No more free VISA Electron on Ryanair purchases

Image via Wikipedia

Ryanair has done it again. In its endless efforts to make budget conscious travellers pay additional fees on top of the flight charge, they have now decided to end its free use of VISA Electron. This move from Ryanair seems to coincide with the fact that more and more travellers opt for an Electron card to avoid the hefty credit card charges. As the additional fees are what Ryanair makes its money on, it was an inevitable move from the Scrooge-like Mr O’Leary.

Even if the VISA Electron wasn’t widely used and could not be obtained in several countries, there were ways for the traveller to use Internet based VISA Electron cards, such as Entropay. As this knowledge spread on the Internet and Ryanair saw the increase of payments with the Electron card, they seemed to have decided to make its move. As they need to have a free option, they quickly established a relationship with MasterCard and are now offering passengers free credit card charges if the use MasterCard’s prepaid credit card. However, the prepaid card itself is not free of charges so in effect, Ryanair has now managed to make all its passengers pay some sort of fee for paying for its flights.

It is very hard to know exactly how much these prepaid MasterCard actually costs as there are different cars and various ways to pay for using them. The most common methods are a card issue fee, a type of loading charge, cash machine withdrawal charges and monthly fees. For example, Ryanair has introduced its own prepaid MasterCard in the UK and it has a £15.89 annual fee and in addition to this, it costs 50p per purchase.

The best way to minimize the fees are to find sites where you can get a free prepaid card and where the transaction charges are low. For example, This is Money have partnered up with FairFX and through This is Money’s webpage you can order your free prepaid card. It is free to load up if you use a debit card or bank transfer, has no monthly or annual fee and has free Euro and Dollar purchases. It charges a 1.5% fee on sterling transactions. More of these sites might be available to the customers.

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How to manage money while travelling

Image by Roby© via Flickr

One of the most important decision when you are about to go on a trip, at home or abroad, is to decide how you are going to pay for yourself. There are a few options, some better than others, where cash, credit or debit card and traveler's checks are best. Often the answer depends on the country you are going to, and in most cases, it might be advisable to choose a mix.

Tip 1: Browse the Internet for information and see what cards are accepted in the places that you are about to visit, not every country have the same rules and regulations. See what charges and fees apply for the cards as well as the travelers' checks. Depending on the answers, you will be better equipped to make a decision.

Tip 2: It's advisable to always carry a small amount of cash, no matter what option you are choosing as you might have to tip, pay for the taxi, make a call or find that the card is faulty.

If you do decide to opt for a debit card, you have made a wise decision. By having a debit card, you won't have to bring too much cash with you. Seeing as your debit card is connected to your bank account, the money you are about to spend, is the money that you have saved and is yours. You won't get a credit card bill in the mail a few weeks after the trip. No unpleasant surprises here.

Tip 3: With the ATM receipt, you can keep track of the money you have withdrawn. If you are connected to the Internet bank, you might also be able to go and see exactly how much money is in your account and how much they have taken from the account. This is especially good if you are withdrawing money in a different currency.

If you lose the debit card or it is stolen, you will be able to call your bank and have it disconnected immediately. There is also a safety net as you are only liable for some of the loss if thieves manage to withdraw money.

Tip 4: Have someone at home help you with your money. If you only have a few hundred dollars in the account at any single time, you will feel safer. When you have used up your money, simply call home and ask them send more money into the account,

Tip 5: Never show anyone your pin number, and don't leave the card to someone and let them walk away with it. Make them bring the machine to you. That way that can't copy your card.

Tip 6: If there is a fee for using the ATM, try and pay as much as possible with the card, and plan your withdrawals carefully.

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Avoid Ryanair's credit card fee by paying with Electropay

Anyone who has ever booked flights with Ryanair knows the frustration of the added fees that will increase the price substantially. I wrote a blog post about how to avoid Ryanairs credit card fees here and have now tried it. Even if it isn’t a completely free way of getting around the credit card fee, it is a highly recommended approach. The satisfaction of not paying the Euro 5 per passenger, per flight is extraordinary.

