Considering that processing a £200 credit card sale only costs a business around £2 why are we being charged up to £10 surcharges by airlines, train companies, ticket agencies and others?

The Office of Fair Trading is on the issue following a lobby by the group Which? Who launched a ‘super complaint’ this month claiming that the charges being made to us are much higher than the actual cost of processing the transactions.

Handling card payments costs companies and retailers a small amount. The fees they are charged by payment companies such as Visa or MasterCard are typically between 1 and 2.5% for a credit card and pennies for a debit card sale (depending on the size of the company). Despite this, many companies boost their card payment charges and the accusations are that they are simply trying to boost their profits at our expense.

A good example of this is a company like Ryanair – it costs them around £2-3 for a credit card booking of £200. Their Best-buy fares start at a nice low cost of £8 but if you pay by credit card, then they charge you £5 per person per flight (outward and inward bound), so a family of five buying return tickets rack up an extra £50 in fees if they pay by credit card.

Airlines aren’t the only offenders either, Ticketmaster are charging over 10% on some of the bookings they take, while TheTrainline.com takes a £1 booking fee on all transactions and a £3.50 flat fee on all credit card transactions.

Many people choose to use credit cards to pay for large transactions such as flights and holidays because of the extra insurance it affords them, but why should we pay so much extra when the credit card company isn’t requiring it. The UK Payments Association says that a review of these surcharges is long overdue.

It’s possible to avoid the sting on some of these charges and the details below show how to do so when it’s possible.

Ticket Master
Service charge for each ticket and processing fee for each booking – fees vary, but can be as high as 11%. – There is no way around this fee.

Ryanair
Charges a £5 flat fee per person per one way journey for everyone paying by credit or debit card. – Get round this by paying with a MasterCard PREPAID debit card. You’ll still have to pay the fees for the prepaid card, but this is generally lower than Ryanairs charges for a family.

EasyJet
Bookings incur £5.50 fee per person plus 2.5% on top for credit card payments. – Get round the fee by using a Visa Electron card (issued by Halifax or Bank of Scotland).

BMI Baby
£3 per person per one way journey with minimum £4 payment on debit cards and £4.50 with minimum of £6.50 for credit cards. – As with EasyJet, get round the fee by using a Visa Electron card (issued by Halifax or Bank of Scotland).

British Airways
£4.50 per ticket when paying by credit card. – No fee is charged if you pay by Debit card.

Monarch
3.5% booking fee on the total transaction plus extra 1.5% if a credit card is used. – Pay by Solo or Electron to avoid the fee completely.

Flybe
£4.50 per person per one way journey plus 50p supplement of 50p per person per journey if you use a credit card. – Avoid the fee by paying with Visa Electron.

Utilities
Many different providers charge fees if you don’t pay by direct debit, check if yours does and if so, opt for direct debit payments.

Eurostar
£4 flat fee on all credit card bookings over £30. – Pay with a debit card to avoid the fee.

The Trainline.com
£1 booking fee on all transactions, plus £3.50 flat fee on credit card payments – pay by direct debit to avoid the £3.50 part of this charge.

More info
http://www.creditcardforbadcredit.org.uk/