MSE News: Budget airline fee blow as Visa Electron bank cards phased out

Toe-Jam

miele wrote: »

I am so fed up with these fees from ryanair and easyjet, I am going to try to change my Halifax Visa Debit Card into an Electron Card on Monday.

I don't use the account (current account) very often as I bank elsewhere so I hope they'll let me do it. Any ideas how long it'll take for the Electron card to come through?

Visa Electron is not free anymore on Ryanair you need to get a prepaid mastercard to avoid the charges.

I recommed https://www.fairfx.com (the anywhere card) or https://www.neteller.com

PolishBigSpender

vandermerwe wrote: »

The peculiar thing is I have never managed to find out from any supplier just why they were so anti-Electron.

The answer to this is quite simple - Visa Electron was never intended as anything but a card to be used face-to-face. The card must be checked in real-time for the balance in the account - I wouldn't be surprised if these companies are processing the transactions at the end of each day in one go (cheaper) - which Visa Electron is unsuitable for.

crumpsall

I recently tried to book a Thomas Cook holiday on-line with my Co-Op Electron card. Their system would not recognise it as an Electron card and would only accept it as a debit card (with a consequent charge). I phoned Thomas Cook who advised that their system was classifying the card as a Debit card but that if I could get confirmation from the Co-Op that it was Electron, they would refund the charges. I then wrote to the Co-Op saying that, having looked in detail on the web, I now understand that the are phasing out the Electron and replacing it with a debit card, but that they had not informed me of this and all the publicity surrounding it suggested that existing Electrons would work until they expired. They called back, confirmed the Electron phase out but without offering any real explanation as to the failure to inform customers, but did offer to refund the charges themselves.

Subsequently, I have used the card to book a fee-free easyJet flight without a problem, so their systems do still recognise it as Electron.

It's bad enough dealing with the deliberate obfuscations of the airlines without inconsistencies from the banks too!

MSE_Natasha wrote: »

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Numerous banks are axing the plastic, which can often be used to bypass payment charges on flight bookings ..."

Read the full story:

Budget airline fee blow as Visa Electron bank cards phased out

jamesbrownontheroad

crumpsall wrote: »

I recently tried to book a Thomas Cook holiday on-line with my Co-Op Electron card. Their system would not recognise it as an Electron card and would only accept it as a debit card (with a consequent charge). I phoned Thomas Cook who advised that their system was classifying the card as a Debit card but that if I could get confirmation from the Co-Op that it was Electron, they would refund the charges. I then wrote to the Co-Op saying that, having looked in detail on the web, I now understand that the are phasing out the Electron and replacing it with a debit card, but that they had not informed me of this and all the publicity surrounding it suggested that existing Electrons would work until they expired. They called back, confirmed the Electron phase out but without offering any real explanation as to the failure to inform customers, but did offer to refund the charges themselves.

I don't have the URL handy, crumpsall, but I started and contributed to a thread somewhere in this forum last year about my troubles with Co-Op.

Similar experience to you - only I commute fairly regularly with EasyJet and FlyBe, who overnight both stopped accepting my Co-Op Electron card.

Sum total, after many phone calls, is that Co-Op had not only ceased to issue Visa Electron, but had also re-assigned the identifying digits in all existing Visa Electron cards as Visa Debit. No customers were notified of this change, and the effect was immediate. Despite what it says on the card, airlines and retailers will now look up your card number to verify the card type, and it'll be listed as Visa Debit.

I dumped Co-Op and moved to Halifax, who at the time were still issuing Visa Electron with their Easycash account.

alanrowell

Budget airline fee blow as Visa Electron bank cards phased out

Why assume that it's a blow - without Visa Electron cards airlines will have to find another way to offer charge free booking.

GrumpyMiddleagedMan

Having been unable to book Air Lingus flights with my Co-op Electron card, as I have done numerous times (saving the fees), it took 4 phonecalls and 2 letters to the bank before they admitted to changing it to a "debit card" without my knowledge. No apology for this or the hours I spent on the phone, wrongly accusing the airline of underhand tactics! It was not a renewal, just overnight changed from Electron to Debit without telling me. Halifax here I come!