British Airways- charging flight in dollars in UK leading to currency fee

DanoSP

Hi all, I booked a flight with British Airways last week. I was in the UK when I made the booking but when I went to pay, the final charge was in USD instead of pounds sterling. I scrolled up and down to see if I could pay in sterling instead but no joy. I went ahead and paid and just saw that my bank charged me a foreign currency conversion fee which was pretty large. Has this happened to anyone else with BA? I don’t understand why I had to pay in dollars and then get charged the conversion fee. Would I have grounds to complain? 

Thank you,
Dan

eskbanker

Was it for a flight originating in the USA?  I've certainly encountered foreign currency denominating flights from Europe even when booked from the UK.

Voyager2002

Many airlines allow you to choose the currency of payment: most others charge in the currency of the departure airport. So if you bought flights departing from an airport in the USA the fare would have been set in dollars. If there is no option to change the currency of payment it makes sense to use a card that does not charge for foreign currency transactions. Since you were shown a price in dollars and agreed to pay that, you have no grounds for complaint: you did after all pay exactly the fare that you agreed to pay.

If your bank had not told you about the foreign conversion fee you could perhaps ask them to waive it. 

DanoSP

The flight was a return - Sao Paulo to London. So no reason as far as I can see for them to default to charging in dollars. 

DullGreyGuy

DanoSP said:

The flight was a return - Sao Paulo to London. So no reason as far as I can see for them to default to charging in dollars. 

It was a return? Or one way? If a return then GRU-LHR-GRU or LHR-GRU-LHR?

If it's a one way flight then yes, their flights from Brazil to the UK are charged in USD as it states on their site. Flag carriers tend also to be fairly expensive for one way flights -v- returns

eDicky

DanoSP said:

The flight was a return - Sao Paulo to London. So no reason as far as I can see for them to default to charging in dollars. 

It's not clear what you mean by 'return'. If the flight originates in Sao Paolo there is every reason for it to be quoted in USD.

If you are the traveler it would be wise to have at least one card that is fee-free for non-sterling payments.

Voyager2002

DullGreyGuy said:

DanoSP said:

The flight was a return - Sao Paulo to London. So no reason as far as I can see for them to default to charging in dollars. 

It was a return? Or one way? If a return then GRU-LHR-GRU or LHR-GRU-LHR?

If it's a one way flight then yes, their flights from Brazil to the UK are charged in USD as it states on their site. Flag carriers tend also to be fairly expensive for one way flights -v- returns

Similarly a return GRU-LHR-GRU would normally be charged in dollars.

DanoSP

It was GRU-LHR, LHR-GRU. I bought the ticket in the UK. Fee-free card is a great idea, thanks

ic

Its very normal for airlines to charge in the currency of the originating flight.  Ryanair does this, but does offer the choice of currency at the checkout - however they apply a conversion fee.  As already recommended, that can be avoided by using an appropriate fee-free card.

silvercar

If you are buying direct from BA, you can call them and ask them to price in GDP.