Whether you are an overseas property owner who is a frequent flyer or are booking a diy holiday – finding the cheapest budget flights can keep holiday costs down. However, we all know that the initial price shown will be much higher once the airline has added extra card, boarding, seating, luggage and checking in charges (phew!).
In fact, Which? is making a super complaint to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) as they claim consumers are being overcharged for placing purchases on their cards. The consumer organisation claims that low-cost airlines are among the worst offenders, with some charging a fee per passenger, each way, regardless of the fact that they only have to process one transaction.
For example, a certain airlines card charges for a return flight, for a family of four, is £40 to pay by debit or credit card. However, Which? calculates that the cost to the airline would be about 20p to process via debit card, and no more than 2% of the transaction with a credit card.
Avoiding airline card fees
Typically, these fees can be avoided by using a Visa Electron or prepaid Mastercard (the ones that few people have) but if you are regular flier, the savings may be worth getting one.
Hopefully the Which? complaint will result in fairer card charges, but the knock on effect will more than likely be increases air fares.
When is the best time to book cheap flights? Last year it was claimed that a ‘secret’ formula calculated that booking exactly eight weeks in advance and in the afternoon, midweek was best.
Further reading: The moneysavingexpert.com site has some good advice on beating budget airline extra charges – boarding, seating, luggage, checking in charges etc.
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