Ryanair to close no-fee loophole

Ryanair will charge passengers to book flights using a popular debit card from next year, ending one way of avoiding the fee for using a credit card.

The airline charges €5 per person, per flight, for booking with a credit card, even though banks say it costs Ryanair less than €1 to process the transaction.

However, the charge can be avoided by getting a debit card known as Visa Electron.

But from 1 January the Visa Electron card will attract an "administration charge" of €5, Ryanair said yesterday.

The only way fliers will be able to avoid the administration charge is by signing up for a new MasterCard prepaid debit card.

Ryanair's Stephen McNamara said: "Passengers can use their MasterCard prepaid cards to pay for flights from 1 December, while our Visa Electron promotion comes to an end on December 31."

Source: The Irish Independent