To avoid paying the hefty credit card fee that Ryanair imposes, you need to do the following.

Step 1 : Go to Entropays website, click here.

Step 2 : Sign up for Entropay by filling out a simple form. Please note, choose GBP as the account currency. This is the only way if you want Ryanair to recognise this virtual credit card as VISA Electron.

Step 3 : Give them the details of your standard credit card that you want to use to pay Electropay with.

Step 4: load your new virtual credit card with an amount, at least 10 GBP. The best way is to load the card with the exact amount that the flight cost.

You are now set to go. The signing-up only takes a few minutes. And once done, you can use it as many times as you want.

This is not a completely free service. They will charge you 4.95% of the amount you load the card with. For example, if you load Entropay with 10GBP, they will charge you 0.45 GBP. So of course, there is going to be a point where it will cost the same with Entropay as with Ryanair. This will be when you book a single journey for 1 passenger for EUR 101.01. So, if the fare is less than this, it will be cheaper with Entropay. How much cheaper will be depends on the price of the flight. The cheaper the flight, the higher the benefits of using Entropay.

When you book your flight on the Ryanair website, choose the VISA Electron option for paying. This is currently the only option there that is free. Of course, if you live in a country that offers a VISA Electron, you might opt for that one instead of the virtual way.

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Budget Airlines: Ryanair the European low-cost carrier

Image via Wikipedia

A few years ago the budget airlines started taking off and managed to get a fair share of the market. The most successful company, at least in Europe, is Ryanair. This Irish flight operator marketed themselves as the no frills airline and slashed prices of flying.

Their strategy certainly worked and even in times of recession, they have managed to hold their own. What did Ryanair do to become so successful and do we really like Ryanair?

I certainly use Ryanair when I fly within Europe and although they annoy me most of the time, they are so cheap that I seem to overlook all the hassle that comes with booking a flight with them. Ryanair cleverly uses pricing as their number one strategy. They have a very low basic price, and to increase their own revenue, they then sneakily add hefty fees to things like, luggage, check-in and credit cards. Even though it angers customers, it does seem to do the trick.

It is also important to know that it is only during certain weeks that their prices are very, very low. When they first introduce the routes and fares, they have a standard price. A couple of months before the date of the flight, they introduce their cheap fares. As they then sell their tickets, the rates increases. In the end, the rates they charge just a few days before the flight is due, are extremely pricy. At least in comparison to the ones a few weeks ago. It is very important to buy your ticket in advance, just not too many months before the flight date.

I will keep blogging about Ryanair, please comment on this and mention what annoys you and tips and tricks that you have come across. I will be blogging about those soon.

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Tips for using E-tickets

Some years ago there was only the one option to buy your travel ticket. You had to go to the travel agent and they then booked the trip for you. Whether you went in to their shop or gave them a call, the travel agent was the point of contact for your holiday needs.

With the Internet came a huge shift in the holiday and travel market. There was now a bigger, fiercer competition than ever before as the Internet sites were offering cheaper deals at a click of a button.

Rather than having a travel agent doing the booking for you, you were encouraged to take active part in the booking process and search for the bargain of your life.

For these Internet deals to be even cheaper the old reliable paper tickets, that came in the post, was soon dispensed of and the e-ticket emerged. An e-ticket works the same way as a standard ticket would, it just looks different. You will get a reference number and all the details of you particular hotel stay, flight or car rental will be described on the ticket.

Before you make that purchase, make sure that you have researched the market properly. A good advice is to check the travel agents and get a quote there. Then browse the Internet for better deals. Most search engines have reviews from customers and although they are not always telling the truth, they do give a general advice. Talk to friends and family and see how they got one and if they have any tips.

