Are we being "ripped off" with VS cc charges?

Which? has highlighted "rip-off" charges for paying by credit card for Ryanair, Bmibaby, Easyjet, Monarch, Emirates, Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomson and Saga Holidays.
On Which? website.

VS are not as bad as these but at 1.5% still charge double the 0.8% amount actually charged to them:

When questioned, most retailers cite card processing costs as the reason for the surcharges they impose. But Which? Money found that the 'interchange fee' card operators charge merchants' banks is typically just £0.10 for debit cards and 0.8% for credit cards

Interesting that TravelMole reports:

The practise of profiting from debit and credit card processing is out-lawed in many parts of Europe.

Could this be regarded as another form of price-fixing?
Will we end up getting rebates/refund in the future as with the fuel surcharge scam?

When I was searching for flighs at the weekend I looked into these as they make an impact.

Expedia didn't charge any CC fees
E-bookers were going to charge 14p (yes fourteen pence)
VS wanted over £ 30!

This for exactly same flights and the same fare code and same price.

How can ebookers charge 14p but VS over 2,300% more?

Not to mention the charge fee against their own Virgin Atlantic cards, white & black....

[Nottingham Nick]

I suppose that we do have the choice of paying by debit cards, but the points whores among us find that very difficult.

I detest excessive CC charges. The worst I have found to to date, is my Virgin media bill - I have been with Virgin Net since it started and never really paid much attention to the charges - until I found out that in a £17.99 monthly fee - £5 was for the credit card surcharge!! xx(

Needless to say, I now pay by direct debit.

Nick

Homing in on the debit card option presents an issue. As many of us on here know, we're not "protected" when paying by debit as we are when paying by credit card. Think about the various airline failures over the last few years and the news reports & travel experts stressing that if you paid for a flight only (ie. not a package & therefore not covered via ABTA) and if you paid on debit as opposed to credit, then basically you have a big problem. A few years ago I booked some travel industry discounted flights but the firm went bust. Had I simply paid out of my bank account I would have been out of pocket considerably.

Must admit it seems odd that the only way of being covered here in the UK is to pay on the "never, never"....OK many of us settle up each month and bank the miles, I just can't get my head round why those who want only to pay with cash they have in the bank aren't protected.

Thanks
James

When I was searching for flighs at the weekend I looked into these as they make an impact.

Expedia didn't charge any CC fees
E-bookers were going to charge 14p (yes fourteen pence)
VS wanted over £ 30!

This for exactly same flights and the same fare code and same price.

How can ebookers charge 14p but VS over 2,300% more?

Precisely why it suits VAA not to offer availability of Electron etc, as they then miss out on their cc fee..... v(

[Darren Wheeler]

Debit cards issues by Visa are protected under a little-known and unadvertised thing called Chargeback

Debit cards issues by Visa are protected under a little-known and unadvertised thing called Chargeback

Corrected link for Chargeback

Whilst chargeback may be an option there have been letters in the money pages of the weekend papers where people have used chargeback and thought they had 'won' or 'got their money back' but after investigation the bank have subsequently reinstated the charges.

What's charge-back got to do with the fees VAA add to a non-electron cc booking ?| ?

[Darren Wheeler]

Everything.

People pay with a credit card to have purchase protection. A credit card attracts the surcharge. Using a debit card avoids the surcharge but you still get some form of purchase protection.

As chargeback is only in the scheme rules and not enshrined in law, all Visa etc would have to do is change the T&Cs and withdraw it.

And just because you can take it further to the financial ombudsman if your bank rejects the claim there is still no guarentee you will win.

[buns]

I might be being a little cyncical here, but don't VS CC charges match BA (or thereabouts) :w

i.e. "What the market will bear" v( v(

I wonder if one will have the courage to change thier policy??

buns

I might be being a little cynical here, but don't VS CC charges match BA (or thereabouts) :w

BA:

For bookings made within the UK, there is a £4.50 per ticket fee when using a credit card to purchase a flight on ba.com. There will continue to be no charge for debit card payments.

I think BA are cheaper! Even more so if you accidentally change the billing country to something other than the UK. ):

[mitchja]

BA also never used to charge a CC fee for reward bookings (not sure if this is still the case though?)

It pains me to admit it but when I recently booked a Virgin Holiday using my Virgin Credit Card I paid a whopping £62.19 in surcharges. :0

I knew I had a choice not to use the card but I need / want the miles it attracted.

Kind of felt over a barrel on that one.

I notice that you don't get charged a credit card fee on upgrades. So you could in theory, take a chance - buy Y and then upgrade after confirming. Mind you, BA tend to charge extra for the upgrade after confirmation stage so it's a risk. As you were...

I don't think it's a matter of being ripped off as you are made aware of the charge at the payment stage of the booking. It's down to your personal choice whether you use a credit or debit card, but many passengers I speak to see the surcharge as a kind of insurance that means they are protected should things go wrong.

The TOTAL cost of a booking (including cc fees) is the relevant figure. If as you start the booking process cc charges were flagged up, then I don't see a major issue with them.

However, by the time you get to payment you are probably so glad to have got the flight/seat/price you want that although in theory you could decline the booking because of the cc charge most people probably will not.

Surely, as soon as a price is quoted for booking, there could be an alert on the web page about the cc surcharge?

Or is this too technically demanding?

Or do all cc charges go to pay for a daft £6m advert?

or ice cream exploding a la alien out of someone's chest(s)?

[Darren Wheeler]

Credit Card charges are a choice. As the law stands, they must provide a fee-free method of paying, which they do in the shape of Debit Cards.

While we might complain about them, you are free to pay with whatever method you choose.

You don't even get to use a debit card for free with Ryanair

[honey lamb]

Trouble with debit cards, well at least mine is that it has a limit which will not cover UC and is only valid in the UK with very limited sites - and VS isn't one of them

[RichardMannion]

BA is 4.50 per pax in the UK, if you book for a non-UK departure there is no fee!

Credit Card charges are a choice. As the law stands, they must provide a fee-free method of paying, which they do in the shape of Debit Cards.

While we might complain about them, you are free to pay with whatever method you choose.

You don't even get to use a debit card for free with Ryanair

So how do you pay for a ryanair ticket without attracting a charge?

[Darren Wheeler]

Something every household in country has....

A Mastercard Prepaid Debit Card.

Something every household in country has....

A Mastercard Prepaid Debit Card.

Which costs £15.89 in annual fees (and 50p per transaction) if you buy through the link that Ryanair recommends! Doh!