www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16301923
Lets see what Michael O'leary comes up with to pick the pockets of his passengers.
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Arguing about the definition of excessive until 2014 probably.
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Ryanair do not have credit card charges.......................
Only
Administration charges!!!!!!!!!!
Others
£100 +CC Charge will become £103 less 2.5% for debit / cash etc.
50+ years ago the local summer fair prices doubled on the Saturday.
Doubling prices was banned by the local council who rented out the land etc
Following year it was 1/2 price Mon- Fri and full price on the Saturday
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Of course, the government and it's agencies are masters at extra charges. Credit card charges, admin fees, expensive phone lines etc. Oh the irony of it.
I guess now the only charges that are 'legit' are of course green, enviromental, CO2 - call them what you will charges.
At least in the private sector there is usually the option of going somewhere else.
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>> Of course, the government and it's agencies are masters at extra charges. Credit card charges,
>>
Slightly different IMHO. Retailer absorbs the CC charge (or hides it in his general pricing policy) in order to attract your business. If govt gives 2.5% of your VED to Visa then effectively the tax payer is subsidising visa or your choice to pay by a a particular CC.
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It's not what he should do but what the customers should do... don't be customers! If you don't like the charges you tell them and shop elsewhere. If enough people say 'I was going to book a flight and you greedy pfds decided to sting me for baggage and admin fees so I went elsewhere even though it was more expensive as the price you saw was the price you actually paid' then they'd change their policies. While people still pay these fees then they'll still charge them regardless of the law.
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I see that the folk at TV Licensing are setting a fine example by no longer charging a supplement for those paying by credit card.
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I have to admit I have paid for my TV licence by credit card. Perhaps I should be ashamed.
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I've paid my TV licence by quarterly direct debit for years.
That may not be the most cost-effective way to do it, but I can't be bothered to change.
I'm sure there was something in the envelope one year suggesting it would be cheaper to change to a different payment scheme.
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Perhaps it's better not to pay the TV tax at all!
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TV is one of my very few monthly Direct Debits...around £12, I think. That's the way I like them !
Ted
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It used to be the case (and still might be) that if you take out a TV licence and want to pay monthly by direct debit that they take double for the first 6 months. And then it's really monthly. So quarterly used to be easier to begin with.
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>>Perhaps it's better not to pay the TV tax at all!
Some folk have all the luck. And even more goodies to come when you're 80.
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It's not a matter of total to pay, rather transparent pricing, stopping the advertising of a £99 flight which turns out to be £107.50 because almost no one has the obscure debit card that is the only way to avoid the surcharge.
And the fact that the surcharge can be applied, rather than per transaction, per passenger so can add over 40 quid to a family of 5 booking.
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I was browsing the internet last night with a view to booking a summer holiday and noticed that Thomas Cook were looking to charge 2.5% for credit cards which on a £5k holiday would be £125. Also, an astonishing £80 to be able to book seats (I thought airlines had to provide you with a seat - it's not like a bus - 35 seated, 10 standing).
It is these charges plus the potential for surcharges that put me off traveling abroad for holidays.
Last edited by: zippy on Sun 1 Jan 12 at 11:15
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. Also, an astonishing £80 to be able to book seats (I thought airlines had to provide you with a seat - it's not like a bus - 35 seated, 10 standing).
It's to make sure you can sit with your family, not to everyone's taste...
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>>>It's to make sure you can sit with your family,
I knew that :-)
I went on a Virgin flight a few years ago, before seat booking and due to problems at the airport we got to the plane last.
The cabin crew refused to allow us to be split up (2 adults and 2 kids 14 and 10) and moved others around. They were very professional and explained that flight rules meant that adults had to sit with children and preference is given to parents.
(Now considering what happened on the BA flight when a man was sitting next to a child - I would be livid if I was moved from a seat that I had extra for!)
>>> not to everyone's taste...
Now that is an idea £80 not to sit with children - that I would pay for!!! ;-)
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The worse thing about the credit card surcharge is that it puts people off paying by them so they lose out on the extra protection. It can prove very costly if your travel company goes bust. If you paid by credit card you'll be covered. If not, you'll struggle to get your money back. There don't seem to be many debit cards that offer the full protection either.
For consumer protection reasons alone it should be banned and people should be encouraged to pay by credit card for any substantial purchases particularly holidays. I wouldn't book with Thomas Cook without a CC as they're on the brink of going bump.
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>> If you paid by credit card you'll be covered. >>
>> For consumer protection reasons alone ... people should be encouraged to pay by credit card >>
Someone, somewhere along the line, has to pay for that protection - and guess who that someone is? Yes, the consumer.
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>> >>Perhaps it's better not to pay the TV tax at all!
>>
>> Some folk have all the luck. And even more goodies to come when you're 80.
