BBC News: Credit and debit card surcharges 'are excessive'

malkie76

How about they tell you the cost before you push the confirm button?
Oh wait; they already do.

tingtong

malkie76 wrote: »

How about they tell you the cost before you push the confirm button?
Oh wait; they already do.

How about starting to charge £40 if you just happen to forget your boarding pass ? Oh wait, they already do.

Out of interest, if the unavoidable 'web check in' fee was increased from £6 to say, £25, would that still be fair ? Advertise a £10 flight but there's absolutely no way you can pay less than £35. Is that still fair and honest ?

NFH

malkie76 wrote: »

How about they tell you the cost before you push the confirm button?
Oh wait; they already do.

That's not the point. Ryanair uses "drip pricing" which entices the customer to make a decision to purchase, but subsequently further charges are added before the purchase is confirmed. That is plain wrong. The all-in final price should be displayed at the beginning (excluding any genuinely optional extras).

malkie76

tingtong wrote: »

How about starting to charge £40 if you just happen to forget your boarding pass ? Oh wait, they already do.

You agree to that when you confirm your purchase. No one is holding a gun to your head while you do it.
Excellent chewbacca arguement though.

malkie76

NFH wrote: »

That's not the point. Ryanair uses "drip pricing" which entices the customer to make a decision to purchase, but subsequently further charges are added before the purchase is confirmed. That is plain wrong. The all-in final price should be displayed at the beginning (excluding any genuinely optional extras).

In your opinion that is 'wrong'. In my opinion you should choose another airline.

NFH

malkie76 wrote: »

In your opinion that is 'wrong'. In my opinion you should choose another airline.

I do use another airline.

Those who have been enticed by Ryanair to make a decision to purchase a flight at a particular price should be able to complete their purchase at that price without further compulsory charges being added later. Customers who are subjected to drip pricing have often spent a lot of time making that decision to purchase, and they are consequently reluctant to abort and repeat the decision-making process with another company. You would struggle to find many people who agree with your opinion that drip pricing is not wrong.

Louisdf

Wont ryanair be paying the same merchant fees to accept a prepaid mastercard compared to an ordinary credit/debit mastercard? And more than a visa electron payment which used to be free?

Once more people get a prepaid mastercard, Ryanair will not be making enough money from the £5 payment fee charge. What card will be next instead? My money is on maestro, as Natwest and other banks have stopped issuing these, and instead issue visa debit cards to customers. Or maybe diners card?

Louisdf

Also, I notice that Ryanair accept bank transfer from German customers, however they also charge a £5 per person, per flight fee! Ryanair must be the only online company in the world which accepts bank transfer payment, and imposes additional charges for doing so compared to a card payment.

NFH

Louisdf wrote: »

Once more people get a prepaid mastercard, Ryanair will not be making enough money from the £5 payment fee charge. What card will be next instead? My money is on maestro, as Natwest and other banks have stopped issuing these, and instead issue visa debit cards to customers. Or maybe diners card?

No, Diners Club is too cheap and therefore easy to get. What about American Express Centurion (aka black card)? The annual fee is only £1800, so that should put off enough Ryanair customers from getting one!

Interesting how Ryanair doesn't accept either Amex or Diners currently. Whereas many retailers choose not to accept these cards because of higher interchange/discount fees, my guess is that in Ryanair's case, Ryanair would fall foul of too many of Amex's rules which are fairly strict.

malkie76

NFH wrote: »

I do use another airline.

Those who have been enticed by Ryanair to make a decision to purchase a flight at a particular price should be able to complete their purchase at that price without further compulsory charges being added later.

But they aren't. Price is clear before clicking the confirm button. If something was added after that then you'd have a point. Personally I love the fact that they are transparent about their prices and give you the abiility add or remove components you don't need.

Major airlines don't let you do that - personally I think thats disgraceful and should be outlawed, and I'm confident many other people share my opinion.