We did it! Unfair card surcharges are being banned

If you are referring to British Airways, while it is supposed to be the ‘national airline’ of the UK, I cannot say that they are the most competitive airline.

They should be paying sponsorships from their profits and not impose UNFAIR extra charges on consumers.

A £4.50 booking fee, if you paid by card, is also unfair.

Hi Peter,
Thanks for clarifying card fees. I am concerned whether the Which? campaign will be able to put pressure on the government to ensure that unfair card charges are stopped. This has already become a free for all because the implementation of the EU directive does not come into effect until later this year. It does seem that companies, including arlines, have adopted the tactic of introducing booking fees to try and fool consumers about hidden charges.

Can Which? please shed some light on the current situation and whether the EU directive will force companies, banks etc., to drop their unfair charges and halt rip offs of consumers.

Hi Karen,
You have made a valid point and I really do believe that Which? on behalf of ripped-off Consumers’ should now launch another campaign, to stop these higher unfair card charged. Why are companies and banks jumping on the gravey train by imposing extra charges, ahead of the government’s legislation later this year?

The cinema will incur a small cost to take debit cards and will make a profit on the card charges. The same applies when they sell you popcorn. If there is an opportunity to make a profit, many companies will do it.

Hi Edward long time since last messages
Once again your making a mistake of naming Ie Cameron. I agree with everything you are saying but lets not forget as you have brought it up Labour had 13 years and did nothing about this item , so please Edward stop using politics all the time. THEY ARE ALL AS BAD AS EACH OTHER.
Your friend
Norman
Ps at a recent auction (weds) I had to pay 1.98% of total price of items this was on top of 15% auction site fees.

In reply to Easyjet dropping the £9 fee. I recently tried to book flights and yes they have dropped that fee but now have allocated seating which they charge you for! I do not know of another airline that does this. So they have got round this already. I declined to pay the charge and booked with another airline. I think we have to vote with out feet.

Angela B, Do you mean that you cannot complete your booking without buying allocated seating, or that if you wanted allocated seating, you had to pay extra? Some regular carriers (e.g. Malaysia Airlines) levy a charge if you want to book an allocated seat, although you can turn up at the airport and take your chance.
Quite right to vote with your feet – it is the only language rip-off merchants understand.

In response to Angela B’s comment on the booking fee for an allocated seat, you do not have to select a seat. If you choose not to select where you want to sit their system will allocate one at random. My wife and I fly easyJet quite a lot and for us, paying a few pounds extra to avoid the old easyJet scrum/cattle-market is simple heaven. Other airlines also charge fees for seats – I flew Aberdeen to Southampton with Flybe on my own recently and when booking online eventually managed to find the way of NOT paying a seat fee and letting the system allocate me one. At least on easyJet the default position is that you don’t pay this fee unless you decide that you want to select your seat.

Just use a debit card. DVLA and many other organisations make it clear that there is a surcharge for credit card payments to cover what the credit card companies charge. If DVLA did not pass on this charge, those who pay by credit card would be subsidised by the rest of us.

Credit card surcharges cover more than processing card payments, for example billing, subsidising those who take advantage of free credit and pay their bill in full every month, dealing with those who get into debt and providing protection for purchases over £100.

I ask if there is a credit card surcharge and if so, I pay by debit card and expect the transaction cost to be met by my bank.

Fair enough. Not everyone has a debit card. It is possible to pay vehicle excise duty at some post offices, either in person, or by post for the cost of a stamp.

All credit card providers have to make provision for the cost of dealing with those who get into debt. With customers being given high credit limits and the typically high interest charges charged, quite a number of people do get into debt. If you are a good driver, you will be subsidising those who are not.