Ryanair introduces new pre-paid card
Passengers who want to avoid a booking fee with Ryanair will have to buy a new Ryanair-branded pre-paid cash card, available from October 4.
Those using any other card to pay for flights, including pre-paid Mastercards which currently exempt them from the fee, will be charged £6 per passenger per flight from November.
Ryanair's decision to offer its own pre-paid card comes as the Office of Fair Trading launches a new investigation into airline card charges.
The budget airline claims more passengers will be able to avoid its booking fee by buying the new Ryanair Cash Passport on its website.
Currently, passengers are exempt from its booking fee only if they use a pre-paid Mastercard, but Ryanair says this only applies to 25% of customers. It says it hopes that by selling the new card on its website it will increase the percentage of passengers avoiding the booking fee.
Passengers will have to pay £6 for the Ryanair Cash Passport, but they will receive a £6 Ryanair voucher.
The card can also be used to make purchases in retail outlets and to withdraw cash, but from April next year customers will be charged for 50p for each transaction other than flight bookings with Ryanair and up to £4 for cash withdrawals.
Cash Passport card users will also incur a rolling charge of £2.50 if they don't use the card for six months.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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