Airlines deny credit fees accusation

[kpc]

Airlines have defended accusations they are charging excessive credit fees for domestic and international flights.
A Qantas spokeswoman says the fees are unavoidable and are passed on to consumers to "partially recover significant and increasing cost to our business".
The comments follow a report by consumer organisation Choice, which says the airlines' surcharges are disproportionate to the processing fees set by credit card companies.

Airlines deny credit fees accusation
surprise, surprise...

 

[djfuzz]

Build it into the base fares maybe?

Can't advertise misleadingly low sale prices then I suppose...

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

i like the idea of discounts rather than additions.

so if you don't want chk in luggage you get a discount, if you pay via bpay you get a discount.

i know the airlines wont like starting out with the full priced fare for their marketing, but at least when you go to pay you can only be pleasantly surprised, not left wondering why the $29 fare set u back $50 :shock:

 

[oz_mark]

Build it into the base fares maybe?

Can't advertise misleadingly low sale prices then I suppose...

g

If they need to charge it, I don't see why they can't just charge a percentage like pretty much every other industry manages to do. Seems a bit unfair that a $200 cheapish fare has the same surcharge as someone paying $2000 for a business class fare.

 

[kpc]

g

If they need to charge it, I don't see why they can't just charge a percentage like pretty much every other industry manages to do. Seems a bit unfair that a $200 cheapish fare has the same surcharge as someone paying $2000 for a business class fare.

Exactly!!!

 

[dajop]

Exactly!!!

+ 1 . Am x.x% surcharge would seem fairer than flat surcharges.

 

[simongr]

I wholeheartedly agree that the fares should include CC fee. I am not so sure though about a flat % surcharge. Part of the fee is for staffing the administration of CC payments - not just the fee charged by the card provider. So it costs per transaction the same to process a large fare as a small fare 9setting aside the % charge by the CC provider).

 

[drron]

Now come on the cost of accounting for a payment is a cost of the business and should be reflected in the base price you charge for your product.There must be a need to have staff accounting for B payments.Cash would cost more staff time.Sorry the only acceptable cost to pass on is any extra cost CC usage causes you ie the percentage the CC provider charges you.
When I was in business the actual cost in staff time when someone paid by CC was less than if they paid in cash or by cheque.

 

[chrizzz14]

i would like to see how they explain that the cc service fee for a $414 domestic MEL-BNE-MEL flight is $7.50, and the cc service fee for a $1000 international MEL-LAX-MEL flight is $25.50?

Whether they process $10 or $10,000 - the process fee is exactly the same!!

 

[odysseus]

Exactly - the ACCC introduced it to allow businesses to pass on the cost of credit card processing compared to other payment forms, not to enable fee collection for an existing part of their business operations. They need admin staff to enable that part of their business to operate unless they don't wish to accept credit cards at all.

 

[NM]

I can buy $50 worth of petrol for my car and pay with my credit card and the servo does not feel they need to charge me $7 fee for using my credit card to pay. no difference in price I pay if I pay cash, direct EFTPOS debit from my bank account, Visa/MC or Amex/Diners. So how does a $49 airfare cost an airline $7 to process my credit card payment?

 

[chrizzz14]

I can buy $50 worth of petrol for my car and pay with my credit card and the servo does not feel they need to charge me $7 fee for using my credit card to pay. no difference in price I pay if I pay cash, direct EFTPOS debit from my bank account, Visa/MC or Amex/Diners. So how does a $49 airfare cost an airline $7 to process my credit card payment?

i really would love to have a 1 on 1 with Alan Joyce and see how he manages to answer this very question!!!
Im sure he'd say something like " it cost's airlines more to process cc payments"
eh.. why dont they just call it a Qantas processing fee !

 

[straitman]

I can buy $50 worth of petrol for my car and pay with my credit card and the servo does not feel they need to charge me $7 fee for using my credit card to pay. no difference in price I pay if I pay cash, direct EFTPOS debit from my bank account, Visa/MC or Amex/Diners. So how does a $49 airfare cost an airline $7 to process my credit card payment?

NM,

You need to account for the ripoff factor:!:

 

[odysseus]

I can buy $50 worth of petrol for my car and pay with my credit card and the servo does not feel they need to charge me $7 fee for using my credit card to pay. no difference in price I pay if I pay cash, direct EFTPOS debit from my bank account, Visa/MC or Amex/Diners. So how does a $49 airfare cost an airline $7 to process my credit card payment?

Depends which servo. The Caltex near me does so as a result those meagre Woolworths fuel discounts go unused.

 

[samh004]

I can buy $50 worth of petrol for my car and pay with my credit card and the servo does not feel they need to charge me $7 fee for using my credit card to pay. no difference in price I pay if I pay cash, direct EFTPOS debit from my bank account, Visa/MC or Amex/Diners. So how does a $49 airfare cost an airline $7 to process my credit card payment?

Well the petrol station is already overcharging you, so they don't need to implement a CC fee too. Not worth it.

Seems a bit unfair that a $200 cheapish fare has the same surcharge as someone paying $2000 for a business class fare.

True, but wouldn't you be happy that if you bought a J or F fare you'd only be paying $7 service.

There was something on ACA about it last night. They said a family of four travelling MEL - SYD I think it was, would pay $30 extra on QF and $48 extra on Tiger. Absolutely crazy.

 

[MissBurrill]

i really would love to have a 1 on 1 with Alan Joyce and see how he manages to answer this very question!!!
Im sure he'd say something like " it cost's airlines more to process cc payments"
eh.. why dont they just call it a Qantas processing fee !

Chrizzz14

I was sent my invite to the Qantas agm (am a shareholder) and there's a form to submit questions. Doubt it will get answered but could be worth my submitting....

Karen

 

[djfuzz]

Chrizzz14

I was sent my invite to the Qantas agm (am a shareholder) and there's a form to submit questions. Doubt it will get answered but could be worth my submitting....

Karen

If they can ignore shareholder resolutions voting down executive compensation packages, I can't see how this could possibly get their attention!

Maybe the ACCC's ears might be more receptive...

 

[Flashback]

Why would a shareholder be wanting them to remove or reduce the charge? It would reduce profits ...

 

[SnowYeti]

Why would a shareholder be wanting them to remove or reduce the charge? It would reduce profits ...

Maybe it will make more people buy QF tickets :shock: ... I don't know i'm all for removing the fee, or lowering it, if that means better customer satisfaction and more yield :?: