MSE News: Ryanair to charge for Visa Electron bookings

benjus

landsker wrote: »

@Stoneman - You are being patronising .
Not all of us have the choice of airlines which fly to and from our necessary destinations.
With the withdrawal of Easyjet from East Midlands next year we have a choice of Ryanair or BMIBaby from Malaga, as we live in Spain.
We are pensioners who travel this route to visit our family and I can assure you that a fiver per person each way, i.e. an extra twenty quid IS important to us.

Having got THAT off my chest - another gripe - NONE of the card issuers recommended on Martin's site will accept applications from non UK residents, even after such exhaustive checks as requiring full passport details. ICE would not recognise my address as it's my daughter's UK address presumably as we are not on the electoral register there .
So how do I get a prepaid card in Spain - you find one if you can & let me know!
Our own Spanish bank only do a virtual, one off transaction, card and it's a VISA, so no good for ScamAir. :mad::mad::mad:

Did you bother reading my reply to your earlier message? I posted a couple of potential options in Spain. I'm sure there are more if you bother to look.

alared

So,summing it all up,it looks like the ICE sterling traveler`s card is about the best with only a 2% top-up charge and can be used most places in the UK as well.

http://www.iceplc.com/cgi-bin/live/ecommerce.pl?site=iceplc.com&state=products&dept_id=01&sub_dept_id=02&menu=cashcard&affiliate=400065

budgetflyer

Quentin wrote: »

You break the rules by coming here purely to advertise your site.

You do this in every post.

And you know your name breaks the rule!

But the post (and website) is highly relevent in that we are researching "pre paid mastercards"

Why does it bother you? Instead of criticizing, add some value!

Cookiepops

We are planning on going up to Edinburgh inthe New Year for 1 night. The card admincharges are ridiculous and I was about to purchase an ICE card but the sale ends on Friday and Im worried the prices might go up whilst I am waiting for the card to be delivered. So as we dont use Ryan air very often, could I just purchase vouchers and send them as a gift to my husband? I think there is a £5 admin fee but its going to cost about £3 for the ICE card top up anyway.
Has anyone else done it this way or do they charge you for paying with their own gift vouchers too! (nothing would surprise me!)

Thanks!!

apt

Have you noticed this condition - 'If a voucher is partially redeemed the remaining balance is void.' Also you can only make bookings for the same name as is on the voucher. A good rule of thumb for any Ryanair ancilliary services is steer well clear. Only buy dirt cheep fares and nothing else from this outfit If you want to buy quickly set up a virtual card with someone like entropay. It has charges, but they will be less than Ryanair will be trying to grab from you.

Cookiepops

Thanks apt, I'll avoid it then as there a few of us going up and sending vouchers to each other could get messy!!!

Donnie

budgetflyer wrote: »

But the post (and website) is highly relevent in that we are researching "pre paid mastercards"

Why does it bother you? Instead of criticizing, add some value!

So would it be ok if shopkeepers popped up on every 'relevant' thread?

MrChips

JPD23 wrote: »

2% fee seems to be only for the £ card. Would it be a good bet to get a Euro card instead (minimum load £100 still, but no fees ever from what I can see?) Then always make sure to book Ryanair flights in Euros? (i.e. if you wanted Stansted to Hahn return, actually book a return Hahn to Stansted (with "dummy" outward flight) then a single back from Hahn to Stansted??)

Or will Ryanair stuff me on DCC anyway by converting to pounds...................?!

Thoughts??

You want to be a bit careful with this approach as I think a lot of airlines have terms and conditions which state that if you don't make the outbound part of your booking, they cancel your return flight. I certainly wouldn't put it past Ryanair to do this!

benjus

MrChips wrote: »

You want to be a bit careful with this approach as I think a lot of airlines have terms and conditions which state that if you don't make the outbound part of your booking, they cancel your return flight. I certainly wouldn't put it past Ryanair to do this!

That's not the case with Ryanair (or any of the budget airlines that I know of). They only sell one-way fares - a "return" is just two one way tickets. The only difference is that the return flight is priced in the same currency as the outward flight if you buy them together. With Easyjet you can buy in either currency, but Ryanair will always price in the currency of the country where the outbound flight originates.

MrChips

I didn't believe you so I went to check the T&Cs - and you are right! That's good to know. Thanks.