Ryanair menu. Flew from East Mids, forced to pay in Euros. Abysmal Nationwide exchange rate

born_again

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/help/travel/charges-using-your-card-abroad/

2.99% charge.

https://www.visa.co.uk/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html

MeteredOut

la531983 said:

Failing to see the issue, the OP needs to get a better card for foreign spending.

la531983 said:

Get a better debit card.

On a positive note, the OP is already on the right website to find out the best cards for foreign currency spend.

HillStreetBlues

Did that charge include sugar & milk?

powerful_Rogue

peterpiper1990 said:

I flew from East Midlands airport to Spain via Ryanair on 15th June. While in UK airspace, the drinks trolley came around. 

My wife ordered a tea, and the stewardess informed me that I could (a) only pay by card and (b) only pay in euros. The price was €3.25, but via my debit card, Nationwide ultimately charged me £3.38 for the drink plus a £0.10 non-sterling transaction fee. (Pennies, really, but horrendous in principle.)

I hence rang Citizen's Advice, and they said they couldn't see that charging only in euros was illegal. They said Ryanair is an Irish company and that Ireland uses the euro, but I countered that McDonald's is an American company but it doesn't charge me in dollars. CA ultimately said they didn't really know the answer.

Therefore, my query is really over the legality of points (a) and (b). 

1. Is it legal to force UK customers to only pay by card? Can consumers insist on "legal tender" being accepted?

2. Is it legal, in UK airspace, on a flight from a UK airport, for the (admittedly foreign-registered airline) to only charge me in its native currency?

Thanks in advance.

Not the dreaded 'legal tender' argument. So many people are uneducated as to what this actually means. Luckily I was going to quote from the Bank of England, and their actual answer covers your entire complaint!

What does legal tender mean?

You might have heard someone in a shop say: “But it’s legal tender!”. Most people think it means the shop has to accept the payment form. But that’s not the case.  

A shop owner can choose what payment they accept. If you want to pay for a pack of gum with a £50 note, it’s perfectly legal to turn you down. Likewise for all other banknotes, it’s a matter of discretion. If your local corner shop decided to only accept payments in Pokémon cards that would be within their right too. But they’d probably lose customers. 

Legal tender has a narrow technical meaning which has no use in everyday life. It means that if you offer to fully pay off a debt to someone in legal tender, they can’t sue you for failing to repay.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/explainers/what-is-legal-tender

daveyjp

Ryanair also probably make money out of it because no doubt they also do DCC to make a margin on the exchange rate!

la531983

daveyjp said:

Ryanair also probably make money out of it because no doubt they also do DCC to make a margin on the exchange rate!

Its an Irish airline, who list all prices in Euros, charge in Euros and nothing else, and dont offer DCC on its very basic on-flight terminals, so you are well off the mark here.

flaneurs_lobster

HillStreetBlues said:

Did that charge include sugar & milk?

Doubt it, believe it's an extra Euro for the little plastic stirring stick thing too.

saajan_12

Absolutely fine, its an optional purchase for which Ryanair can request whatever in exchange - Euros, Thai Baht, bitcoins or fairy dust. Its up to you to accept or decline the purchase entirely. In any case, if Ryanair offered a GBP payment option, it could be at whatever (often worse) rate than your bank's rate.

Re the rate: that's between you and Nationwide. However are you sure about the numbers? In mid June 2024, the GBPEUR rate 1.18, so at mid, EUR 3.25 = GBP 2.75. There absolutely should be a fee / commission / bid-offer, which at 2.99% is ~9p. They may well have a minimum fee, driving the difference between £2.75 and £3.38. 

peterpiper1990 said:

I flew from East Midlands airport to Spain via Ryanair on 15th June. While in UK airspace, the drinks trolley came around. - the airspace is irrelevant. 

My wife ordered a tea, and the stewardess informed me that I could (a) only pay by card and (b) only pay in euros. - absolutely fine, they can choose accepted payment methods. 
The price was €3.25, but via my debit card, Nationwide ultimately charged me £3.38 for the drink plus a £0.10 non-sterling transaction fee. (Pennies, really, but horrendous in principle.) - That's between you and Nationwide. The usual 2.99% would have been <10p, so sounds like there's a minimum fee or something else. 

I hence rang Citizen's Advice, and they said they couldn't see that charging only in euros was illegal. They said Ryanair is an Irish company and that Ireland uses the euro, but I countered that McDonald's is an American company but it doesn't charge me in dollars. CA ultimately said they didn't really know the answer.- They did, their initial answer was correct. Being an Irish company and mostly flying between European airports means EUR makes sense for Ryanair. That doesn't mean they have to. Just like McDonalds don't have to charge in GBP, but they choose to because it makes commercial sense for their customer base.  

Therefore, my query is really over the legality of points (a) and (b). 

1. Is it legal to force UK customers to only pay by card? - Yes. There's no force, you didn't have to buy the coffee. IF you want the coffee, they can choose whatever payment terms they like. 
Can consumers insist on "legal tender" being accepted? - No. legal tender is only relevant for debts. For purchases, there's no concept of legal tender, whether you're in UK airspace or on the ground. 

2. Is it legal, in UK airspace, on a flight from a UK airport, for the (admittedly foreign-registered airline) to only charge me in its native currency?- yes, it doesn't even have to be in their native currency, but any currency of their choosing

Thanks in advance.

peterpiper1990

Thanks very much for the sensible and useful comments, particularly saajan_12 which was by far the best. I was labouring under the belief that pounds just had to be accepted in the UK. Every day is a school day!

I also stated that it was an issue of pennies to me, but overall it must be worth millions (perhaps tens or even hundreds of millions annually) to the card companies; that was the real issue and I just wanted to check.(Removed by Forum Team)

Hoenir

peterpiper1990 said:

Thanks very much for the sensible and useful comments, particularly saajan_12 which was by far the best. I was labouring under the belief that pounds just had to be accepted in the UK. Every day is a school day!

If Ryanair are paying for the bulk of their operating expenses in Euro's . Then GDP is of no use to them.