Exchange Rate Cheats - Ryanair

fifeken

alanrowell wrote: »

Apparently there is a way to avoid DCC

It's been discussed here on MSE a few times as well. Tricky to spot unless you know what you're looking for but at least it's there.

xmbs wrote: »

but surely as in the first post something is clearly wrong the exchange rate quoted here is Euro to Pounds which has been fairly steady lately at around 0.83 so 1.5 something is again almost double close to a 90 to 100% load. I think something must be going wrong in Ryanair's systems somewhere (maybe bad exchange software or something), given that this is so blatantly wrong I would be astonished if there was nothing that could be done about this.

There was a very similar thread a couple of weeks ago where most replies seemed to think the OP had missed something out of their story as it seemed they were charged double and were blaming the DCC. I'm not sure if it came to a resolution but might see if I can find it later.

MarkBargain

alanrowell wrote: »

Apparently there is a way to avoid DCC

Thanks very much for this. It is VERY sneaky by Ryanair. Only when entering the credit card details does a very small "more information" link appear earlier on the page which no one would think to click. When doing so it explains Ryanair's rate and there is a box which can be unticked which it advises you not to do (that's a laugh when their rates are so appalling!).

My flight was 180.56 Polish zloty and Ryanair would have converted it to £41.26.

Checking my FairFX statement, they converted it to £38.71.

Ryanair would have charged me 6.6% more with their hidden cost!!

So, TAKE CARE when using Ryanair as they do try to catch you out.

budgetflyer

Was this an online transaction? They charge over double for adding a bag at the airport. (£35 or 35 Euro)

MarkBargain

budgetflyer wrote: »

Was this an online transaction? They charge over double for adding a bag at the airport. (£35 or 35 Euro)

Yes, this is online for any flight booked starting in another country.

budgetflyer

Hi Markbargain, 6% is believable. A bit naughty but hey you do pay more for a beer in the Sheraton than you do in a Wotherspoons so no real crime committed.
In the original posters case,(fedupflyer) to be charged DOUBLE is either a software error or we are not getting the real story. You can not just turn up at the airport and add a bag for £15 or 15 Euro.

MarkBargain

budgetflyer wrote: »

Hi Markbargain, 6% is believable. A bit naughty but hey you do pay more for a beer in the Sheraton than you do in a Wotherspoons so no real crime committed.
In the original posters case,(fedupflyer) to be charged DOUBLE is either a software error or we are not getting the real story. You can not just turn up at the airport and add a bag for £15 or 15 Euro.

The Sheraton would have a price list by the bar though, whereas the Ryanair charge is sneaky. People often argue on here that Ryanair's charges are clear, but this one is not.

peterbaker

There are so many threads on MSE dotted around over many months about this so I thought I'd remind everyone of the particularly useful post some time ago by ermepb on another thread who provided screenshots to show you exactly where Ryanair's sneaky FOREX "More Information" link is to be found: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=33264447&postcount=23

redux

Actually, none of the suggestions so far fully define the best way to pay

Rather strangely, when searching fares on their website, it's apparent that a single fare home from Europe is exactly the same number of Euros as the number of Pounds it costs if as the second leg of a return, e.g. £38.99 versus €38.99, so it's worth considering booking the trip as 2 singles and using a different currency card for each leg. On that £39 example it saves about £5.

And the OP would have been better off with a Euros card available to pay this charge

This by itself is a good reason to consider getting one of those prepaid payment cards in Euros, even apart from all the other debates on exchange rates on debit and credit cards.