Ryanair Credit Card Fee

My wife and I are due to fly to Faro in Febuary next year. Easyjets flights were not bookable at the time of booking from luton so we had a look at Ryanair from Stanstead.

The flights were extremley cheap, but then with all the tag-ons that Ryanair ask you to pay (cushon for your **** Sir, thats £4.50 each way, flush the loo, thats £1.50) it worked out that BA ex Gatwick were cheaper.

Now that you have pulled yourself up off the floor after passing out in shock consider this. With all the extras Ryanair make you pay on top of the basic ticket price; unless you are really lucky and get an early 1p flight can the really be called a lo-co anymore?

Steve

Nevertheless Adam is right and I can’t understand why true enthusiasts are making capital out of “cutting off noses to spite faces” by not using any airline which gets them to a spotting “Mecca” for a fraction of other’s prices……or do their actions really match their words?

Actually, I don’t fly with Ryanair despite being an enthusiast – haven’t flown with them, and never will. There is a Ryanair base at my local airport – EMA – and it’d be oh so easy to give up the principal and fly with them (well actually, no it wouldn’t, not for me anyway). I take the view that for leisure travel, I will either pay for a trip on a “proper” airline, or not go.

Andy

Radio 5 Live are reporting that the EU have just agreed to outlaw the misleading advertising of fares. Airlines will have to advertise the total fare to be paid including ALL charges and fees.

About bloody time! These “airlines” are my pet hate. I’ve never flown with Ryanair, Easyjet or any of the other so called low cost carriers and never will, I’d rather walk. Get off it guys! Carping about credit card fees against the fares that these so called low cost airlines are charging you is a bit rich IMO. Just take these unrealistic and heavily subsidised fares while you still can and spare a thought for the airline staff that have lost their jobs and decent salaries over the years that these “wonderful airlines” have been around. Was I one of them? Yes I was, but I was lucky enough to be able to rebuild my aviation career again, many very good people have not been so fortunate. Nothing personal…..Rant over:mad:

Radio 5 Live are reporting that the EU have just agreed to outlaw the misleading advertising of fares. Airlines will have to advertise the total fare to be paid including ALL charges and fees.

As someone who is probably suspected of being a Ryanair supporter I’m equally outraged at the pretence that the credit AND debit card fee is somehow cost related when it’s obvious it’s a ploy to claw back fuel costs etc.I’m equally annoyed they pretend the taxes/fees are cost based……have a look at BRS-DUB where they mysteriously increase threefold on Fridays!
Nevertheless Adam is right and I can’t understand why true enthusiasts are making capital out of “cutting off noses to spite faces” by not using any airline which gets them to a spotting “Mecca” for a fraction of other’s prices……or do their actions really match their words?
Another problem is they’re nearly all at some sort of scam.I wanted to do AMS from BHX with BmiBaby and back to BRS on EZY as EZY have no double daily from BRS.Whilst Baby fare is the same whether I go one way or both,the EZY fare back goes up 50% if I don’t go out with them!!
One of the Airlines one of you works for has just been censured for advertising breaches……..if I boycotted every airline whose prices are manipulated I’d be on National Express!!

Barry

£8 is about the going rate for a credit card fee these days, and the reason the charge is so high is because the airlines do not recieve the money for the flight you purchased until you have paid off your credit card bill…and if you are paying the minimum amount off each month, airlines have to wait before receiving all the funds, so I think they have higher surcharges for using a credit card because they want to try and discourage people from using them.

Incorrect… Except in the case of airlines like Frontier (where credit card issuers are trying to withhold funds due to the uncertain nature of the airline’s finances), airlines get paid regardless of whether the credit card holder pays off their balance or not – it is the card companies, not the merchant, extending the credit. Actually, the reason why credit card companies are trying to withhold payments to Frontier until after the passengers has flown is that, if the airline collapses, credit card holders will claim back from their credit card issuers – clearly, the credit card companies do not want to have to pay for the failure of their merchants, so they have an interest in whithholding money from merchants in difficulties until the service has been provided. Clearly, robbing Ryanair is not in this situation 🙁

Again, despite the fact that I hate the airline, I have no problem with Ryanair imposing surcharges. I just have a problem with them being deceptive with the way they go about it and prefer the more open “fuel surcharge” approach used by more honest airlines.

A

However you look at it, many thousands of people still do not see spending a tenner for a return flight to anywhere as ‘robbing’.

I am going to have to agree with Paul – however much I hate it.
As always with increasing living expenses I just couldn’t afford to fly as much as I do if I was to pay main airline prices. I appreciate that sometimes BA can actually be cheaper, but when the fare is £2.02p rtn, I can’t be one to complain (regardless of the quality of service).
I love flying, visiting new places, meeting my friends and if it wasn’t for Ryanair I wouldn’t be able to afford to do it half as much as I do.

£8 is about the going rate for a credit card fee these days, and the reason the charge is so high is because the airlines do not recieve the money for the flight you purchased until you have paid off your credit card bill

Sorry, but I am going to have to agree with Matt. I have never known that to the case with any credit card company.
The credit card company transfer the funds to the merchant and then it is the responsibility of the company to recouperate the funds off of the customer.

Congrats on the 1000 posts 😀

Are you REALLY sure about that. The credit cards payments we accept at my company are FULLY paid for by the credit card company. We don’t receive part payment until the payee pays off the bill.

Ok, I am probably wrong then (apologises, :o!), as what you say would make more sense because then it is down to the credit card company to chase-up payment of the bill with their customer I suppose, rather than keeping the airline waiting for its payment!

we pay a percentage of each transaction per credit and debit card. Ours is approx. 3% Credit card. 1.4% Debit card. I should think that the amount of business MOL puts his banks way he would have negotiated that the card charges would be very small to him.

