December 01, 2009
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News: Ryanair Launches New Feeless Program
If you want to catch a ride on Ryanair it'll cost you nearly $8 more per person just to use your credit card for payment. Ryanair is a low cost airline basked in Ireland. In terms of passengers, the airline is the largest airline in Europe and the world's largest in terms of international passengers. Visa Electron debit or credit card customers have been the only passengers that have not been subject to the surcharge. That will, however, as Ryanair has announced that they will soon be accepting prepaid MasterCard with no additional fee. The airlines expect to phase out the Visa Electron no fee policy. Visa implemented the Electron card in the 1980's as a debit type card. The difference is that a debit card allows customers to become over-drawn, whereas the Electron card does not. The Visa Electron requires a different payment processing system than traditional debit and credit cards which makes it unacceptable at many online and offline terminals.
Good news for travelers that want to avoid the per person additional fee. Ryanair announced earlier this week that they will not charge the per person surcharge to passengers who use the MasterCard prepaid cards to pay for airfare. There's one drawback for customers. Although they may be saving in paying the per person credit card payment fee, it will cost them to purchase the MasterCard prepaid card. This varies from country to country, and in some countries consumers pay an additional fee to the retailer and to reload the card with additional funds. Last year in an attempt to help credit card consumers who were interested in avoiding the per person fee, Ryanair launched its own co-branded MasterCard prepaid card. However, customers were charged a 75c fee for each transaction. A Ryanair spokesperson said the co-branded MasterCard prepaid card was no longer available.
British Advertising Standard Authority rules mandate that airlines advertise fairs must include all non-optional fees and charges. The Office of Fair Trading says that if charges are foreseeable and unavoidable airlines should include them in the advertised priced. By placing a booking fee on debit and credit card purchases only, Ryanair has been able to get around the law since the fee does not apply to all tickets. Therefore, the airline is able to advertise lower fares.