Avoid Ryanair currency exchange

dr_bluestone

I just booked a Ryanair flight from mainland Europe and got the usual 'guaranteed rate' message. It looks like the option to untick the box and opt out of their conversation rates has now been removed. Their Terms and conditions now say..

If anyone knows of a way around this please update the thread.

NoodleDoodleMan

Certain UK credit cards have no commission fee for goods and purchases made in € - Halifax Clarity and Nationwide and others.

We have Santander Zero, unfortunately no longer available to new applicants.

fifeken

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81938793#Comment_81938793

It's still there although you have to open up this box using the arrow in the top right. It probably won't appear until you enter your card number.

Capture.JPG

fifeken

Certain UK credit cards have no commission fee for goods and purchases made in € - Halifax Clarity and Nationwide and others.

The poster would still get the Ryanair exchange rate which is what he's trying to avoid.

highlander58

It’s the same currency conversion scam with all the airlines. Treat flights from abroad the same as any foreign purchase: pay in local currency.
So if you book return flight with a different airline, it’ll be priced in departure currency. Don’t let them convert it to your currency - their rates are atrocious.

Above all - BEWARE flight comparison tools like Skyscanner, where split-airline return flights are displayed in sterling. Skyscanner will happily display both flights in £s - but you’ll never get that return price, if you actually pay for both flights in £s. Skyscanner use a competitive exchange rate (XE) to convert & display the return flight in £s, but the return airline will apply their own poor exchange rate instead.
On a simple Stansted - Malaga return flight, (Ryanair out, Jet2 return) i found the Jet2 flight price was £20 more if paid in £s.

NoodleDoodleMan

"Certain UK credit cards have no commission fee for goods and purchases made in € - Halifax Clarity and Nationwide and others.

The poster would still get the Ryanair exchange rate which is what he's trying to avoid."

Is the Euro not Ryanair's default payment option - therefore if the customer opts to settle in € using a credit card that authorises his/her bank to calculate the exchange rate, is that not a better deal than allowing Ryanair to do so ?

Using a "user friendly" credit card (like my Santander Zero) would give the better £ amount on the bottom line ?

fifeken

"Is the Euro not Ryanair's default payment option - therefore if the customer opts to settle in € using a credit card that authorises his/her bank to calculate the exchange rate, is that not a better deal than allowing Ryanair to do so ?

Using a "user friendly" credit card (like my Santander Zero) would give the better £ amount on the bottom line ?"

Default pricing is the currency of the originating country, so yes it might appear better to stick with it, but they (Ryanair) recognise the card as being a UK card and try to force payment in GBP. This is what the OP is trying to avoid I think and get back to paying in Euros.

A dummy booking I've just done would mean an extra £7.37 if completed whereas reverting to a EUR price and no fees would see the card charged at ~ £112.40 instead of £119.77.

I hit the wrong button upthread so don't know if readers could see that attachment but here is the screen immediately before the one I posted upthread showing the figures for this particular booking (and also the little arrow to open up the box with the get out option).

NoodleDoodleMan

I've always been under the impression that if you opt to pay in Euros without conversion using a commision free UK credit card then your bank sets the exchange rate, not the merchant.

How can Ryanair force payment in GBP to be settled at their guaranteed rate rather than that of the customer's bank ?

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81960027#Comment_81960027

The point is that Ryanair have always made it hard for someone paying with a UK card to find the option to pay in € rather than £, and a previous poster believed that the option had been removed altogether, effectively forcing UK cardholders to suffer Ryanair's conversion, but it was clarified that the option not to convert is still there but well hidden.

NoodleDoodleMan

Thanks for the clarification, all is now clear,

I've never booked with Ryanair.