Key Post Methods to avoid/minimise Credit Card charges with Ryanair and Aer Lingus

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ajapale

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Thread Summary by Brendan/NorfBank 19 November 2009

Entropay can be used for Aer Lingus and Ryanair.

Ryanair and Aer Lingus charge €5 per leg of flight for paying by credit card i.e. €10 per return flight.

You can avoid this by paying by www.entropay.com
It takes only 10 minutes to set up an account and pay for the flight.

However, entropay charges 4.95% on each deposit.
Minimum deposit is GBP10

So if you book a flight costing €200 or more, it is cheaper to buy directly using your own Credit Card.

But if you are buying ten flights at €1 each, you will save around €50.

However, you have to also pay charges to entropay for converting from stg to €.

It is a Visa Electron card, this is important as it is the choice you make from the dropdown box on the airlines website when choosing a payment method.

There are fees for returning money from your entropay account back to your debit/credit card card.

Entropay Fees

Entropay FAQ

Steps to obtaining an entropay card from bargainsireland blog.

1. Sign up for EntroPay but make sure that your chosen account currency is GBP (This is because your card will not be recognised as a Visa Electron if you choose EUR). Postal code is required so type in EIRE or some random postal code.
2. Use your regular credit card to fund the account.
3. Activate the account using the activation email that they send you.
4. You will need to load at least €10 on to the account from your existing credit card, they also take a 4.95% commision, so it will cost €10.50.

Alternatively, you can use Ryanair vouchers to save the Credit Card charges
 
Using entropay.com virtual debit card to avoid Ryanair €5 credit card charge /flight.

I came across this method of avoiding Ryanair's €5 per flight credit card charge on www.thepropertypin.com on the The Scrimp and Scrape thread: tips to save money thread. And those canny munsterfans have been discussing it [broken link removed] since January. And on this blog since November!


Ryanair don't make the charge for uk VISA ELECTRON debit card but dont accept Irish laser cards.

The poster suggests using http://www.entropay.com .... its a virtual debit card. When paying Ryanair choose "visa electron" as method of payment.

Entropay charge 4.95% per deposit.

Steps from bargainsireland blog.

  1. Sign up for EntroPay but make sure that your chosen account currency is GBP (This is because your card will not be recognised as a Visa Electron if you choose EUR). Postal code is required so type in EIRE or some random postal code.
  2. Use your regular credit card to fund the account.
  3. Activate the account using the activation email that they send you.
  4. You will need to load at least €10 on to the account from your existing credit card, they also take a 4.95% commision, so it will cost €10.50.
..and from the Ryanair website:
Ryanair Alters Debit Card Charges

VISA ELECTRON REMAINS FREE OF CHARGE​

Ryanair today (Friday 4th July 2008) announced that with immediate effect the fee for debit card payment will be increased to €5 per person, per sector to bring it into line with the Ryanair’s credit card charges. This amendment is required by Ryanair’s credit card providers who will not permit any cost differential between debit card and credit card payments.

As part of this agreement, Ryanair has secured the continuing agreement that Visa Electron will continue for the foreseeable future to be the only free of charge payment method, and Ryanair will continue to promote Visa Electron as its favoured/free payment mechanism for all passengers making bookings or purchasing services on www.ryanair.com

Speaking today Ryanair’s Daniel De Carvalho said:

“We regret that the credit card company rules require us to levy the same charge for debit cards as we do for credit cards, however we will continue to urge all Ryanair passengers to opt for the Visa Electron card which will continue for the foreseeable future and by agreement with Visa to be an entirely free of cost payment method on www.ryanair.com. The good news is that more passengers are now using Visa Electron than debit cards and we hope that this rapid growth in Visa Electron payments will continue”.
Click to expand...
Has anyone used Entropay? Is there a down side? Im assuming that because its a virtual debit card you are not protected by the credit card consumer protection regulations.

Are there any other alternatives?
 
Re: Using entropay.com virtual debit card to avoid Ryanair €5 credit card charge /fli

I live in Ireland (republic) and yes, it works, just follow the exact directions given above. I cannot remember now whether I had to give an address to register. I know that in less than 15 minutes of starting, I had bought my first tickets. If you transfer £20 from your euro credit card, it costs a fee of 99p (just under 5%), but I'm not sure how good the exchange rate is. (Does it vary with different banks?) But does anyone know why Ryanair don't charge a fee on tickets bought with electron? Do they have a share in it? Even Ryanair's own Visa card attracts the €5 fee on any flight.
 
Re: Using entropay.com virtual debit card to avoid Ryanair €5 credit card charge /fli

ajapale said:
Entropay charge 4.95% per deposit.
Click to expand...
So, if my ticket costs €100, then I have to deposit €105 into this virtual account.
Plus I will lose on GBP/EUR exchange rate (ticket price from a €-using country to a country that usus other currency is quoted in euro. If you pay by a €-credit card it is always cheaper comparing to other currencies cards)
Where am I saving in this case? I must be missing something...
 
Re: Using entropay.com virtual debit card to avoid Ryanair €5 credit card charge /fli

If you are booking for more than 1 person you save serious money. Even with 1 return flight you still save.
If it avoids having to give Ryanair money for nothing, I don't care.
 
Bypass airline credit card booking charges

Very interesting article in the Indo on avoiding airline credit card charges.

Here:
 
Re: Bypass airline credit card booking charges

demoivre said:
So how do you pay Ryanair for the flight in euro if you have to lodge GBP to the Entropay account?
Click to expand...
Just proceed with your booking as normal, your entropay account will de debited with the €stg equivilant of the € fare paid.
The reason it is necessary to set-up the entropay in £stg with a UK address is toget the Visa "Electron" card , ie a card commencing with the digits 4101 , otherwise the cc fee will be applied by the airline.
Theres not a big saving to be made booking one flight but if booking a family on a return trip the savings can be quite a lot.
 
