Charges for paying by card

leitmotif

Hi all,

If you can claim back bank charges (for example), is there any way you could claim that charging £4 per person per flight is unfair and profiteering? The guidelines drawn up a couple of years ago state that the airlines must offer at least one free method of payment, so they all picked a Visa Electron, which virtually no-one has, and charge for the others. I have worked in the payments industry and know that the cost of a transaction is only a fraction of a penny, and certainly has nothing to do with how many passengers are on how many flights.

You could say vote with your feet, but firstly they're all doing it and secondly some flights are necessary (I've just booked a flight to Germany to visit a relative in hospital).

Anything we can do about this?

dzug1

I doubt if you would get anywhere on this - all they would have to do is rename it a booking fee ***(which is what it is really) and then all sorts of costs can be assigned against it.

I know that the cost of a transaction is only a fraction of a penny,

You are defining costs too narrowly. I thought the banks charged at least 50p for a debit card transaction.

The guidelines drawn up a couple of years ago state that the airlines must offer at least one free method of payment

You may be right but I thought the ruling was that the advertised fare had to be available including all costs, not that part of those 'costs' had to be free.

And there are airlines that don't charge - use them if you are desperate to avoid the charge at all costs.

Edit *** I note that Easyjet already do this

leitmotif

Thanks for your reply dzug

dzug1 wrote: »

I doubt if you would get anywhere on this - all they would have to do is rename it a booking fee ***(which is what it is really) and then all sorts of costs can be assigned against it.

Fair enough, but then I wouldn't mind if they charged a level booking fee that is the same for everyone.

dzug1 wrote: »

You are defining costs too narrowly. I thought the banks charged at least 50p for a debit card transaction.

It's not the banks that provide the payment infrastructure. There are providers of systems, providers of payment terminals, etc. etc. etc. The banks get charged for these things, and the most natural method is to charge per transaction. The banks might pay a fraction of a penny for a single transaction. If they decide to charge 50p for a transaction, then that's their business, but that charge will be per transaction. Per passenger per flight certainly isn't a per transaction charge. It's a total sting.

dzug1 wrote: »

You may be right but I thought the ruling was that the advertised fare had to be available including all costs, not that part of those 'costs' had to be free.

I've been in touch with my MP about this. The guidelines state that they had to be clear about the breakdown of costs, but they don't (currently) have to provide a fare that includes everything. The guidelines allow for charging for booking by card on the condition that at least one card payment be free of charge to allow customers the choice. Of course, they all went for the least common card.

dzug1 wrote: »

And there are airlines that don't charge - use them if you are desperate to avoid the charge at all costs.

Edit *** I note that Easyjet already do this

That's as may be, but they probably charge an awful lot more than the budget ones.

It's not a crusade against dishonesty or deception here. It's just that it used to take me 10 minutes to compare flights and book online and now I have to run through several screens per website until I know what exactly I will be paying. I can easily spend an hour comparing flights. Not only do bags frequently cost more than flights, at least one airline charges you for taking bags AND for not taking bags! RyanAir says if you're not taking bags that effectively classes you as a fast-track passenger (not having to check in).