Visa Electron and Ryanair Booking Charges

Calendar November 1, 2009 | Posted by Money Guide

Ryanair were taken to court in Germany in 2009 over their credit card charges which were  £10 per person for a return flight.
The German court deemed that the Ryanair  charge was “inadmissible” unless the airline also offered a charge-free method of payment. Ryanair in their defence said  they do offer a free option if customers booked with a Visa Electron card. (2009)

UPDATE:  2011 – Visa Electron cards  now incur a €6 per one way flight with Ryanair . Prepaid Mastercard is now the only fee free option  on Ryanair . See here for more about where you can get a  Prepaid Mastercard

Where can you get a Visa Electron card?
(It still gets you fee  free booking on Aer Lingus and Easyjet)
The Visa Electron  card is not very easy to obtain for Irish residents – or anyone else . It appears the Electron card is being phased out.
You could try and open a bank account with Lloyds in Spain (you can do it while living in Ireland). Lloyds will isue you with a Visa Electron card.
But that might be a  bit over the top.

 

 

 

Category Categories: Charges and Fees, Credit cards, Entropay, Freebies, Prepaid Credit Cards, Ryanair, Saving Money, Visa Electron Card

2 Comments

  1. eileen corkery says:
    January 5, 2010 at 20:18

    Found your site very helpful but with flybe they do not recognize the entropay VIRTUAL visa electron card.

    You have a have an actual plastic card to be able to avail of the lower charges associated with visa electron. Virtual cards do not cut it with flybe. They have to be actual plastic. Entropay do not supply plastic visa electron cards only virtual ones.

    Is there any plastic visa electron cards available to irish citizens.

    thank you
    eileen corkery.

  2. eileen corkery says:
    January 5, 2010 at 20:20

    Works fine for ryanair and aerlingus which is fantastic. Great to be in the know thanks to u.