MSE News: Monarch hits flyers with credit card fee hike

GlennTheBaker

Louisdf wrote: »

Is it really essential to pay by credit card for a Monarch flight? They seem unlikely to go bust, as they have added several new routes from Manchester and Birmingham this year to Milan/Venice/Verona.

Adding new routes does not necessarily mean commercial viability. I would imagine XL added new routes the year they went bust.

Butti

aldredd wrote: »

What do these companies take us for?!

I think if you looked over their right shoulder you could just make out a pig flying past!

apt

GlennTheBaker wrote: »

Adding new routes does not necessarily mean commercial viability. I would imagine XL added new routes the year they went bust.

Monarch has been around a lot longer than XL and has much more solid financial backing. In the very small chance that it did go bust you would still get your money back through chargeback if paying by a debit card.

Obviously_the_best

If it's still free to pay by PayPal, why not link your credit card to your PayPal account, problem sorted!!!

fifeken

NFH wrote: »

<snip> It is widely accepted that Section 75 applies when all five of the above parties are different entities.

If you go over to the ebay forum, where the posters are very familiar with PayPal, you'll find that Section 75 protection is more often than not declined due to PayPal's involvement.
Were you posting from personal experience with a particular bank and PayPal as I believe some are more lenient than others?

Gloomendoom

fifeken wrote: »

If you go over to the ebay forum, where the posters are very familiar with PayPal, you'll find that Section 75 protection is more often than not declined due to PayPal's involvement.

Isn't this what travel insurance is for? I know mine covers me for airline failure.

spanglish wrote: »

You'll need to check the terms of your credit card. I've recently had a letter from Barclaycard to say that these transactions will now be treated as cash advances with all the associated costs, which may be higher than Monarch's own fees.

Are you sure about that?

Edit: A bit of digging has unearthed this MSE thread on the subject...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3832451

klint

I've just found a way partly to avoid credit card fees (not involving Paypal). Let's say your flight is £200 per person. That's likely to be made up of £140 for the flight itself and £32 for the luggage, £12 for the allocated seats, and £16 for the in-flight meals. Instead of booking all of these in one go and paying fees on the whole amount, pay with a debit card for the £140 flight and then go back to your booking afterwards and add the extras amounting to £60 using a credit card. They didn't charge me credit card fees for the extras. (I don't know if you get Consumer Credit Act protection for the flight itself if you do it this way, but that's not why I use a credit card. I use it for the interest-free credit and for the cashback.)

budgetflyer

wow, brilliant:p
Ive found an even better way. Just pay it all by debit card

strawberries1

Hi all, so is it best to pay by debit card then?
I'm about to book a return flight costing about £220 with Monarch.
Thanks.

Louisdf

strawberries1 wrote: »

Hi all, so is it best to pay by debit card then?
I'm about to book a return flight costing about £220 with Monarch.
Thanks.

With visa debit, you can reclaim money through the chargeback scheme.