Re: Bypass airline credit card booking charges

There is no need for a UK address at all. When setting up an Entropay card, you have a free choice of currency no matter where you live.
 
Re: Bypass airline credit card booking charges

TheShark said:
Theres not a big saving to be made booking one flight but if booking a family on a return trip the savings can be quite a lot.
Click to expand...

Totally depends on the value of the flights because Entropay charge a fee of 4.95% of the funds lodged. There are six of us and I have paid €1200 in the past for flights to Spain. Ryanair would charge me €60 for paying by cc and Entropay would charge me €59.40 for lodging the €1100 ( the equivalent in GBP ). This ignores any fx charges by my cc provider.
 
Re: Bypass airline credit card booking charges

ignoring FX rates,

it looks like if flights are less than 200 head with Ryanair savings to be made whereas over 200 a head cheaper to use own CC.

Say 6 people at 20 a head - Ryanair cost 60
whereas Electron would by 120 * 4.95% = 5.94

6 people at 200 a head ryanair 60
Electron 1200 * 4.95% 59.40 as indicated above.
 
Re: Bypass airline credit card booking charges

Also remember that when you pay with the GBP entropay for a euro flight, you dont get great fx rates. so consider the GBP->EURO and EURO->GBP Fx rates..

These do influence the decision

S.
 
Re: Bypass airline credit card booking charges

undo said:
There is no need for a UK address at all. When setting up an Entropay card, you have a free choice of currency no matter where you live.
Click to expand...
Yes you do have a choice of currency but if you want to get a card commencing with the digits 4101 (needed to be recognised a Visa Electron for avoidance of airline cc fees) it is necessary to set-up a £stg account.
I used this last week to book 18 x €1 flights , saving me almost €90 in fees.
 
Re: Bypass airline credit card booking charges

TheShark said:
it is necessary to set-up a £stg account
Click to expand...
I never questioned that. You definitely need a Sterling card for Ryanair - I have had one for a year now, I know how the deal works :). All I was saying is that your country of residence and the currency of your Entropay card are completely unrelated. No need to give them a fake UK address to get a GBP card.
 
Re: Bypass airline credit card booking charges

undo said:
I never questioned that. You definitely need a Sterling card for Ryanair - I have had one for a year now, I know how the deal works :). All I was saying is that your country of residence and the currency of your Entropay card are completely unrelated. No need to give them a fake UK address to get a GBP card.
Click to expand...
So if I set up a Sterling Entropay account with an ROI address will they give me a Visa Electron(4101) or a regular Visa(4313) virtual card?
The only one that works with Ryanair is the Visa Electron(4101).
 
Re: Bypass airline credit card booking charges

This may be of some help to you to avoid paying the fees when loading the Visa Electron card.

The UK Post Office issue Visa Electron cards and they do not charge any fees for loading money onto a Euro card. They charge 1.5% for loading onto a sterling or dollar card, which is much lower than Entropay. I'm am working in the UK at the moment and have got 2 Visa Electron cards (1 sterling & 1 Euro) from the post office.

There is a catch. The card needs to be registered to a UK address. So not everyone will be able to avail of this. Maybe a friend or family member living in Northern Ireland or the UK would get one for you. Risk for them would be very low as you cannot spend above what you have loaded on the card. The name of the flight booking does not have to be the same as the name on the card. I know this as my family are all now asking me to book flights for them using my card so that they avoid paying the CC charge!

You can load money up to £5000 (or euro equivalent) onto the card at the foreign exchange desk in any UK post office, or you can load up to 500 sterling (or euro equivalent) onto the card over the phone. If loading over the phone, the card where the money is coming from must be registered in the same name and the same address as the Visa Electron card. So if you want to top-up the card over the phone, your Northern Ireland or UK family / friend would have to lodge the money from their bank account or Visa account. If you are topping up at the Post Office counter, then no restriction applies. They dont even need the card with them. They just need the card number.

Again it's probably only worth the effort if you book a lot of flights. I am flying most weekends so am saving quite a bit!

Here is a link to the UK Post Office site:
http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/jump2?catId=96300778&mediaId=96400753

Strangely, if you read the last paragraph on this link, you will see that the card is issued by...... Bank of Ireland !!!

Anyone know why the 3V.ie prepaid Visa vouchers issued by Permanent TSB are not considered Visa Electron?

Hope this helps.
JT.
 
Re: Using entropay.com virtual debit card to avoid Ryanair €5 credit card charge /fli

bond-007 said:
If you are booking for more than 1 person you save serious money. Even with 1 return flight you still save.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily as illustrated above. For a return flight on Ryanair and ignoring any FX charges the cut off as to whether you use Entropay or your own cc can be calculated by

No. of travellers * 10 / 0.0495

So for me paying for six people : 6*10 / 0.0495 which is €1212.12 is the cut off - any less use Entropay and any more use my own cc.
 
Re: Using entropay.com virtual debit card to avoid Ryanair €5 credit card charge /fli

I opened a Euro funded Visa card with Entropay today card number starts with 4313, successfully booked a 1euro ryanair flight no credit card charges, so looks like Euro funded entropay card will now work with Ryanair, maybe a glitch on Ryanairs part so if someone else wants to try to see if still works
 
Re: Using entropay.com virtual debit card to avoid Ryanair €5 credit card charge /fli

Do you not think Ryanair (much as I admire them) are shooting themselves in the foot with all the charges? The cc charge is minute compared to the €40 per ticket each way if you can't check in online or need them to print a card. The only reason they allow the Entropay card at present is because it allows them advertise a flight for €0.
 
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