MSE News: Budget airlines get kicking over card surcharges

geordieracer

terryw wrote: »

Yep, if that is what the advertised price is! Been to Madrid, Posnan and Riga for 1 penny in budget airline sales with no extra charges.

Having said that, the current charging method of the budget airlines is nonsensical and really annoys potential customers.

If my pub advertises beer for 1p then that is what I expect to pay. I don't expect "glass surcharge" and "seat surcharge" and "giving change surcharge" to bring the price up to £3!

But ryanairs surcharges are all for extras. They advertise at the price they can - what bumps up the price from that nominal price is the airport taxes.

zenmaster

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain wrote: »

Just my 2p....

+ £10 reading fee

smala01

The key wording here is the "true" cost of accepting card based payment methods.

Although the MARGINAL cost of a card is 2%/20p the FIXED cost of infrastructure and staffing required to maintain the billing and IT systems will be considerably more.


Ryanair argues this exact point, and hence suggests they are already in compliance of the proposals.



All that will happen here is that there will be an agreement of a maximum charge levy similar to the way we have a £10 maximum overdraft penalty for banks.


(and from a very selfish point of view - i have the niche card with all the airlines to avoid the fees. When an agreement is implimented i would think it would be applied across the board so i will lose my "discount"



Smala01

DJFearRoss

I own a very small business and accept debit and credit card payments.

My MAXIMUM costs are 40p for a debit card payment and 2.5% for a credit card payment. I also pay £20 a month for the service.

This is the rate i've negotiated over time, as my sales increased i was able to negotiate better and better rates.

People are saying that Ryanair will just put this cost in the ticket price anyway so the final price will be the same regardless.. yes. That's the whole point!

chattychappy

Another quango running around at taxpayer's expense trying to nanny us.

The real scandal of air fares is the amount of tax the government takes.

giraffe69

Is there anyone in the world who honestly expects to fly from London to Dublin for £0.99??

I don't but that isn't the point. If you wish to select an airline for a flight then you should know what they will charge without having to waste an enormous amount of time going through many web pages to do so. The Ryanair business model is a scummy one because they rely on catching people out. Fail to tick the right boxes and you get insurance you didn't want. Pay by anything other than a ridiculous card that no-one has (alright not many) and it is several pounds per ticket not transaction and completely unrelated to the cost. I agree that these charges will probably stay in one form or another but at least I will have a beter chance of making an informed selection if some of their most dubious charges are upfront.

davidgmmafan

You've kinda got to admire Ryanir's stance, I mean if you are going to rely on front you might as well have more front than Brighton. Avoidable charges, hmm technically. Now I wonder what POSSIBLE reason they could have for changing the type of card which is exempt from the optional fee.

We know free postage and packing isn't really free, but I think it is wrong in principle to make an additional charge for say a card payment when conducting business online where there is no alternative!

plumber2009

Ryan air make me laugh.

To use a prepaid mastercard still costs money as you either have to pay a transaction fee for each purchase or pay £60 for a 1 year subscription to be able to use the card without transaction fees.

So its cheaper to pay the debit card fee unless you travel twice a month.

I always pay with cash now as there have been a huge increase over the last year by where local retailers are charging upto £1 to pay with a debit card. In most cases I now shop at the supermarket or major retailers as I am unwilling to support local businesses that take the P*** with higher prices and then have the cheek to charge you ripp off fee to pay for the goods.

smala01

plumber2009 wrote: »

Ryan air make me laugh.

To use a prepaid mastercard still costs money as you either have to pay a transaction fee for each purchase or pay £60 for a 1 year subscription to be able to use the card without transaction fees.

So its cheaper to pay the debit card fee unless you travel twice a month.

Sorry i dont agree.

I have a prepaid mastercard (FairFx) and there is only a 1.4% fee for use. This compares to Ryanairs £8 card transaction fee PER PERSON.

I think its worthwhile to get this card to avoid the charges, even if you just fly once a year!


Edited - as i misread your post.

Smala01

greatauntyjacky

I was forced to book a flight at short notice with flybe today. not only was the surcharge buried several pages into the transaction but they do not state anywhere in the main pages for booking that there is a 10kg free hand luggage allowance. There are 4 options from 15 - 40 kg each carrying a hefty charge. The information on hand luggage is also buried in the main website. I was also invited to select my seat and not told it would charge £6 for the priviledge until the seat was selected.
Greater transparency on what is free too please. It is not as if the flight was especially cheap to begin with!

Greatauntyjacky - nearly a pensioner!