V-Flyer

Been meaning for a while to get this off my chest. How can Virgin justify charging me a £78 fee for using my CC. Im not sure about this but does my CC company actually charge Virgin for this, if they do I can understand them passing this charge on to me but if its just for admin charges thats scandalous !

I believe the CC charge is pretty much an industry standard, and it tends to vary across airlines; either from about 1.5% of the transaction total, to about 3% with some carriers.

It is actually charged by the CC company, airlines just recoup this cost by passing it onto you.

Only way to avoid is to pay with a Debit card, or live in a country that prohibits such charges - like the US.

Credit card companies charge a % rate to the retailer. The travel industry hasn't put this charge into the price of tickets, unlike a supermarket does with a loaf of bread. Virgin do seem to pass more of the charge on that others though.

I think a few of us on here are more annoyed by the CC charges for using the Virgin branded cards for Virgin flights (particularly those with an annual charge.)

And if you're a large retailer or firm like VS, you can negotiate down the CC charges or even sometimes agree a flat fee.

This will be commercially sensitive, but I hope VS isn't profiteering.

BA charge a flat rate of £4.50, it's about the only thing VS don't seem to follow BA on.

slinky09 wrote:This will be commercially sensitive, but I hope VS isn't profiteering.

Surely not... :0 Imagine if they overcharged the fee to gain some additional revenue, that would be very underhand...

..Rumour has it that its also been known for over charging for fuel with a surcharge....SRB wouldn't allow such underhand behaviour.. :w :w

Totally agree! Flat fee would be more palatable especially for virgin branded cards. I recently booked emirates flight and was charged only 12p for using virgin Amex.

Which? have been campaigning about this and there is some relief in sight.

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2011/12/gov ... s--275388/

However, still plenty of wriggle room for companies.

Frankie wrote:Been meaning for a while to get this off my chest.

Quite agree. Beat them at their own game by earning your quidco cashback. Or book via a site which doesn't charge a fee (e.g. expedia). Or both.

Very interesting. Reading the attached news article I imaging Virgin will maybe drop there card charges but will just add the fee onto the ticket price.
at240....I think by booking via a third party company such as expedia dont you forfeit your airmiles. Thats why when booking hotels with the Hilton group I always go via the Hilton web site because you cant get your loyaly points via other booking companies.

Whilst I realis that CC companies charge for their services and someone has to pay (directly or otherwise) my gripe is that even if you use the VS CC then they still charge you.
This is a missed opp to promote use of their own branded card and gain loyalty in the mind of the customer.

VS are certainly not alone in charging a fee for using their own brand of card. Both BA and BMI now charge their standard CC fees for their own brand of cards as well. I would imagine there are others that do it as well.

Frankie wrote:
at240....I think by booking via a third party company such as expedia dont you forfeit your airmiles.

Absolutely not. I booked AMS-LHR-SFO via Expedia last year and got miles on both BA for the AMS leg and Virgin for the one to SFO

JCBR wrote:Whilst I realis that CC companies charge for their services and someone has to pay (directly or otherwise) my gripe is that even if you use the VS CC then they still charge you.
This is a missed opp to promote use of their own branded card and gain loyalty in the mind of the customer.

I believe this is actually due to competition law within the UK or Europe (or both) - apparently it's no longer possible (if it ever was) to show 'favouritism' to one brand of Credit Card over another. I guess the only benefit of still using the VS Amex is the fact you get Flying Club miles for the additional charge too.. I heard somewhere the CC companies actually charge 5% to the companies, so 1.5% in comparison isn't too bad, although if you are spending a lot of cash it can soon add up I suppose.

Frankie wrote:Very interesting. Reading the attached news article I imaging Virgin will maybe drop there card charges but will just add the fee onto the ticket price.
at240....I think by booking via a third party company such as expedia dont you forfeit your airmiles. Thats why when booking hotels with the Hilton group I always go via the Hilton web site because you cant get your loyaly points via other booking companies.

You do get your airline miles if you book via e.g. expedia.

My understanding re Hilton (as we have discussed this before) is that you won't get points if you book via a site like hotwire and priceline where you don't find out the hotel you have booked until you have paid for it but expedia is fine.

This is a quote frm the Costco UK website about their Card Processing offering (to their business members) which may offer some insight into the fees charged to businesses.

Elavon, leaders in Merchant Credit Card Processing, are offering Costco members amazing rates of 1.10% for credit card transactions and 11p per debit card transaction.....

I can't comment on how representative these rates are for the industry as a whole and/or to what degree a large organisation (eg VA) can negotiate better.

Harpers Tate wrote:This is a quote frm the Costco UK website about their Card Processing offering (to their business members) which may offer some insight into the fees charged to businesses.

Elavon, leaders in Merchant Credit Card Processing, are offering Costco members amazing rates of 1.10% for credit card transactions and 11p per debit card transaction.....

I can't comment on how representative these rates are for the industry as a whole and/or to what degree a large organisation (eg VA) can negotiate better.

The role of E-Clear in bringing down Globespan suggests that cost may not be the only driving factor in selecting a card processing provider. That said, I understand Elavon provide services to Abbey and Alliance and Leicester...

Air New Zealand don't charge a bean! Worth considering for those LA trips? Plus still earn FC miles in some qualifying buckets, (all PE I think).