Debit Card

Rang Virgin Atlantic this morning to make a booking for July 2022 LHR-LAS outbound 10th return 28th cost £6555 Upper Class for 3 passengers online.

I was impressed the call was answered within a minute!

Maurice who answered the call said oh the cost has gone up, it is now £7755 within 3 minutes of calling.

I was then asked " How are you paying" I said Virgin Atlantic credit card, Maurice then went onto say if you pay by debit card I can discount the flight to £6768!

I have asked him to hold the flight I wanted the miles from the Virgin card has anyone had this offer?

[mitchja]

Whilst I've never heard of this from VS, I have seen it before from other airlines. It's probably correct as there are lower merchant fees associated with debit card transactions.

I'd personally still pay using a credit card though as that gives you the full section 75 protection if anything does go wrong which a debit card or PayPal will not give you. That and the extra miles you will earn by using your VS MasterCard to pay with

I think I'd be tempted to call back and hope for another operator. Whilst James is correct in that the merchant fees are less for debit cards (we are around 7p per transaction) compared to credit cards ( we are around 2% per transaction ), the numbers quoted don't add up.

David

Thanks for your reply James,

I would agree paying by credit card for that protection also the miles.

Looked at flying to LAX on those dates it is available at £6555 would be nice on an A350 but then the costs getting to Vegas, maybe my daughter would pick us up!

On " Book flights" it now comes up with stops looks like there is no tab to set for direct flights only?

[mitchja]

If the 'Nonstop' option isn't showing via the 'Sort & filter' drop down after searching, it means there are no direct flight for the dates / destination you are looking at.

Another way is use the 'Flexible Dates' option on the online booking engine, once you have searched for flights you can then click the 'Filter' option on the right hand side and select 'Show Only Direct'.

Rang Virgin Atlantic this morning to make a booking for July 2022 LHR-LAS outbound 10th return 28th cost £6555 Upper Class for 3 passengers online.

I was impressed the call was answered within a minute!

Maurice who answered the call said oh the cost has gone up, it is now £7755 within 3 minutes of calling.

I was then asked " How are you paying" I said Virgin Atlantic credit card, Maurice then went onto say if you pay by debit card I can discount the flight to £6768!

I have asked him to hold the flight I wanted the miles from the Virgin card has anyone had this offer?

The only thing I will say is that for that sort of amount I will always pay by credit card by default. Any purchases above £100 is covered under the Section 75 Act.

Given VS have agreements from card services providers within their recapitalisation I’m unsure why they’re deciding to go with these tactics unless some of the merchants are playing games with fund release. Debit card and PayPal payments are released to business faster hence they’ll try and push them. At the height of the crisis VS brought in pay by PayPal and even offered incentives for payment by PayPal such as miles…

Thanks for all your comments as David said the numbers don't add up!

I have just rang reservations on the same number I used this morning "0344 874 7747" they have no reference of my call or do they have anyone working in reservations by the name of Maurice! It looks like some how a scammer had cut in to answer my call Virgin said! I told them it was answered within 2 seconds, this call took over 10 mins to answer.

Quite worrying I could have been scammed out of £6768.

I was put through to the upper Class team on my call this time.

Definitely a scam. The rules changed around 2018 which prohibited businesses charging/passing on ‘surcharges’ for the use of credit cards over debit cards. So you would never have paid more for using your VS card.

Thank god you caught on.

That would be one hell of a scam. Did Maurice seem pushy or happy for you to hold the flights?

Somewhat OT… I’m aware the rules changed so retailers couldn’t surprise customers with either credit or debit card fees during checkout, but AFAIK, surprising customers with a discount for using a preferred method of payment is still allowed?

That would be one hell of a scam. Did Maurice seem pushy or happy for you to hold the flights?

Somewhat OT… I’m aware the rules changed so retailers couldn’t surprise customers with either credit or debit card fees during checkout, but AFAIK, surprising customers with a discount for using a preferred method of payment is still allowed?

As I said my call was answered within 1 minute, my first words to him was "Wow I did not expect you to answer this quick I am impressed" he introduced himself as Maurice we went through various dates then yes he was happy to hold the flights for me then gave me a direct number to ring back on "02037515730"