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Seems even the current rules aren’t being properly enforced. Perhaps there’s no penalty for companies that don’t comply? Makes me a little worried the proposed ban also won’t be effective and these surcharges won’t completely disappear in Australia. Not sure how the UK and EU and other...

There are many places that went card only in the UK during covid and have stayed that way ever since. Similarly when travelling through Europe recently, many places that I assumed would be cash only were actually card only. Australia once again seems behind on this one.

More scaremongering from "Finder" https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/major-qantas-virgin-frequent-flyer-warning-as-points-set-to-devalue-under-rba-plan-203439781.html

Need to earn 1000 points in each category to earn the SC, some of those will be quite difficult.

I don’t know what it is, but there must be something fundamentally different about Australia’s banking system compared to other countries. Which is odd because on the surface it seems like the same Visa and Mastercard issued cards that you get almost everywhere on earth. I’ve travelled...

It highlights why the duty of care provisions in EU261 are more important than the “compensation” part that everyone focuses on. If United were an EU or UK carrier that had to abide by EU261, then they would be legally responsible to get those stranded passengers to their destination (on the...

This proposal is quite weak (and complicated) compared to the current EU/UK model.

This is actually the best part of the EU regulation, though it's often overshadowed by compensation. The airline is responsible to get you to your final destination and must cover any expenses such as flights on another airline. They must also cover all your meal and accommodation costs until...

Have these changes been announced and published?

The alternatives used to be Bankwest and Macquarie, but there should be other options too. I use Wise for bank transfers or converting currency in advance, but their on the spot conversions for smaller amounts (ie for everyday purchases and withdrawals) don't seem to be as good as the...

Aussie banks get away with so much that wouldn't be acceptable in the UK. For all my UK bank cards, 0% international transaction fee is very much the norm. 3.5% is absolutely unheard of here for a debit card.

Yeah the "loyalty gift" not counting towards LT status is useless to me and doesn't feel very genuine, since I'll requalify for Platinum in this year without it. Though the gift is probably just a PR stunt to get some positive Qantas news into the media cycle, your Sunrise/Today fluff piece...

Oh wow, I wish I'd seen this earlier, or that they'd done this earlier! I was holding off for a DSC promo to book my Christmas trip, then when I saw DSCs no longer count towards Lifetime Status, I went ahead and booked a cheaper fare on Qatar instead yesterday!! So although this reversal is...

I'm not sure where you were in the UK, but most bank ATMs in the UK are fee-free withdrawals for everyone and there are still plenty of them in London at least. As in most countries, avoid the non-bank ATMs in convenience stores etc if you can as they will usually have ridiculous fees.

Yeah, I went to the link and it's just a page that says "This feature isn't available yet"

Even as an Aussie who now lives in a surcharge-free part of the world, whenever I'm back home in Australia it takes me a few days to adjust and realise how widespread and sneaky the surcharging has become since my last visit. The first few times I get hit with it I think the staff have made a...

The AF/KLM hack has barely made the news (I guess the media have become bored of breaches) but from the details I've seen it sounds very similar to the Qantas hack:

These merchants mustn't like tourists spending money with them. Australia is currently at the extreme end of the global spectrum in terms of card surcharges. Europe, Canada, the UK and the US all have a ban on debit card surcharging. Europe and the UK also have a ban on credit card surcharging...

Fees for transactions in Australian dollars when a merchant's bank or payment processor is located or registered overseas? What on earth! How is that allowed?! If I ever move back to Australia I'm keeping my UK cards, most have barely any fees for anything!

Is that just Amex or regular Visa/Mastercard as well in Australia? In the UK, most cards are now 0% foreign currency fee except for Amex