Irish cannot avoid Ryanair €10 credit card charge

IRISH customers of Ryanair are being forced to pay an extra €10 when booking a return flight whereas the charge can be avoided across the rest of Europe.

The airline is hammering its Irish passengers for a €5 credit card levy per flight because the Visa Electron card, which does not incur the charge, is not available here.

Ryanair has continuously blamed the Government’s €10 air travel tax for its decision to pull routes and cut jobs in Ireland.

And as the airline announced a 550% increase in first quarter net profit to €136 million, its deputy chief executive, Michael Cawley, said all of Ryanair’s extra charges were “avoidable” but the Government tax was not.

He said the Visa Electron card, which is the only card that does not incur the Ryanair charge, is available in Ireland.

However, a spokesperson for Visa said the Electron is not issued by banks in Ireland to consumers, which is mainly due to “the dominant position that the domestic Laser scheme has held in the Irish market”.

The Visa spokesman added it is also not possible for Irish consumers to be issued with a Visa Electron card by a bank in Britain, as these cards are usually linked to a current account, which can only be set up if a customer has a British address – thereby excluding Irish residents.

The unavoidable credit card charge in Ireland can add €50 to the fare of a family of five travelling on a return Ryanair flight.

Ryanair said it applies the credit card charge to “defray the substantial administration costs we incur when processing credit and debit cards”.

It adds on its website that “as a special offer to Visa Electron card holders, Ryanair, for a limited period only, will not apply a handling fee”.

Even Ryanair’s own credit card is subject to the levy.

Mr Cawley said 27% of its bookings across Europe are made using the Visa Electron card.

The card is not widely used across Europe and Visa said the Electron card accounts for just 15% of point of sale spend on debit cards.