UPDATE: As of 1st Jan 2010, this method no longer works, please see this new post to bypass the credit card charge!
photo credit: Deanster1983
Firstly, this man deserves all the credit for this tip, i’m simply spreading the word further.
You know the way, when booking a flight with Ryanair, they charge something ridiculous like €20 per person (slight exageration, actual figure is €5) each way per person if you use Visa or Mastercard?
Lets take a classic example…
“FREE FLIGHTS – *just pay taxes & credit card charge” – that is of course false advertising in most peoples eyes and it’s criminal that they get away with it. Taxes & Charges for 2 people on a return trip can easily end up costing €100+, even if the flights cost zilch. That’s not free and it’s not a bargain. The vast majority of the credit card charge is going directly in to Ryanair’s pockets. Handling / processing fees i think they call them.
There is now a way to stick the knife in to Ryanair and outsmart them. It’s virtually impossible to get a Visa Electron card, yet Ryanair don’t charge a credit card charge if you book using one. So by having one of these cards it saves you €5 per person each way. €20 for two people on a round trip. €20 up until now, nobody has ever saved as nobody can get there hands on a bloody Visa Electron Card.
However, EntroPay have them as virtual visa cards (just like a 3v prepaid card) but here’s the deal – they’re recognised as Visa Electron Cards by Ryanair 😈
So you simply sign up for a card, fund it with your existing credit card (minimum €10). They charge a 4.95% commission so assuming the total cost of your transaction is less than €400, you’ll be saving cash.
Lets say your flight costs €100 for two people, return with Ryanair and you use a standard visa card. Add in a credit card charge it’s €120.
If you use this Visa Electron Card / EntroPay method it’ll only cost €104.95, saving you over €15.
No doubt Ryanair will cop on to this fact soon enough if enough people use it, but for now, get one over on Ryanair as they’re certainly not afraid to screw you.
excellent tip!
I do not need a visa electron card or other currently advertised accounts and credit cards to avoid Ryanair’s extra credit card charges/fees, if I had the facility to pay for the product I buy by cash or another option without paying extra fees on the credit card. Changing accounts, waiting for approval, passing on all my personal information again, costs money, time and is just tricking me into another deal.
But Ryanair and now more other companies do not offer the cash or other facilities without extra charges anymore. It is not negative for the consumer not to have the cash payment option, but it’s not fair, only to be able to buy the product with added extra charges!!!
This is why Ryanair has been taken to court by the German VZBV, where the judge ruled, that the praxis of adding these charges is illegal. The consumer should have the right of buying a product without paying extra/hidden charges. Read more on the website of the
Federation of German Consumer Organisation including public court order:
http://www.vzbv.de/start/index.php?page=themen&…
with kindest regards
simple123
BANKS EXPLOITING EXTRA CREDIT/DEBIT CARD FEE LOOPHOLE
I DO NOT NEED A VISA ELECTRON CARD or other currently advertised accounts and credit cards to avoid Ryanair’s extra credit card charges/fees, IF I had the facility to pay for the product I buy by cash or another option without paying extra fees on the credit card. Changing accounts, waiting for approval, passing on all my personal information again, costs money, time and is just tricking / forcing me into another deal.
But Ryanair and now more other companies (maybe even the banks owned by the governments who bailed out these banks) do not offer the cash or other facilities to pay without extra charges anymore. It is not negative for the consumer to have no cash payment option, but it’s not fair, only to be able to buy the product with added extra charges!!!
This is not just about transparency, we as a consumer should have the right to pay for the product we are buying without the extra charges if no other facility offered.
Lets introduce an online payment facility to our employers, where they can only pay us via credit card, and find a deal with a credit card company and make extra money on our income!
This is why Ryanair has been taken to court by the German VZBV, where the judge ruled, that the praxis of adding these charges is illegal. The consumer should have the right of buying a product without paying extra charges. Read more on the website of the Federation of German Consumer Organization including public court order:
http://www.vzbv.de/start/index.php?page=themen&…
with kindest regards
simple123
BANKS EXPLOITING EXTRA CREDIT/DEBIT CARD FEE LOOPHOLE
I DO NOT NEED A VISA ELECTRON CARD or other currently advertised accounts and credit cards to avoid Ryanair’s extra credit card charges/fees, IF I had the facility to pay for the product I buy by cash or another option without paying extra fees on the credit card. Changing accounts, waiting for approval, passing on all my personal information again, costs money, time and is just tricking / forcing me into another deal.
But Ryanair and now more other companies (maybe even the banks owned by the governments who bailed out these banks) do not offer the cash or other facilities to pay without extra charges anymore. It is not negative for the consumer to have no cash payment option, but it’s not fair, only to be able to buy the product with added extra charges!!!
This is not just about transparency, we as a consumer should have the right to pay for the product we are buying without the extra charges if no other facility offered.
