Ryanair - Prepaid Mastercard Problems

jdybnsn

Just had my Kalixa PrePaid Mastercard refused by Ryanair today (have used the card on there before, about 6 months ago with success).
I was trying to buy a couple of cheap flights for my parents ...do you think this could be the reason it declined it (twice) ? ie the fact that the flights were not for me.....or are you OK to use it to buy flights for others - would like to know, if only for future reference.

Bob_the_Saver

The Fairfx charge of 1.4% on s*d all for a Ryanair flight adds up to exactly s*d all, I fail to see a problem. The total Fairfx charges for the last 4 flights I booked came to 39p in total, even as a Yorkshireman I'll only lose a couple of nights sleep over that.

kronenbourg

i totoally forgot about the 1.4% fee , that probably explains why my card wont go through , flights total £51.98 and i put £52 on there
gotta load another £50 on now which isnt a problem

kronenbourg

kronenbourg wrote: »

i totoally forgot about the 1.4% fee , that probably explains why my card wont go through , flights total £51.98 and i put £52 on there
gotta load another £50 on now which isnt a problem

i darn well knew it , added another £50 to my FX card , tried it again and ryanair says theres an error , try it as just a mastercard and thru it goes no problems
£12 more than i wanted to spend the robbers

Bob_the_Saver

Maybe I'm lucky but I never have a problem (booked 6 so far this week) with FairFx.
Just a thought, the last three digits of the code on the back of the card can be a bit difficult to see if it's slightly worn. Are you 100% sure you are putting the LAST 3 digits in? mine are worn off but I know what they are. (On mine) they're on a thinner part of the strip.
This isn't the first time you've used the card is it, it has been activated?

jdybnsn

There was plenty of ££ in my Kalixa prepaid card account and carefully checked every detail TWICE.....:cool:

jdybnsn

Just thought I'd post an update.

Next day I phoned Kalixa and sure enough there was no problem with my card (or the amount in my account).
The helpful chappie at Kalixa said that he was aware that sometimes people do have problems using the Ryanair site, but this was usual after the card had been used 5 or 6 times after which the site had a habit of blocking the card for no good reason... but not normally on a first, or second (in my case) try.

I then decided to print off my personal details from my Kalixa account page on line. I wanted to ensure that I when I next filled in the details on the Ryanair page, they were EXACTLY as they appear on my Kalixa account - including leaving the gap between the first and last three digits of my postcode (which does not appear on the card, but is required when booking)etc.

My orignal flights had of course gone up ! - but as it happpened I checked on my second choice airport which fortunately, is equal distance away....only to chance upon a cheaper flight for the return leg for the next day (not offered by the first airport). I carefully filled in my details with precision reference to my Kalixa card details and B-I-N-G-O ...it all went through ! So happy ending ! :beer:

Also went on to book 3 more flights this week with no problems.

Not sure if it was a one off experience in the first post or that these pre paid Mastercards do require more attention to detail, or Ryanair do indeed have a way of making things difficult for people paying this way ...either way, its definitely worth printing out your account details to ensure they are exactly in line with what you fill in on the Ryanair site, before you start.

Hope this is of some help.

Hyachard

Cliff1805 wrote: »

Ryanair and prepaid mastercard Following the advice on this site and others I recently acquired a FairFX prepaid Mastercard in order to avoid the Ryanair administration charges. I obtained the card and duly loaded it with £160. So far so good. However, I have tried on about a dozen occasions over the course of a week to use it to book a £118 flight on the Ryanair website. On each occasion the result is payment declined. I have contacted FairFX card services and they tell me that I am entering an incorrect expiry date. I have used the card to make other online purchases and have not had a problem apart from with Ryanair. I called Ryanair and they were not interested and said it was nothing to do with them. In the end I used a different card and paid the admin fee plus an extra £40 because the cost of the seats had by that time risen to £150. I cant prove it of course but it seems to me that Ryanair are trying to make it impossible to pay with a prepaid Mastercard, i.e. the very type of card that does not attract the £5 per person each way administration fee.

I had a very similar experience with FairFX and Rynanair recently.
In order to beat their card booking fees I took out a pre-paid Mastercard in January which I used a few times. As the name suggests you have to load it up with money first and then use it, having done this, I recently tried to use it again but found that it was not accepted?!! It's a very long story but....it seems that Ryanair have found a way to refuse payment of my card by advising that I am putting the details in wrong......what 20 times??? After calling their 10 pence a minute line 3 times and being held in queue one time for over 20 minutes, I was advised that they would refer the details to Dublin and allow my card but I would need to call back! This was after numerous unsuccessful attempts over 5 days!



I had also been in contact with the FairFX who just kept telling me that the card was fine and not being declined their end and offering no help whatsoever?! whilst holding on to £350 of my money!!!



Anyway I eventually found this Forum, where 'surprise surprise' there were similar stories to mine about prepaid Mastercards not working and my one was mentioned more than most! However, what was interesting and very useful was a comment from somebody who suggested booking the flights through Travel Republic, so..... I went onto to their site and found that I could book the exact same flights with Ryanair for the same price and that if I used my Barclays Connect card, I paid no card charges! (unfortunately they do not accept Pre-paid mastercards) and even their other charges for cards are low, £8 odd being the highest!, which compared to paying £5.00 per person per flight works out to quite a saving for 4 of us!
My advice then is to go straight to Travel Republic and save yourself a lot of time and frustruation!!