Hefty card charges for online bookings face probe

CONTROVERSIAL add- on charges for card payments imposed by airlines and other companies for online bookings are to face a major challenge as a result of a complaint by a British consumer rights body.

Consumer rights group, Which?, is to ask the British Office of Fair Trading to examine what it claims are “excessive” credit and debit card charges forced on consumers when buying items like tickets for flights and music concerts online.

Which? yesterday announced it will be lodging what it described as a “super-complaint” into card surcharges. Such a complaint allows designated consumer bodies in Britain to complain to the Office of Fair Trading about alleged unfair practices affecting consumers.

It maintains that the cost of processing such card payments are a fraction of the transaction fee which consumers have to pay.

On average, Which? claims that it costs 20p per debit card transaction and 2% of the total value for a credit card transaction.

“Companies shouldn’t be using card processing costs as an excuse for boosting their profits,” said a Which? spokesperson.

It accused budget airlines, including Irish carrier Ryanair which has some of the highest charges of any company, as being one of the worst type of offenders for charging consumers high fees when booking flights online.

The group points out that many airlines like Ryanair impose a card usage charge on each single leg of the journey, despite the fact that the company has only one transaction to process.

Ryanair charges customers an online booking fee of €5 per single journey, unless they use a Mastercard pre-paid debit card — an option not readily available to most people.

It means a family of four on any return journey with Ryanair will pay a transaction fee of €40 simply to book tickets online.

A Ryanair spokesman insisted that surcharges can be avoided through the use of the pre-paid Mastercard.

In a typical robust response to criticism, the Ryanair spokesman described Which? as “clueless clowns”.

“If it wasn’t for dentists’ waiting rooms or doctors’ surgeries it is doubtful whether anyone even reads the useless and frequently inaccurate Which, Who or What magazine,” he remarked.

A spokesman for Which? said it was not targeting any individual company but instead was seeking greater transparency for debit and credit card payments.