Easyjet ends fee-free bookings as it now charges for Visa Electron

SaveTheEuro

will-in-estoril wrote: »

All very interesting. However, what is being discussed is the fact that the price Easyjet advertises its fares at is misleading.

Spin it how you will: divide it by 18, add 30, multiply it by the first number you thought of. The fact remains that what Easyjet, Ryanair, some theatres etc engage in is utter deception and will sooner or later end.

The fact that a minority benefits from such deception does not make it right.

Aren't you being a little unfair to RichardW? He is not spinning for easyjet. He is passing on a useful tip on how to avoid repeatedly paying the £9 booking fee.

2010

zagfles wrote: »

Ryanair and Easyjet are budget airlines, not package holiday companies.

Thomson are a package holiday company. I went into the "holidays" section of their website, not the "flights". So they quoted me for a package holiday. Funnily enough, I expect a "package holiday" to include accomodation and transfers. And was quite pleased they gave me the option to have discounts for not needing parts of that package.

Thomson are not only a "package holiday" company, they also sell flights, just the same as RA and EJ sell accommodation.

If you do click on "flights" Thomson then go on to offer a whole lot of extras including accommodation, transfers, pick your seat, insurance, meals, extra leg room.
So you still don`t know your final price until the

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end.

Don`t you mean Ryanair and Easyjet WERE budget airlines?

rickbonar

Is this all anything to do with the government stopping "excessive admin charges for credit card payments"?

This is just the air heads simply moving it on to something else instead.......

richardw

I'm not spinning anything, just explaining how their flight basket system may help some people in the short term.
I don't agree with admin fees and card charges should be actual cost.

StevieJ

2010 wrote: »

Don`t forget that using a credit card in the supermarkets may seem to be free but to cover their costs they charge higher prices for the goods.
People using cash/debit cards still have to pay the same higher price for the goods, so could effectively be subsidising the credit card payers..

Just to rub it in, I receive 2% cashback on my Barclaycard as well

zagfles

2010 wrote: »

Thomson are not only a "package holiday" company, they also sell flights, just the same as RA and EJ sell accommodation.

To repeat myself "I went into the "holidays" section of their website, not the "flights"

If you do click on "flights" Thomson then go on to offer a whole lot of extras including accommodation, transfers, pick your seat, insurance, meals, extra leg room.

Yes. All of which anyone can decline.

So you still don`t know your final price until the

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end.

You do if you don't want extras.

Don`t you mean Ryanair and Easyjet WERE budget airlines?

They still are. £16 for a flight to Sweden is still cheap and that includes Ryanair's admin charge.

Anyway Ryanair's fare structure needn't change. I don't think there's anything to stop them offering a discount for a particular card, rather than surcharging the rest.

So they could increase all their flights by £6 and give a discount of £6 per passenger per leg if you use the Ryanair pre-paid card. That would make prices exactly the same as now, and all the whingers complaining "boo hoo it's not fair I got the card now the rules are changing", will still get flights for exactly the same as now!

There's no reason for them not to do the above, is there?

jayok

not worth it

NFH

will-in-estoril wrote: »

It would be completely unacceptable to go into John Lewis, fill your trolley and get to the checkout to be told that there is a surcharge which is either completely or almost completely unavoidable.

I think Easyjet have decided to do it this way because of precedents in other industries. For example there are plenty of web sites where you order goods and a per-order fee is added at the end to cover delivery. The concept is one that already exists when buying goods; Easyjet are extending this concept to services, which itself is not new either. For example many telephone companies charge a per-call fee in addition to a per-minute fee. Like you, I don't agree with this £9 fee, but from a legal perspective, one has to look at precedents in other industries.

tingtong

zagfles wrote: »

Anyway Ryanair's fare structure needn't change. I don't think there's anything to stop them offering a discount for a particular card, rather than surcharging the rest.

So they could increase all their flights by £6 and give a discount of £6 per passenger per leg if you use the Ryanair pre-paid card. That would make prices exactly the same as now, and all the whingers complaining "boo hoo it's not fair I got the card now the rules are changing", will still get flights for exactly the same as now!

There's no reason for them not to do the above, is there?

I initially thought this may be the way they would go but I now believe it would be totally pointless in giving a customer discount at the end of the transaction.

The ONLY reason these fees (admin, booking, card etc) are charged by Ryanair, Easyjet or any other retailer are to suck people in at a certain price which will almost certainly increase by the time you come to pay. Whether you agree with the fees or not, if anyone thinks this is not the reason they should get their head out of the sand.

For example, let's just assume that Ryanair decided to increase all their fares by £6 and do away with all the card fees (which I actually believe would do wonders for their publicity and credibility). If a customer does a search and finds a return flight from A to B at say £50, by the time they reach the payment screen they are already committed. What would be the point of giving them £12 off at the end for paying with a Ryanair card ?

callum9999

2010 wrote: »

Thomson are not only a "package holiday" company, they also sell flights, just the same as RA and EJ sell accommodation.

If you do click on "flights" Thomson then go on to offer a whole lot of extras including accommodation, transfers, pick your seat, insurance, meals, extra leg room.
So you still don`t know your final price until the

---

end.

Don`t you mean Ryanair and Easyjet WERE budget airlines?

No... They are clearly still budget airlines... Find me a fare on a non-budget airline that can beat £10 London to Barcelona, £10 London to Cyprus etc.

coupleuk wrote: »

Wouldn't this be nice......

The MAXIMUM price you will pay to fly from X to Y is £z - that price includes your fare, taxes, admin fees, card processing fees, hand luggage, 20KG suitcase and a pair of ski's per passenger. Your price will reduce depending on card payment method and/or if you remove the suitcase and/or ski's.

That way, it will be easy to compare overall flight prices between airlines.

Of course, modern technology allows for the "extra" to be added/deleted at the first booking page, so there is NO NEED for airlines (and others) to operate the way they do - it needs legislation to clamp down on this one industry so all is clear for the consumer on page 1 of a website and not page 10.

No that would just be ridiculously stupid. It would make it even harder to compare as I'd then have to know what every airline charges for ski's and what every airline charges for baggage and what every airline charges for card processing fees etc. etc. If people can't spare 30 minutes to look into the fees associated with the 2 week holiday they want to take then quite frankly tough.