payment. So if the currency exchange rate on the market changes - so change you profits/losses on the conversion

Hope that helps!

And I hope I got it all right - cause it is quite compliacated..

p.s.1. you cannot have two currencies on your Neteller+ account, so FairFx is somehow more user friendly..
p.s.2. and if currency on the card you use for RyanAir payment differs from the original currency of the ticket you're buying - make sure you tick off the RyanAir automatic currency conversion after putting in your card detail (last step in purchase procss). RyanAir auto conversion rate is a total rip-off and will cost you additional 5-6% on top of your original price..

IKM

I just got the FairFX card as recommended by Martin. In the terms and conditions there is no mention of a £2 per month fee after 12 months of inactivity. However there is a fee of £10 to cancel the card and get the balance less the fee refunded. I suppose you could get round this by running the balance down to near zero.

All in all it's a good deal if you use it to book any Ryanair flights.

ripoffspotter

Hi
Is it not about time that there was an independent online site that detailed all the charges applied by airlines companies relating to each airport?
As a regular traveller it amazes me that the charges added never seem consistent and the fact that more charges are added depending on how payment is to be made never ceases to amaze/frustrate me.
When will the monopolies commission get involved - how {RyanAir/Jet2/etc} am I supposed to check in when there is a charge for either option - surely this is part of the fare and so should be advertised accordingly?
Also the charge for cancelling a flight is extortionate - how can they justify charging £30+ "handling fee" when its usually a case of logging on to their advert-ridden website and making the change yourself? This rules out reclaiming the taxes you have paid as the difference is usually not much more than the "handling fee" for this change!

CYPER

I want to avoid the ryanair card charges, but I'm not sure what is the best way to do it in my position. I want to buy a return ticket London-Bremen, departing on 14.04. If I apply for FairFx* the ticket price will definitely go up by the time the card comes through the post.

So which is the cheapest to use virtual prepaid mastercard with instant approval and access to it?

Thank you.

Looking through the fees list of the Neteller card I see nothing suspicious expect the Card Cancellation Fee of £10.

melb

I got an Escape card from phones4U - please search this forum for the details as I can't remember exactly but it seemed a good deal at the time but I wouldn't want to give you duff information. This was while I was awaiting my Neteller card which took forever to process. You just go into the shop and sign up - my card was verified there and then and available for use straight away.

Nigel_Chant

I have recently taken a few flights wherre after adding all the extras that you need to pay on a, so-called, budget airline it was actually cheaper to book with a normal carrier. And you got food!!!!

Zebra

thelawnet wrote: »

The cheapest card is NOT the ICE Sterling Card, it is the Neteller net+ card, which costs nothing at all.

Why do you say that?

I'm not arguing, I'm just wondering why it's the cheapest.

The Neteller card isn't on this list:
http://www.travel-money-cards.co.uk/sterling-travel-money-cards.html
But there are a couple of others that don't have transaction fees - do they have other fees that I'm missing?

I wonder why Martin Lewis recommends the Fairfx card when it has a 1.5% fee.