MSE News: Ryanair slaps 2% credit card fee on flights

wackojackouk

Can you still use the "voucher" method to reduce the £6 charges?

This year and my first flight with RyanAir went to Spain (5 of us) so £60 in Admin Fees. We bought their vouchers (had to buy 3 each with an £6 charge but only then a total of £18) so in an MSE way we saved £42.

We also booked the way out in £ and way back in € and saved money that way as the do a 1:1 rate.

Rafter

I think it should be up to a retailer/ seller whether to pass on the costs of credit cards (as ryanair has done) or not.

As long as paying by cash or debit card is 'free' and built into the product price - the retailer has to decide whether the additional sales it will make from accepting credit cards justifies it's additional costs.

Still don't like Ryanairs pricing model though.

When I fly I am paying for fuel, cost of airport, air traffic control, pilots, cabin staff, baggage handling, cost of the plane, tax and some profit for the airline. I don't see why Ryanair think that trying to deceive me by splitting these costs down and adding admin fees will make me buy any more flights from them than just simply stating one price that includes everything.

R.

greyteam1959

NFH wrote: »

Ryanair are a large merchant compared to an independent restaurant for example. The difference between Ryanair and Thomson is that Ryanair have adjusted their fees to comply with Article 21, whereas I believe Thomson have yet to do so.

Credit Card charges are worked out on turnover on the cards.
My business turns over approx £70000 per year on credit cards & I pay 1.50 % charges.
I am sure that Ryanair pays a lot less than me !!!

tripled

avid_traveller wrote: »

What about debit cards? are they going to charge for these to. As said earlier if after all the fees and taxes have been added up and Ryanair are still the cheapest then I will go with them, otherwise I will shop around for best deals.:)

The cost of processing debit cards will be included in the headline fare.

Rafter wrote: »

Still don't like Ryanairs pricing model though.

When I fly I am paying for fuel, cost of airport, air traffic control, pilots, cabin staff, baggage handling, cost of the plane, tax and some profit for the airline. I don't see why Ryanair think that trying to deceive me by splitting these costs down and adding admin fees will make me buy any more flights from them than just simply stating one price that includes everything.

None of those costs are added to the advertised fare, they are all included. Indeed, they don't even list fuel as a cost in their breakdown, unlike many carriers such as BA.

Bob_the_Saver

The bottom line is that anyone who paid by debit card before will still pay the same now.

NFH

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

The bottom line is that anyone who paid by debit card before will still pay the same now.

We know that. But the fundamental change is that they will know the final price from the outset. The change is in the advertised price, not the final price paid.

MarkBargain

Fair enough if they want to charge a 2% credit card fee, but unfair to state they are doing so to comply with the OFT ruling. The OFT do not make companies charge for credit cards. They always blame someone else, don't they!

zagfles

mervyn11 wrote: »

Credit Card charges are worked out on turnover on the cards.
My business turns over approx £70000 per year on credit cards & I pay 1.50 % charges.
I am sure that Ryanair pays a lot less than me !!!

Is that the only criteria they use? What about chances of chargebacks, section 75 claims, proportion of CNP transactions etc? Surely these affect the banks' costs and so should be reflected in the charges?

For instance I would imagine that a restaurant has very few CNP transactions, very few chargebacks, and no chance of a section 75 claim. So low risk.

Whereas an online retailer where you pay in advance do have all these risks to the banks.

aleph_0

I notice the original article has been updated:

The OFT has hit back. A spokesman says: "We have not required any airline to introduce new payment charges, increase their credit card charges or scrap any discounts.

"We took action to make sure debit card charges are included in the headline price and credit card charges are transparent and not sprung on shoppers towards the end of the booking process."

Looks like the OFT didn't much like Ryanair's attempt to blame them. The 'scrap any discounts' bit is interesting - I guess that's a reminder that while they're forced to advertise the debit card payment based price upfront, there is nothing stopping them retaining the discounts at checkout for other payment methods. Of course, Ryanair aren't going to do that, because the whole reason for just-about-avoidable charges was to achieve a good headline price.

NFH

zagfles wrote: »

Is that the only criteria they use? What about chances of chargebacks, section 75 claims, proportion of CNP transactions etc? Surely these affect the banks' costs and so should be reflected in the charges?

The other significant factors are the type of industry the merchant is in and to a lesser extent the means by which payments are processed (e.g. card not present, chip and PIN).