Can you really avoid a fee when booking a flight?

Posted in 'Personal Finance' by Richard Catlin

08 December 2009

Anyone who has booked – or tried to book – a flight with bargain airline Ryanair will know just how frustrating it is to find a bargain flight, only to be stung at the end of the payment process with a surprisingly large 'card processing fee'.

Booking a return flight for a family of four with a normal credit card could add as much as £40 to the cost of the trip, often outstripping the cost of the flight itself. The only way to avoid this fee until now has been to book using a Visa Electron card, which carries no extra fee.

From January, that loophole goes out of the window, with Ryanair’s introduction of a €5 fee per passenger, per flight.

Although Ryanair have sought to deflect much of the bad press by saying that they will allow passengers to book flights for free using a Prepaid MasterCard, all that means in reality is that a consumer will be charged a fee by the card issuer rather than by Ryanair themselves.

This is because Prepaid card issuers such as Virgin levy a fee of around 2.95% for using the card to make the booking - meaning that whilst it’ll certainly work out cheaper than using a standard credit card, you’re still likely to have to fork out a bit extra on top of the flight. It’s not clear yet how much the Ryanair branded MasterCard will cost.

Once the new charging structure are bought in, Ryanair could also find itself having to answer to the Advertising Standards Agency over the way that flight prices are marketed. The airline has long argued that the booking fee is avoidable, and that the overall price of flights remains the cheapest, despite numerous investigations, including a high-profile feature on Watchdog.

If you are thinking of booking a flight in the near future, there is another card you should be getting that can save you much more. A Caxton FX currency card is simply a must if you’re heading abroad. It’s a free-to-get pre-paid card that is accepted anywhere you see the MasterCard logo, but best of all, it allows you to take out cash from ATM’s and pay for goods and services without incurring a handling charge.

You simply load the card with currency before you leave, manage your account online, and get competitive exchange rates. Because rates are calculated at the time you change money, rather than when you spend or withdraw it, you know exactly how much you’ve got – so no nasty surprises.

Online applications are quick and secure, and the card arrives in a couple of days – ready to start using. It even works out as a great way of saving spending money for a holiday. You can get more details and apply for a card here.

Caxton FX currency card