Airline credit card fees

cuteseal on 16/04/2014 - 10:52

Anyone shocked by the credit card fees charged by airlines? They don't appear in the pricing right until you select payment type.

Case in point - booking MEL - SYD return:
- Bravofly flying Tiger, total was around $380. But selecting Visa added on an extra $41 booking fee.
- Expedia, and also directly with Tiger Air site added $$16-29 from memory.
- Qantas charged $14 card payment fee as well on a $388 amount.

The only way I could avoid the fees was to select Visa Debit.

I can understand if it's a 1.5% or even 2% surcharge but with bravofly it's over 10% and even Qantas comes to 3.6%.

Note this explicitly states "card payment fee" on the invoice and is not some sort of administration fee, because selecting debit payment removes the fee.

Travel

Comments

  • T1OOO on 16/04/2014 - 12:39
    +1

    hi,

    Recently late last year or mid way threw laws got brought in to make sure CC fees were a reasonable amount.

    However, ZERO action has been taken in practice at all. its just bs and nothing has changed at all.

  • cuteseal on 16/04/2014 - 13:03

    I've never paid much attention in the past. I went through all my previous travel invoices - mostly overseas trips - usually it's all lumped in "fees/taxes/charges" bucket so I can't tell how much they actually charged for credit card fees.

    But looks like they've now explicitly called it out, and it is very eye opening.

    So beware I guess. I thought I was doing all the right things, using skyscanner, kayak, etc. to find the best deal, choosing budget airlines, only to find a $41 credit card fee tacked on at the end.

  • cuteseal on 16/04/2014 - 14:17
    +1

    Ok I did some digging, and looks like they charge a flat fee per person per booking or per flight.

    Airline Fare Type Credit Card Fee
    Qantas Domestic $7 per person per booking
    Qantas International $30 per person per booking
    Virgin Domestic/International $7.70 per person per booking
    Jetstar Domestic $8.50 per person per fare
    Jetstar International $8.50-12.50 per person per fare
    Tiger AIr Domestic/International $8.50 per person per flight

    I find Qantas and Virgin the most reasonable for domestic as they charge per booking, while the others charge per flight. So return flights count as 2 charges.

    I suppose if the total was a big amount you wouldn't blink an eye. But if you are booking cheap domestic fares they might not turn out that cheap after all.

    I still don't understand where bravofly get $41 from - will definitely avoid them in future and book directly with the airlines.

  • tonester on 16/04/2014 - 15:16
    +1

    also drip pricing - https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/134408

    • cuteseal on 16/04/2014 - 15:24

      Yes you are definitely right there.

      With Tiger, by the time you add in meals ($13 per meal) and seat selection ($5 per seat) and baggage ($0 this time as we are just going carry on) and the extra credit card fees, it literally came within a few dollars of Qantas. I'm surprised they don't charge for trips to the toilet as well.

      So in the end I said stuff it, I'll just pay for a full service airline, and went with Qantas.

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