Using Clarity card to book flights

cashbag

Can the Halifax Clarity card be used to pay for flights which are booked from the UK but priced in €€€ (because they originate in Europe) & avoid currency conversion fees? Cannot seem to find this in the T&Cs. I want to book a ticket to fly back to UK from a European airport with BA in the summer & it is priced in euros. I will be booking it online whilst still in UK.

111KAB

Always worked for me with flights back from Spain booked in UK.

cashbag

Thank you - couldn't see why it would not be OK, but knowing how banks like to wriggle out of things . . . .

Voyager2002

Your problem might be the airline rather than the card...

A few months ago I was in Spain and found a good fare on BA to come to London. This was on the Spain web page of an agent, and was priced in Euro. I tried to book (using my Aqua card) but despite several attempts the payment always failed. I then had to go to the UK site of the same agent. Fortunately the same fare was offered, with a price in pounds sterling that was within a gnat's whisker of the Euro fare I had originally seen. This time, the booking went through without problems.

zagfles

It'll work but just make sure you avoid the DCC option (ie where the airline/agent changes the currency and charges you in GBP). Apparently this is quite hard to avoid with some airlines...

cashbag

Last time I booked a flight from Athens to Heathrow with BA, before I got a Clarity card, it all went through in Euros without even offering DCC. Cost me £10-ish in charges for the currency transaction, which is why I thought this might be another plus point for Clarity. Only really got it for overseas purchases/ATM use so this looks like a bonus! Could not find the answer in the small print so reckoned there would be people in the know here. Cheers!

zerog

You are not booking the flight from the UK, you are booking it from Athens or wherever. It doesn't matter where you are physically located when booking online...

The flight is priced in euros, therefore using the Clarity card, you will be given the Mastercard exchange rate with no commission from Halifax.

If you went to a UK travel agent, you could get it converted at the IATA exchange rate. The IATA exchange rate is updated by every Wednesday morning UK time, and is based on the average interbank closing rate for the past week, while the Mastercard exchange rate is recalculated every day and based on how many people exchanged those currencies by paying with a Mastercard on the previous day.

The IATA rate will therefore be better than the Clarity's rate if you are booking on a Monday or Tuesday UK time and the pound has dropped over the past week. You can find out the IATA exchange rate for other currencies into pounds by doing a search using American Express Travel, and the same search on the airline's website. (Note that some charter airlines will cost more as they file higher fares with the global reservations system)

BA's point of sale is the departure country of the first flight segment, except when booking award flights. Some airlines, such as Air Canada, do the IATA conversion themselves and will allow you to choose the currency you pay in, regardless of the departure point of your ticket.

cashbag

Thanks zerog - very useful & comprehensive explanation