Only 4 years to go!
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Well this how Sleazy Jet plan to deal with it.
Easyjet amends its booking charge
The company has introduced a £9 flat administration fee to replace the previous £8 booking fee levied on anyone paying with most debit cards.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16546582
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From the web page linked by Zero:
"Previously, Easyjet charged £8 for all bookings made with a debit card, except for those by Visa Electron. The charge for credit cards was £8 plus 2.5% or £4.95, whichever was greater.
Now all bookings will be subject to a £9 administration fee, to end the link to payment options, and be clear at the start of the booking process. The fee will not be affected by the number of passengers on each booking."
I may be wrong (Maths never having been my strong subject), but before the change, the minimum charge for using a credit card was £12.95. In effect (though by another name) the charge is now £9. So I would use my credit card (there now being no incentive to use my debit card) and collect my Avios points/cash-back/whatever for using said card.
True, I would still be nearly £1 worse off, as I would have used my debit card previously. In a larger context, it's peanuts.
However, it's totally wrong, in my view, to charge an administrative fee in such circumstances. Administrative fees should be covered in the cost of the flight.
Corporate chicanery.
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EASYJET INTRODUCES ADMINISTRATION FEE
easyJet has made booking flights with the airline even more transparent. The airline is replacing its booking fee with an administration fee of £9 which will be included in all advertising, displayed as part of a full and final flight price at the first stage of the booking process and will be applied to all bookings regardless of payment method and how many flights are made.
Whilst passengers using a credit card will pay an additional fee to cover handling costs, easyJet will not charge passengers for handling debit card payments. The administration fee is charged on all bookings and contributes to the airline’s administrative costs.
easyJet charges per booking rather than per person because the overwhelming majority of its customers book multiple flights or flights with multiple passengers. Other airlines charge per person per flight which means that a family of four would be charged £48 rather than the £9 they would pay on easyJet.
These changes have been made in order to address the concerns raised by consumer bodies and regulators across the European Union whilst retaining a simple, transparent and consistent booking process for all passengers regardless of nationality.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 13 Jan 12 at 16:54
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Ugh!
So how do they think this will get round the issue that headlines this thread - "Credit charges to be banned"?
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Because the actual proposal was not for credit card charges to be banned but for excessive credit card charges to be banned. Easy Jet will claim their charges are not excessive.
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I claim that "admin charges" are an operating cost which should be included in the flight price.
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I used to work for a publishing company that added 30 quid "postage and handling" to the annual subscription price of each journal that it sold.
Along came the internet and the journal was put on the web by the publisher, but they continued to levy the 30 quid postal charge..!!!
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>> I claim that "admin charges" are an operating cost which should be included in the
>> flight price.
>>
If you put a surcharge on the tickets a family will pay proportionally more than one person booking one-way. At least this is a one off, per-booking, charge - though I wish they bit the bullet and included the credit card fees in that.
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A small credit card charge is reasonable. A flat charge for all payment methods means that those who pay by debit card say are subsidising those who pay by credit card.
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The way credit cards work is the problem. Market forces don't bear on the interchange fees at all (the main component of the actual cost of acceptance to the merchant) except to drive them up, as networks compete for issuers to use their network (Visa vs Mastercard for example).
Not all cards are equal, not even all credit cards. The networks dreamed up 'premium' cards for the benefit of the issuers - these cards have higher interchange, hence higher acceptance costs for merchants. The interchange fee ends up with the issuers. The supposed idea was that the issuers could offer cards with higher rewards for customers.
The problem is who pays. Merchants cannot say "I will accept this Visa or Mastercard, but not that one". Neither can they readily distinguish them at point of sale. The merchants pay the higher fees, so indirectly all customers pay for the higher rewards on the premium cards.
The merchants have no power at all. They can't in practice refuse to accept the cards, nor can most charge fees - if Tesco charged a fee, you'd just shop at Sainsbury's. They'd have to act in concert, which would be illegal!
The retailers have complained at length to the EU about this. They are happy to pay the transaction cost (a flat charge of a few pence, as for debit cards) but why should they pay for the interest free period and incentives for the cardholders when they have no choice and no power to negotiate? Is it right that a retailer selling a £500 TV should have to pay £5-£10 for accepting the card as payment, when the processing cost is perhaps 12p?
The EU response has been "you can just charge fees for using the credit card". They will do nothing about the lack of effective competition.
That said, neither Easyjet nor Ryanair will be paying more than 1% on average for credit card acceptance - so fees of £9 per seat are in no way related to that.
Of course they have admin cost, but it is ludicrous to itemise that, even it it were realistic. It's also pointless if you can't avoid it.
Last edited by: Manatee on Sat 14 Jan 12 at 15:38
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Credit Card Surcharges to be banned. - Crankcase
