Ryanair Changes Card Policies

It now seems that Ryanair is swapping the only type of card that can be used. This new change is coming in order to avoid a charge when booking a flight with an airline. Users of the Mastercard Prepaid card will not be charged the £5 per person administration charge starting December 1^st.

However, people who are paying with a Visa Electron card will face a charge for the first time starting January 1^st when booking a Ryanair flight. This new move was prompted by the fact that both Travelex and Santander are phasing out the Visa Electron payment service.

Stephen McNamara from Ryanair said that Mastercard Prepaid cards are widely available across Europe. They can be had at financial institutions, as well as online. Passengers paying with Visa Electron are not charged transaction fees by all airlines. Some of the airlines that are not charging fees include Aer Lingus, Flybe, easyJet and BmiBaby.

Many airlines already charge a flat fee transaction per person, per flight when customers pay by way of a debit or credit card. Consumer groups have been lobbying airlines to increase their advertised headline price to include these charges. The Advertising Standards Authority rule states that, where an advertisement shows a price, it should include all non optional charges on it.

Already about 1.7 million people in the UK have a Mastercard or Visa prepaid card. This information comes from figures released by the UK Cards Association. Although Ryanair is not currently charging a fee for the Visa Electron card, they will be soon. Thus, experts say that passengers should be prepared for the changes.