British Airways fees for credit cards and seat selection increasing

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• Martin says:

  20 Aug20 August 09:16

  Frustrating I suppose but no big issues from me on the CC fee given the comparable charges with other airlines although I feel they shouldn’t charge a fee for using the BA amex as those holding this card are in essence supporting the BA brand. I suppose the £5 fee looks rich on domestic flights though.

  As for seat selection, it’s not a rip off IMO as you have a choice whether to pay or not, basic no status holders get free at 24 hours prior and bronze from 7 days out, silver and better obviously get it free anyway.

• Lady London says:

  20 Aug20 August 13:44

  I was completely unaware of this. My first thought on seeing the scale of charges here was “Am I looking at the Ryanair price list for extras?”. Truly we are looking at the Ryanairization of BA.

  Think I saw a report somewhere that the cost of processing a credit card transaction online is a very low number of pence. It isn’t proportionate at all, to the value of the transaction either.

  Just to upset anyone who pays these outrageous fees even more, IME blanket free of charge seat selection in any class at time of booking is readily given away as a policy by BA to all levels of traveller of corporate customers.

  • Mark2 says:

    20 Aug20 August 15:09

    We recently experienced the Ryanairization. When we checked in at T5 to fly to Pisa with two suitcases and no hand luggage one suitcase was lighter for my wife to pull although the total was within the two X weight limit. We were advised that cases were now weighed separately and we had to pay £40 excess baggage. On the way back from Malpensa, after distributing the weight equally, the cases were weighed together.
    I complained, mentioning Ryanair, but was fobbed off.

    • JQ says:

      20 Aug20 August 21:55

      Why did you not repack at check in, and then repack after collecting?

• Daniel says:

  20 Aug20 August 15:53

  Ryanairization! – Well worth remembering that this is what Willie Walsh did to Aer Lingus when he was in charge there! Seems to be following the same path with BA though at a slower pace. Also Ryanair charge 2% for credit cards which means that BA charges now work out higher on short haul journeys up to 250 Stg! I wonder who is making money from all this!
  I agree with the comments above about use of the BA amex card – seems to be hit for supporting BA in the first place.

  • steve says:

    25 Aug25 August 21:15

    Do people really have the BA Amex to support BA? I certainly dont, i just use it to gain more avios and if a better deal came along i would ditch it without a thought.

• paula says:

  20 Aug20 August 16:53

  slightly off topic but the virgin site for checking reward availably has been updated, now much easier to see availability in all cabins for each month at once.

• Andy says:

  20 Aug20 August 19:11

  Canada does not allow credit card surcharges in general (but not sure if they’re covered)

• Cheshire Pete says:

  20 Aug20 August 20:59

  I’ve heard people say a few times about changing your country to avoid the Fee but never worked out how. I tried it once but the 4.50 Still appeared at checkout. I do take exception paying it with my BAPP card however. So I generally use Debit card if below what I think the 3 x Avios is worth paying the fee for. So probably around 300.

  I think it is a ripoff BA charging this for Cheap domestics. I once flew MAN to LHR for £35 and only realised afterwards I was charged £4.50. It’s when I first got my BA amex so was none the wiser. I realised I’d paid a fee of almost 15% to use my Amex to basically get 105 extra Avios, at the time I opened a dispute console with Amex as felt BA were in breach of regulations regarding this. I should have pursued it with the Ombudsman but didn’t at the time.

  Now I use Debit card mostly . But if someone could explain the country thing more clearly? Oh did a lot of BA day trips before the summer. £45ish each way. Paid with Debit. Then on offered PAUGs paid with Amex as upgrades don’t incur a fee!

  So aside from the principle of the Fee, their applying of it is completely inconsistent.

  • Rob says:

    21 Aug21 August 08:27

    On ba.com, change ‘Country of card issuance’ on the payment page to, say, Ukraine and then use an Amex-issued Amex. No fee. You will be charged with a Visa or MC or non-Amex Amex.

• Julio says:

  25 Aug25 August 22:03

  Just saw JQ’s comment above, sorry for the noise (and thanks JQ).

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