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

[smit0847]

When I buy cheap saver fares I never pay the CC surcharge, as though I can earn 3 points per $ spent with VA on my Velocity AMEX, if the return fare is $160 I'm not going to pay $7.70 just to receive 480 points. However if the fare was $1,000 I would no hesitation in paying the surcharge to receive 3,000 points. I have no doubt plenty of ignorant Velocity members would pay the surcharge every time because they a) don't know what POLi is, b) think the points are valuable even on a $79 sale fare, or c) don't even realise there are other payment options.Do you have a $ minimum where you will accept the surcharge vs the free POLi? Mine would be about $300 pp.

 

[notzac]

How POLi works is downright creepy (you log in to your internet banking through POLi's proxy) - even if POLi supported my bank (ING Direct), I would refuse to use it.

If you want to avoid the surcharge, buy the fare through Expedia.

 

[notzac]

Also, VA - if you supported bank accounts via PayPal, I'd be more inclined to use it (there's also the small point that PayPal seems to support most if not all Australian bank accounts - POLi doesn't)

 

[oz_mark]

.Do you have a $ minimum where you will accept the surcharge vs the free POLi? Mine would be about $300 pp.

I choose not to use POLi at all.

There really does need to be better options in the banking system..

 

[markis10]

Bpay or Direct deposit work for me generally, POLI is too restrictive on supported institutions. Only time I dont have the options is overseas booking 3K, normally a price beat solves that issue.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

I use poli. never had an issue with it.

 

[Jleno]

Always POLI, or any other system where I don't get charged. I have a moral objection to credit card surcharges. They should just build it into the price.

 

[clarkkent]

I also can't use POLi due to being with ING Direct. Wish BPay or direct deposit options were available.

 

[samh004]

I'm a QF flyer, but when I dabbled with VA (DJ at the time), issues with POLi helped turn me off them, as they didn't support my bank, HSBC.

With Qantas, I'll BPay if I can, though dislike how I can't select seats until the payment has cleared. That said, I don't have a CC that earns me points anyway, if I did, I'm not sure where the line in the sand would be as to whether it was worth it.

 

[medhead]

I value the security of my Internet banking too much to use Poli. Hence I just pay the surcharge and earn QF points on a decent Amex. Cost of doing business.

Having said that there have been a number of times when the VA fare plus surcharge has been marginally cheaper than QF and hence I buy the QF fare. eg VA $105+$7.70, QF $115 a saving of $2.30 is nothing. The current sale $75+$7.70 or $99 is a hard choice. Remember I do not pay the CC surcharge with QF and I still get CC points. In fact no one needs to pay the CC surcharge with QF anymore while still using their card.

 

[docjames]

I value the security of my Internet banking too much to use Poli. Hence I just pay the surcharge and earn QF points on a decent Amex. Cost of doing business.

Having said that there have been a number of times when the VA fare plus surcharge has been marginally cheaper than QF and hence I buy the QF fare. eg VA $105+$7.70, QF $115 a saving of $2.30 is nothing. The current sale $75+$7.70 or $99 is a hard choice. Remember I do not pay the CC surcharge with QF and I still get CC points. In fact no one needs to pay the CX surcharge with QF anymore while still using their card.

How do you do this?

 

[markis10]

How do you do this?

Gift vouchers

 

[here2go]

If you are buying bags, Expedia is the go. If no bags, Expedia charge the CC fee. However, I have found if you are just taking cabin luggage or are Silver Velocity and tightness is a virtue, Bravofly via Skyscanner will help you avoid GST by booking in Europe. You will need to send Virgin a message to link the flight to your account after. Unfortunately you can't buy luggage this way, and you will probably incur FCUR. Cheaper than GST.

 

[grubbidok]

I choose to bank with a mutual, so I can't use POLi even if I wanted to (I never would want to though). At least QF offer a BPAY option. AFAIK Zuji still don't have CC fees on any bookings (though sometimes they don't have the specials fares, and if you need to change it can be a PITA like with all third party sites).

I have a Virgin Flyer card and always thought that one of thee more obvious perks should be no CC fees when paying with a Virgin-branded card (particularly as you don't even get a points bonus for Virgin purchases on it). A no-brainer really - all the other airlines seem to have cottoned on.

 

[Joshua]

Possibly a dumb question: are the methods to avoid the credit card fee no longer available on Virgin?

 

[grubbidok]

Possibly a dumb question: are the methods to avoid the credit card fee no longer available on Virgin?

POLi is still there, but isn't supported by all banks (including mine), and those whose banks do support it very real and very justifiable security concerns over using it (which would include me if my bank actually did support it). PayPal is also offered, but the exorbitant fee for using it is inexcusable - I now many people who had a nasty surprise thinking this was a free option.

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.

 

[dandandan]

This will get shut down if it works again, but going by how long things take to get fixed it might be useful for a few days for some of you. I made a booking tonight and I put the apostrophe in my surname in the credit card payment field and when I pressed proceed or whatever it says it didn't work and said fix fields in red. So it made me enter the card number again not the expiry date or CVC code along with my surname but I noticed it didn't include the 3 lots of credit card fees for the 3 tickets this time and it did not show up in any of the docs received on the confirmation with e-tickets. I suggest when making a booking you try putting an apostrophe in your surname in the credit card payment field, even if you don't have one!

POLi is still there, but isn't supported by all banks (including mine), and those whose banks do support it very real and very justifiable security concerns over using it (which would include me if my bank actually did support it). PayPal is also offered, but the exorbitant fee for using it is inexcusable - I now many people who had a nasty surprise thinking this was a free option.

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.

 

[ncairns]

For domestic fares, I work out the % of the booking fee in relation to the total fare. If it's anything more than 1-2% of the total fare then I pay with POLI/BPay/Direct Deposit otherwise i pay with CC.

For international fares - I want the credit card travel insurance coverage so I usually pay with CC as it's still cheaper than purchasing standalone insurance.

 

[here2go]

POLi doesn't work for me with my banks, and Virgin have no alternative. I find for Virgin at least Expedia is a better option as they don't charge CC fees if Bronze domestic and you need to buy bags, and for Saver Lite if higher status then Bravofly as you avoid GST. You will need to be hawkish about linking Velocity details.

 

[pythonisman]

I take the surcharge as a "cost of flying" and just pay it, even if it's on a $150 return cheapie.
I have never, and will never give Poli my Internet Banking credentials, it's evil and shouldn't exist.

I do wish the airlines just did what every other merchant did, and if they want to tack on a credit card surcharge, do just that - but make it more in line with their actual costs and variable depending on your spend -or just bake the extra cost into your fare and then not charge a surcharge when realistically almost every transaction they do is going to be via credit card.

My 2 cents