Once you have decided to make the purchase make sure that you read everything properly. As you are the one making the booking, you will be the one to pay for any misunderstandings or mistakes. A common mistake is to spell a name of a passenger wrong and then it can, at best, be dear to have the name change, or catastrophic if the passenger is declined the trip.

Depending on what kind of trip you book; flight, ferry, car rental or accommodation, you will receive an e-mail that confirms your booking. Make sure that you read this and that you are happy. Most booking is non-refundable and changes are very expensive. You will be issued with a booking reference number, print this number and write it down somewhere so that you have a duplicate. Today, most places go by your name and you don't need the reference number but you can never be sure. If there should be a problem, have a copy of the booking with you as proof of purchase.

It is easy to make the booking and most times it works without any hassle. At first it might seem suspicious and you might worry that you won`t end up getting the product that you pay for but once you have started using e-tickets, you will soon reap the benefits of cheaper holidays. If you are unsure, call the place or reservation centre and have the booking confirmed, but do check the rate at which these calls are charged as it can be an unpleasant surprise otherwise.

Booking online also puts you at risk as you pay with a credit card. Make sure that it is a secure transaction before giving away all you details.

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How to avoid paying Ryanair’s credit card fees

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Ryanair is one of the world’s cheapest airlines. This low-cost airlines offers amazing value tickets for flights within Europe, starting at € 0. However, as always there is a snag. You will have to fork out substantially more than the flight price to actually be able to book the ticket. If you do decide that you don’t need much luggage and that the handbag allowance of one bag is sufficient, you will still need to pay to check-in. On top of that, you will have to pay a credit card fee unless you are the lucky holder of a VISA Electron. In the end, the free ticket could cost you a good bit more than you expected.

So, is there a way of getting around this? Well, if you could get your hands on a VISA Electron card which Ryanair doesn’t charge for using, I’d say; go for it. However, that seems to get increasingly hard to do so, especially if you are an adult. There is another option that I have heard about but not yet tried . It won’t be free, but it will cost you less than the €5 single fare credit card fee that Ryanair charge you if the ticket price is low.

Entropay is a company that offers virtual credit cards for a small fee. This fee is currently 4.95% of the amount you load your virtual card with. If you only load it with €10, the fee will be €0.495. As I haven’t used it myself, I can’t vouch for it to actually work but plenty of people swears by it. There is a snag though. When you choose your account currency, you need to pick GBP. That is the only way at the moment to get Ryanair to pick up on this card as a VISA Electron. So, once you have signed up to Entropay and created your virtual credit card, you need to pick VISA Electron when you are paying Ryanair and they credit card fee should be € 0.

Has anyone heard of this before or tried it?

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Why only one piece of hand luggage?

This week I travelled on the low-cost airlines Ryanair and EasyJet. I assume that most of you have heard of these no-frills companies that make their money from anything but the flight fare itself. To avoid having to pay the hefty baggage fees, we all have to make do with the 10 kilo hand luggage that we are entitled to. This didn’t use to be an major problem as your 10 kilo will see you trough a long weekend but in order to, I can only assume, make even more money, these companies decided that these 10 kg could had to be contained in one single bag.

So, rather than having one bag with about 10 kg and then a laptop bag, a hand bag and the duty free bag, they now want us to fit all that into the one single bag. A nearly impossible task. I tell you, there were many travellers with open bags trying to re-pack and reshuffle their items. I wonder what the duty free shops think about this? Especially with us buying less than before as it is with the recession.

I often buy a drink and a book to enjoy on the plane. I used to have it in a separate little bag so that I could easily place my luggage in the overhead locker and then sit down and let the rest of the passengers find their seats. But not this time. Now I had to fit that into my already overcrowded bag and once in the plane, I then had to open the bag and search for the items that I wanted. That took a while and the queue got longer and longer as more people had to do the same. I wonder what Ryanair and Easyjet accomplished here. Any thoughts?

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