Is it better to use a credit card to book flights during this pandemic?

apessimistisneverdisappointed

I always use a credit card to book my flights...it was useful last year when Easyjet were dragging out the refunds for my cancelled flights (for the millionth time, no thanks I do not wish to receive them as bloody vouchers!)

CKhalvashi

Upsidedownandaround said:

Thrugelmir said:

Upsidedownandaround said:

It's perfectly legal to run a crap business model it's up to the consumer to protect themselves against these OTA's in the same way most of them would if they found a company selling a TV online for a tenner cheaper.

Nothing wrong with the business model.  The consumer has the choice as to where to buy from and what option they choose. Which normally is driven by only one thing.......... price.  As cheap as possible. If people were interested in quality. Ryanair, for example, would have gone bust many years ago. Personally I started to avoid them 20 years back. 

It may be succesful but it's pretty crap. It pretty much relies on mugs buying without thinking.

Ryanair on the other hand has a great business model. They make it well known what their customer attitude is and you are buying 'no frills' and will have to pay for everything else and that is what a lot of people want.

The other issue for Ryanair now is that they have an airline with reasonable customer service and 250 planes on order (in addition to the 60-ish they have parked and ready to return to service immediately) breathing down their neck, especially in profitable domestic markets with little competition such as Italy.

The other carrier has decent cash reserves, a well structured fleet, a more diverse route network (with a proven ability to stay in places that Ryanair can't make work due to their high cost per seat and therefore high fares) and lower unit costs, so I wouldn't bet on Ryanair being the king in Europe much longer.

I'm not saying Ryanair have the highest costs in the industry, but I'm willing to bet they have met their match with this one.

ginger_chocolate

Is there a reason why you need to book now rather than a bit closer to the time you fly? Or a reason why you don't like using credit cards?

I would say if you have access to a credit card with an appropriate limit and you have the money in your bank account, simply buy the flights on the credit card then pay it off immediately- I can't see any disadvantage to doing this.

If you are worried about things being cancelled, not being able to go etc then it might be worth considering whether you really need to book now, or if it could wait a few months.