So…taking your figures purely as an example then…3% for a credit card transaction on a 2p flight = 0.0006p, and 0.00028p with a debit card at 1.4%, that would be quite a substantial profit margin with a charge of £4 per sector (£8 in total for both sectors!).

The point I am trying to make here is that even if MoL has managed to negotiate a very low charge with the banks/credit card companies (which I am sure he has), is it really necessary to rip-off passengers in such a way!

£8 is about the going rate for a credit card fee these days, and the reason the charge is so high is because the airlines do not recieve the money for the flight you purchased until you have paid off your credit card bill…and if you are paying the minimum amount off each month, airlines have to wait before receiving all the funds, so I think they have higher surcharges for using a credit card because they want to try and discourage people from using them.

Are you REALLY sure about that. The credit cards payments we accept at my company are FULLY paid for by the credit card company. We don’t receive part payment until the payee pays off the bill.

Also we pay a percentage of each transaction per credit and debit card. Ours is approx. 3% Credit card. 1.4% Debit card. I should think that the amount of business MOL puts his banks way he would have negotiated that the card charges would be very small to him.

Matt

Just to be clear, it is £4 per pax per flight for credit and debit cards. Which is why I was particularly angry. I know that other airlines tend to charge something near this rate for using a credit card….but for a debit card when the cash comes straight out the account?!

£8 is about the going rate for a credit card fee these days, and the reason the charge is so high is because the airlines do not recieve the money for the flight you purchased until you have paid off your credit card bill…and if you are paying the minimum amount off each month, airlines have to wait before receiving all the funds, so I think they have higher surcharges for using a credit card because they want to try and discourage people from using them.

Nevertheless, the one thing that does really bug me though is the surcharge applied for using a debit card, which in some cases is levied at half the price of a credit card fee. If you pay with a debit card, airlines should normally receive the full amount much quicker because it comes straight out of your bank account. It is absolute daylight robbery to charge such a high fee, especially when they receive all the money in one go and within a few days of you purchasing the ticket.

Most (if not all) airlines encourage people to book online by offering cheaper fares/discounts and e-ticketing to help speed up the process, but when faced with an additional charge like this, it is little wonder why people are put off from flying and choose alternative forms of transport such as trains, which are slowly but surely growing in popularity due to the reduced environmental impact they have compared to air travel.

Personally, I think that all airlines should be forced to set their charges at an agreed rate so that they make a marginal profit out it, and not be allowed to change them unless agreed by the regulatory authorities.

In respect of Ryanair, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I have flown with them once to DUB and back for the experience, and wont be using them again, like others have already said, I’d rather not fly than give any of my money to them.

Robbing b******s, whichever way you look at it!

WOW! This is my 1,000th post!:D

Wizzair is worse I started using themin 2006 for flights to Warsaw and was able to get a return flight all taxes and charges for anything from £30 – £100 depending on dates and how long in advance i booked.Now though its a £5 credit card charge (pp) £12 for checked in luggage (pp) the taxes are scandalous a 49p flight cost me nearly £70 in taxes and charges.and also £60 to change a passenger name how can it cost that to delete a name on the computer and type a different 1?

well something has to give considering he hasn’t hedged his fuel for the next year. Ryanair’s business model is great when things are great, but no so great when things are hard, you haven’t hedged your fuel and you’ve got nowhere to go because your cost base is already so low.

Likewise Andy, he won’t get a penny out of me, ever.

I don’t know why people continue to fly with these robbers – I’d rather not fly than give O’Leary a penny of my money

Give me the BA-style honesty of “its a fuel surcharge” rather than Ryanair’s dishonst “its a credit card fee per sector” (huh? credit card fees are per transaction in reality) any day. We all know fuel is going up – credit card merchant fees are not, despite Ryanair’s theeving approach to fees.

A

However you look at it, many thousands of people still do not see spending a tenner for a return flight to anywhere as ‘robbing’. I’m well aware you deteste Ryanair, but you’re going to have a very hard time convincing people to agree with your views. Me included.

Paul

I don’t know why people continue to fly with these robbers – I’d rather not fly than give O’Leary a penny of my money

Give me the BA-style honesty of “its a fuel surcharge” rather than Ryanair’s dishonst “its a credit card fee per sector” (huh? credit card fees are per transaction in reality) any day. We all know fuel is going up – credit card merchant fees are not, despite Ryanair’s theeving approach to fees.

A

Dan are you booking with a Credit card or a Debit card?
Most airlines, Ryanair included will charge significantly more for the use of a credit card (Mastercard, Visa) over a debit card (Mastero, Visa Electron, Visa Debit).
A £8 credit card fee sounds about right, but if that was for use with a debit card, that is a lot.
Adam

It’s called profiteering. It’s just that Ryanair are pretty open about it. Aren’t they the airline which introduced a 50p per passenger surcharge on every flight so they could afford to pay for a few more wheelchairs? At 20 million passengers a year at the time that means an extra 10 million pounds income a year to cover these wheelchairs. I’m a sometimes wheelchair user and I can tell you this I would love to see what kind of wheelchairs they spend ten million a year on.

But if we’re looking at less than a tenner return, all included, to a European destination, is it really worth moaning about when you compare it to the next cheapest available price?

Regards,

kev35

It just makes you wonder what else is bound to get snuck through, via the small print… ?

“I’m sorry sir, but owing to paragraph 14, line 12 verse 3 of our terms & conditions, we are within our rights to ask you clean the toilets on arrival…”

Hmm… That does sound a little ridiculous! My recently booked 2p return flights to DUB totalled (I think) £2.42. Certainly not a lot, but to jump up to 8 quid really is surprising.

So I guess you’re joining me and Tom for the day in Bremen? 🙂

Paul