$7.70 credit charge surcharge vs free POLi - whats your tipping point?

[pythonisman]

if my bank actually did support it

The banks don't "support" it, Poli have a team of developers who scout out the bank's Internet Banking system so that they can code their proxy to work with that institution. If the bank changes something significant, Poli will stop working.

Sorry, I got a bit off topic, but I truly hate Poli

 

[Joshua]

My message was referring to the hidden methods of avoiding the fee. lt has been a while but last I flew DJ they would waive or refund the fee if you couldn't use poli

 

[ashill]

A p***-poor no-fee option (or that isn't even available for use for many members) is no option in my books. Hopefully the ACCC will sort this out soon enough.

VA now has a note on their fees section which I don't remember from before:

** Booking and Service fee for credit card and debit card bookings is per person per booking. The Booking and Service Fee covers a range of costs, activities, fees and charges in relation to the booking, including (among other things) the reasonable costs of accepting card payments.

What a load of cr*p. I assume this is to tell the ACCC where to shove it? VA, if the booking and service fee isn't just about your costs of accepting a credit card, why don't you charge it when we don't use a credit card? (I should be careful what I ask for....)

My message was referring to the hidden methods of avoiding the fee. lt has been a while but last I flew DJ they would waive or refund the fee if you couldn't use poli

Before Poli supported Macs, they said explicitly on their web site that you could call and ask for a refund of the surcharge if you used a Mac. I did it several times. Given how long it took to get through to a person, I'm not sure it was actually worth my time, but I do have a somewhat irrational aversion to egregious credit card fees like this one (though I don't mind paying a 1% credit card surcharge -- one that's at least plausibly in line with their merchant fees). That note is gone now.

To the OP's question, I value my points at about 2c each, so my tipping point is $192 in airfare (since my credit card gets 2 points per mile on VA purchases). For cheaper flights, I do use Poli. I do, of course, factor in the surcharge when comparing airfares.

 

[vicsta]

Do what I do. Buy all Virgin flights off a foreign website e.g. Vayama.com - the price is generally about $10 cheaper than buying off the virgin australia website, there's no booking fee, and you can pay with AMEX

 

[Deleted member 29185]

e.g. Vayama.com - the price is generally about $10 cheaper than buying off the virgin australia website

I must be doing something wrong

I just took a purely random date (14 Aug 2013) to check flights OOL-SYD rtn and the cheapest showing on Vayama is US$115 whereas every single flight for that day in both directions on the VA site shows plenty of AU$69 seats (sale seats but also plenty of AU$79 non-sale seats). Am I missing something with Vayama?

I just read their BRG and that only covers US based sites not VA's australian web site.

 

[serfty]

I must be doing something wrong ....

probably nothing wrong at youe end - it could be as simple as VA restricting the entities that may sell these specials.

 

[vicsta]

Ok. More specifically.
Search for your flight on an engine like Adioso - The best flights to anywhere.
The engine will show you the prices of either booking via Cheapair, Vayama,or the airline website.

As an example. Melbourne to Sydney flight on August 12
Virgin website: $85 plus $7.70 surcharge
Vayama: $70.35USD (AUD $78 - give or take another $2 for currency conversion commission)

Hence, an easy way of saving $12 while also earning more credit card points! (AMEX gives more points for foreign transactions)