Lets introduce an online payment facility to our employers, where they can only pay us via credit card, and find a deal with a credit card company and make extra money on our income!
This is why Ryanair has been taken to court by the German VZBV, where the judge ruled, that the praxis of adding these charges is illegal. The consumer should have the right of buying a product without paying extra charges. Read more on the website of the Federation of German Consumer Organization including public court order:
http://www.vzbv.de/start/index.php?page=themen&…
with kindest regards
simple123
Thank you very much! I hate Ryanair every day some more, and after the 3rd Visa Electron I activated, with different banks, that was not recognized by Ryanair as electron, now I can finally book without their ridiculous “extra” fees.
EntroPay worked very well, I am happy I found your blog and this great tip!
a buch of lying, thieving cunts. Never again will i fly with these low lives
Great tip ,gives me even more money saving with the best airline around obviously daniel, could't or didn't follow the very clearly explained, rules lol also poor fabrizio also seems to hate them but can't wait to book more flights what sad people
Hi Guys
Is this EntroPay Visa Electron card still recognised by Ryanair ??
Thanks for your help
Neil
Hi Guys
Is this EntroPay Electron card still recognised by Ryan Air ?
Thanks in advance Neil
yep, it’s still recognised and free to use
Thank you for this valuable post. Being in the Credit Card industry myself, I always try to keep up with cutting edge info. Your blog is deffinately worth Bookmarking. Cheers!
Thank you for this valuable post. Being in the Credit Card industry myself, I always try to keep up with cutting edge info. Your blog is deffinately worth Bookmarking. Cheers!
Ryanair are now charging for Visa Electron Card and their free payment method now is prepaid Mastercards. All of these prepaid cards have fee's associated with them so no way to avoid card transaction payments now.
true, well there was always a small fee involved anyway with visa electron, but now with prepaid mastercards, we're talking about 13 for a card and then 75c per transaction fee after that… http://rubycard.ie/ do prepaid mastercards – ryanair accept them…
i must actually create a new blog post about the changes and possible options…
I did a blog post about ruby card a while back – http://www.webpayments.ie/blog/ruby-card-a-prep… Personally I can't see why people would pay for such a card.
interesting post, but entropay now have an option for users to get a prepaid mastercard for £4.99… it costs 15c to transfer funds from your account on to the card (and they take 4.95% to load the account in the first place)…
so bar the £4.99 one off fee, it's the same cost to use as visa electron and works out much cheaper than the rubycard.
i agree with you though some of the fees are ridiculous and i'm not sure why anyone would use one of these cards for anything other than booking flights 🙂
ryanair have discontinued visa electron recently and flybe do not acknowledge virtual visa electron cards so the only way for an irish person is to get a master card prepaid one. With flybe however there is no way to avoid the fees as flybe do charge for master card prepaid and do not acknowledge virtual visa elecron cards which as far as i know are the only ones irish people can get. By the way prepaid mastercard is one way to avoid fees by ryanair.
Take a look at my blog post about the Dublin City Gift Card which has no charges so its a good candidate for using with Ryanair.
http://www.webpayments.ie/blog/an-irish-prepaid…
it works!
Hi I actually got that entropay last year and was dissapointed when it didnt work for me, I will try the prepaid master card, only thing is I wonder will we also be caught for that government tax that applies to Visa etc…it woud be adding another “unfair charge”.. its all such a rip off, Ryanair and the government. When will we ever just stand up to it all!
Hi I actually got that entropay last year and was dissapointed when it didnt work for me, I will try the prepaid master card, only thing is I wonder will we also be caught for that government tax that applies to Visa etc…it woud be adding another “unfair charge”.. its all such a rip off, Ryanair and the government. When will we ever just stand up to it all!
Hi Sean, I am after a singing and dancing web site, would you be interested to build it, if so please contact me on [email protected], Cheers Craig
Thanks for sharing those info and tips. I'm happy to found this blog.
excellent tip.
From August 1st, it is illegal to charge for the use of credit cards in the EU. Ryanair is still doing it, defying -that is- current laws. I wonder how long they will be able to get away with it.
It’s incredibly basic to create a payment by means of MyEasyPayment. Bank of America card accounts is accessible 24 hrs per day through online account entry. The site is clean and easy to use. MyEasyPayment are committed to protecting your personal information and facts on-line to keep it safe and confidential.
sean i tried the visa electron card with aer lingus to book a flight from dublin to london gatwick. The card is not being accepted by aer lingus . Is the visa electron with entropay not being accepted by aer lingus anymore.
what is wrong
i saw on another site when you signing up for entropay cards make sure you sellect sterling as your currency, also read someplace it no longer work since aug 2009 but also saw
Do you know if the new o2 Money Card will work on Ryanair?
I had a visa electron card, Igot it for booking Ryanair flights.
I was still charged the full booking fee, when i questioned it
i got no satisfaction whatsoever.