Airline con?

WavyDavy

Just wonderering if anyone else has fallen foul of the following which I think may be a bit of a scam. I have recently booked flights with Ryanair, when paying for the flight my normal debit card was refused and I was forced to use a credit card for which I was charged a fee. There was no reason why my card would be refused as there were plenty of funds in my account, however, it reminded me that the very same thing had happened the last time I booked a flight with Ryanair.
Anybody else?

ManAtHome

What type of Debit card? I've seen "No Solo or Electron" notices in petrol stations..

WavyDavy

Was a common or garden Halifax Current account Visa type debit card which they say that they take. (just checked the site and they do take it in theory)

Alfie_E

It's Solo cards that Ryanair don't accept. As it's a Visa card, you could try contacting them by telephone. SAYNOTO0870.COM gives telephone numbers for Ryanair that might allow you to contact the booking line cheaply. You might have to make sure/insist that they let you buy at the price you can see on their website.

If you use Ryanair frequently, you could even open a basic bank account that comes with a Visa Electron card, solely to avoid Ryanair's surcharge. It's just a slight faff to remember to transfer money to the account before you need it. It's not time consuming using the Internet, just takes a few days to arrive.

budgetflyer

I just booked flights last week with my BOS visa DEBIT card no problem

Fatboy_NSS

When I book tickets with Ryanair I select Visa Electron from the list even though I'm using Visa Debit. This has worked with cards issued by cahoot and Abbey.

Incidentally, you probably don't have to have the hassle of opening a separate basic account just to get the Electron card. An Abbey current account can have both Electron and Debit attached to it, and I'd assume it's the same as most other Visa issuing banks. Just ask your bank if you can have an Electron card as well.

WavyDavy

Thanks for tips.
It just seemed strange to me that this happened twice in a row and I wondered if it was me alone or if others had experienced it. Maybe not, I suppose I'm getting too cynical!!!

alared

WavyDavy wrote:

Was a common or garden Halifax Current account Visa type debit card which they say that they take. (just checked the site and they do take it in theory)

Used mine without problem