Easyjet rant

[johnaachen]

How can they charge me £8 for using my credit card?!

Seriously, why do Easyjet charge you for paying the only way you can?! You can't pay with cash or cheque so how do they justify charging people for the only payment method option?

Why also are different cards charged different amounts? It's disgraceful!

[10 Pence Short]

It's about the commissions charged by the organisations handling the transaction.

You can either pay for it in an itemised way, or you can pay for it in the cost of the flight. The result is the same so stop complaining.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Or go and complain in a different forum. Planes, tsk, this is cars here.

[Tallbut Buxomly]

Well think about it for a minute. If every passenger actually only paid ten quid to fly, the plane wouldnt get off the ground as there wouldnt be enough fuel or staff hence why there are added costs. If you wish to truly fly cheaply you could probably take a bus to the airport then pay for your ticket in cash at the counter and then walk on the plane with no baggage.

[bazking69]

You wouldn't bat an eyelid if that £8 was lost in the price of the ticket/tax.

I don't agree with the way they lump silly extras like this on at various stages of the booking, but I just look at thye total picture and if it is still the cheapest compared to the competition then it's a goer.

Also, Ryanair are the worst by far for lumping on random charges for just about anything.

[johnaachen]

10 Pence Short said:

It's about the commissions charged by the organisations handling the transaction.

You can either pay for it in an itemised way, or you can pay for it in the cost of the flight. The result is the same so stop complaining.

So you dont think that Easyjet make any money out of it? Why do company's such as Tesco etc not charge me £8 if I buy something for 1p?

[Tallbut Buxomly]

johnaachen said:

10 Pence Short said:

It's about the commissions charged by the organisations handling the transaction.

You can either pay for it in an itemised way, or you can pay for it in the cost of the flight. The result is the same so stop complaining.

So you dont think that Easyjet make any money out of it? Why do company's such as Tesco etc not charge me £8 if I buy something for 1p?

Because tescos control their suppliers prices.

[randlemarcus]

Are Electron cards still free? If so, then the credit card charges are a punitive "dont use this, use Electron" charge.

As regards Tesco, no they dont charge you £8, but Tesco Card Services get 2.5% on each transaction, and presumably make a huge loss, which accidentally gets written off against tax, so effectively the card issuer charges are free to Tesco.

[Dare2Fail]

johnaachen said:

10 Pence Short said:

It's about the commissions charged by the organisations handling the transaction.

You can either pay for it in an itemised way, or you can pay for it in the cost of the flight. The result is the same so stop complaining.

So you dont think that Easyjet make any money out of it? Why do company's such as Tesco etc not charge me £8 if I buy something for 1p?

They obviously make money of it if you view the transaction charge in isolation as it doesn't cost them £8 to process the transaction. However, if you view the ticket cost in isolation they could very easily be making a loss. They have to balance it out somehow, and htis is how the do it.

The best thing to do is ignore the breakdown of the costs and look at the total you are being charged for your flight. Is it a good deal? If it is, buy the ticket. If it isn't then don't. Simple.

[johnaachen]

randlemarcus said:

Are Electron cards still free? If so, then the credit card charges are a punitive "dont use this, use Electron" charge.

As regards Tesco, no they dont charge you £8, but Tesco Card Services get 2.5% on each transaction, and presumably make a huge loss, which accidentally gets written off against tax, so effectively the card issuer charges are free to Tesco.

Some cards are still free - perhaps Electron but there still seems to be a hierachy on which cards incur the least additional cost.

I also don't believe that its down to costs of the company doing the transactions....that suggests that EVERY company who does not charge for using credit cards loses £8 per transaction...I think not!

[randlemarcus]

johnaachen said:

randlemarcus said:

Are Electron cards still free? If so, then the credit card charges are a punitive "dont use this, use Electron" charge.

As regards Tesco, no they dont charge you £8, but Tesco Card Services get 2.5% on each transaction, and presumably make a huge loss, which accidentally gets written off against tax, so effectively the card issuer charges are free to Tesco.

Some cards are still free - perhaps Electron but there still seems to be a hierachy on which cards incur the least additional cost.

I also don't believe that its down to costs of the company doing the transactions....that suggests that EVERY company who does not charge for using credit cards loses £8 per transaction...I think not!

Ahem Bolded for your delectation.
Not forgetting credit cards run the risk for Easyjet of effectively extending your consumer rights to cover things like cancellations, delays beyond those that Easyjet find acceptable from their cash flow perspective. IIRC if they cancel due to running exactly the number of jets they need for the hops, with no spares, you simply get a new flight, no compo, no hotels.

