In Europe, many airlines have introduced a new wrinkle in their fee structure — an increase in the charge to use a credit card to purchase your ticket. Even British Airways and Virgin are socking it to their passengers for the convenience of using a credit card. These charges range from nothing to $21 — it is worth being aware.
Cheapflights.co.uk, one of the leading British travel websites, and a great source of information on low-cost airline travel in Europe, has compiled this current list of airline charges for using various credit cards. Each airline seems to have a different pricing structure. If the difference in airfares is small, it would be worth checking out their booking fees. (We have added the approximate US$ equivalents.)
This list shows Europe’s Top 10 low-cost Airlines and the fees they charge per type of credit card:
1) Iceland Express: 1% of total ticket cost on all cards.
2) Air Europa: £0 on Visa Debit, Mastercard Debit, Visa Credit, Mastercard Credit. NB: American Express is not accepted and there are no baggage fees when flying this airline.
3) British Airways: £0 on Visa Debit/Electron, Switch/Maestro, and Mastercard Debit. BA charges £4.50 ($7.33) on Visa Credit, Mastercard Credit, and American Express.
4) Virgin: £0 on all debit cards and £5.68 ($9.25) on all credit cards.
5) Monarch: £0 on Visa Electron, £3.90 ($6.35) on all other Debit cards, and £5.57 ($9.08) on Credit/Mastercard.
6) Jet 2: £5.56 ($9.06) booking fee and credit card fee of £5.76 ($9.30) on all credit cards. £5.56 ($9.06) booking fee on Debit Cards. £0 on Electron. £5.56 ($9.06) booking fee if using Paypal plus £2.47 ($4) Paypal fee on top.
7) BMI Baby: £9 ($14.67) on American Express, Mastercard, and Visa Credit. £6 ($9.78) on Visa Debit, Switch/Maestro, and Solo. £0 on Electron.
8) Flybe: £9 ($14.67) transaction fee plus £1 ($1.63) on top for Visa, American Express, and Mastercard. £9 ($14.67) transaction fee on Visa Debit, Switch/Maestro, and Solo cards. £0 on Electron.
9)Ryanair: £6 ($9.78) each way (on any card whether debit or credit).
10) Easyjet: £12.95 ($21.10) on American Express, Visa and Mastercard. £8 ($13) on Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit. £0 on Visa Electron.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