[Tallbut Buxomly]

johnaachen said:

randlemarcus said:

Are Electron cards still free? If so, then the credit card charges are a punitive "dont use this, use Electron" charge.

As regards Tesco, no they dont charge you £8, but Tesco Card Services get 2.5% on each transaction, and presumably make a huge loss, which accidentally gets written off against tax, so effectively the card issuer charges are free to Tesco.

Some cards are still free - perhaps Electron but there still seems to be a hierachy on which cards incur the least additional cost.

I also don't believe that its down to costs of the company doing the transactions....that suggests that EVERY company who does not charge for using credit cards loses £8 per transaction...I think not!

Sadly all companies incur a charge for card transactions as far as i am aware. i am sure you have all seen the new barclays add for their wireless bank card simply wave it over the terminal and the charge is taken from your card. My friend is a maccies manager and apparently the reason you arent seeing it everywhere is that barclays are demanding a rise in charge per transaction of something silly like 3% over a normal transaction so the system is being boycotted by all companies inc mcd's as it will all but wipe out their profit per transaction.

[dcw@pr]

bazking69 said:

just look at thye total picture and if it is still the cheapest compared to the competition then it's a goer.

+1

dont understand why people get their knickers in a twist over this.

It's like complaining that if something in Sainsburys is buy one get one free then they won't let you buy one for half price.

[Citman]

Electron is still free with Easyjet, but no longer at Ryanair - the only free cards you can use for Ryanair are pre-paid Mastercards, which come with a loading or transaction fee, and a minimum top-up, so it's now pretty much impossible to avoid some kind of charge from someone for a Ryanair flight.

I see what people are saying with regards to looking at the total cost before deciding whether it's good value, and that's what I generally do - but it is still a pretty sharp and unpleasant business practice that does nothing for customer relations in a business already perceived as having pretty poor customer service. The actual processing cost is no more than tens of pence, allowing the airlines to advertise fares before charges that don't reflect the actual cost most get charged, and the practice of charging per person per flight, despite it all going through on one transaction, leaves a bit of a bad taste too.

As for shops considering 2.5% of your bill to be for card services, I seem to recall this is a VAT dodge, allowing them to claw back some of the cost of processing.

Edited by Citman on Saturday 3rd April 16:28

[deckster]

dcw@pr said:

bazking69 said:

just look at thye total picture and if it is still the cheapest compared to the competition then it's a goer.

+1

dont understand why people get their knickers in a twist over this.

Because it's got to the point now where it's almost impossible to find out what the total cost is until you've bought the ticket. The list of 'extras' with Easyjet and the like are ridiculous, and once you've factored in the credit card fee, baggage charge, priority boarding charge, taxes, day-of-the-week-ending-in-y charge [I may have made that one up], the final cost bears very little relation to the advertised price that you were initially suckered in by. It's bordering on the fringes of false advertising and I believe that the OFT are taking a good close look at the budget airline industry as a result.

[Kudos]

Flybe charge you a "booking fee" of £3 and a credit card fee of £6

[LuS1fer]

BMIBaby charge you £9 per person which irritates the hell out of me - there's a charge for a Visa debit too and only an electron card is free. So I get fleeced £18 for two people but have to take it on the chin as the fare is otherwise by far the cheapest. Annoyingly, I don't get charged a card fee for hiring a car or airport parking.

Overall, I don't mind taking it on the chin. I did mind when they screwed up two holidays last year by cancelling flights though so are currently in the ***ehole category despite a fair few saitsfactory flights in the past.

[dcw@pr]

deckster said:

dcw@pr said:

bazking69 said:

just look at thye total picture and if it is still the cheapest compared to the competition then it's a goer.

+1

dont understand why people get their knickers in a twist over this.

Because it's got to the point now where it's almost impossible to find out what the total cost is until you've bought the ticket. The list of 'extras' with Easyjet and the like are ridiculous, and once you've factored in the credit card fee, baggage charge, priority boarding charge, taxes, day-of-the-week-ending-in-y charge [I may have made that one up], the final cost bears very little relation to the advertised price that you were initially suckered in by. It's bordering on the fringes of false advertising and I believe that the OFT are taking a good close look at the budget airline industry as a result.

sorry, but that is a seriously flimsy excuse. I just went on easyjet, selected a random flight, and within 90 seconds had got to this point



how is that ambiguous?

[Red&WhiteMonkey]

I fly with several different airlines quite regularly and can honestly say that easyjet are the clearest when it comes to showing the final price.