Qantas says Jetstar doesn't levy credit card surcharges - but a 'comfort fee'

[eminere]

Are you sure that this is the case? I needed to make a booking of around $450 a while back. Bought a $300 voucher (this is the highest denomination I could buy without going over $450) and they wanted to charge me a credit card fee for the remaining $150 to be paid.

I've done many bookings this way, the most recent one being on 10 April, and have never been levied a credit card fee on the remainder.

 

[eminere]

I'm referring to Jetstar here. Qantas is much more generous, of course.

Yeah I was referring to Qantas. Sorry, should've mentioned that in my first post.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Because that's not explained when you come to pay for your ticket. it's been explained by a Qantas official at some investigation into their credit card fees.

When the majority of passengers go to pay on the QF website, all they see is an inflated credit card fee which bears no resemblance to the fare they are about to buy.

The fact of the matter remains that it is still possible to pay no more than the advertised price either by using a QF voucher or Bpay.

You might want to take a moment and have a look at what Webjet charge if you're on an anti-credit card fee crusade as you'd be staggered by what they charge on top of the advertised price of the fare. Then if that's not enough still slug you for the 'airline credit card fees' when Webjet are the merchants not even the airline.

Qantas.COM charges the fee but almost every other OTA doesn't charge anything extra for a qantas flight.

I don't get it - why book direct on the website if you're not happy to pay more?

However in saying that qantas.com has one of the lowest direct booking rates for a major airline in the world and imposing extra fees isn't exactly going to help lure customers from OTAs.

What OTA's have zero charges?

To avoid the credit card fee simply purchase a flight voucher and use it against a booking. There are no fees levied when using a credit card to purchase a flight voucher or to pay the balance of the booking after redeeming the voucher.

So basically their fee-free payment options are as follows:

• Use a Jetstar credit card - which means physically getting that specific credit card and paying an annual fee. The annual fee ranges from $59 to $149. So Jetstar is still getting your money in other ways.
• Using a Jetstar voucher - while the voucher itself is fee-free, they'll make you pay a credit card fee for paying the outstanding balance by card. Which in theory is okay if you can get a voucher which equals the exact cost of the fare. However the vouchers only come in the following denominations: $25, $50, $100, $200, $300 and $500. You can only use one voucher per booking AND, any remaining balance on the voucher will be forfeited if there is still many on there after you make the booking. :!:
• POLi - which is against the T&Cs of most banks...
• Direct deposit - which they won't even let you do if the booking is made less than 2 weeks out.
• Use the "Price Beat Guarantee" - only works if there is a cheaper flight available on another airline on the same route within 1 hour.

There is also another option if you use the Jetstar mobile site which you can still access from your tablet or pc then pay with a pre-paid Mastercard eg Qantas Cash and you will pay zero cc fees.

The only issue if travelling o/s would be if relying on free overseas travel insurance, you may need to pay with that credit card in order to receive coverage so that would rule out paying with a pre-paid MC.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The fact of the matter remains that it is still possible to pay no more than the advertised price either by using a QF voucher or Bpay.

Agreed, but I was responding to juddles who was saying that QF are completely honest about the fee. My response was that the 'explanation' that is a comfort fee based on what the market would bear is not on the website. It exists as an explanation to whatever inquiry is taking place.

All passengers see is a credit card surcharge on the site, and the surcharge in most cases will bear little correlation to the actual fees incurred by Qantas.

 

[burmans]

I've done many bookings this way, the most recent one being on 10 April, and have never been levied a credit card fee on the remainder.

This is my experience too!

 

[Mattg]

There is also another option if you use the Jetstar mobile site which you can still access from your tablet or pc then pay with a pre-paid Mastercard eg Qantas Cash and you will pay zero cc fees.

The only issue if travelling o/s would be if relying on free overseas travel insurance, you may need to pay with that credit card in order to receive coverage so that would rule out paying with a pre-paid MC.

I am aware that this used to be the case, but I just tried doing this on my iPhone and debit card was not listed as a fee-free option. Instead, it seems POLi has now been extended to smart phones:



I think Jetstar used to allow fee-free debit card payments before they got POLi working on smart phones as they are required to give all customers at least one fee-free payment option. Now that POLi works, it looks like they removed this.

Speaking of which, does Virgin offer a fee-free payment method on smart phones and tablets yet?

I also tried (5 times!) to make a booking on my tablet, but kept getting this page before I could get to the payment page:



(It seems a simple MEL-ADL booking is too much for the JQ website to handle.)

 

[Andyc]

This a long thread with a lot of valid comments but I think we've missed one thing; the public policy issue.

Sure companies are free to select pricing anywhere on a spectrum from flat rate to tonnes of fees/extras/surcharges. And businesses can pretty much charge what they like (yes, there's exceptions - but not many).
We may not like their pricing model but we have a very effective way of responding; not to use them.

The issue here is credit card surcharges specifically. Government has said that it will benefit the economy if efficient payment methods are not discouraged. Allowance is made for reasonable cost recovery, but thats it.

So the question is, does this fee represent a cost of using a particular payment type in excess of the underlying cost. If yes? Then it's wrong and QF/JQ need to change it.

Can they change it to another fee that doesn't discriminate bested on payment type? Sure. Maybe a website booking fee charged on all tickets. Nothing wrong with that.
We (quite reasonably) just don't want to see pricing mechanisms that keep our payment systems stuck in the dark ages. We want to encourage efficiency and innovation.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Can they change it to another fee that doesn't discriminate bested on payment type? Sure. Maybe a website booking fee charged on all tickets. Nothing wrong with that.

Then the fees should be included in the advertised fares.

Component pricing is not good. You can't advertise a price and then make it impossible to purchase that item for that price.

 

[michaele]

and thats the issue. Plenty of other companies of a similar size/stature don't change the pricing on payment method - they incorporate it into their pricing. Particularly when its the most common payment method.

Imagine if Woolies introduced a fee, be it a direct cost recovery or a flat fee average (like QF) on top of your groceries for payment by a credit card. The uproar..

The stifling efficiencies argument is an interesting one too. Too often, a fee like this is around because it's the way it has always been done, and we generally accept it.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The stifling efficiencies argument is an interesting one too. Too often, a fee like this is around because it's the way it has always been done, and we generally accept it.

or companies assume customers will just accept something if the message is reiterated often enough. Anyone else notice how many hotels now convince you that an 11 or 12 o'clock check out is a 'super duper extra deluxe late check out'?

years ago midday was standard... and still is in many parts of the world. but in other places check out times are creeping earlier, and check in times creeping later. now when they offer you [the standard] midday they make it out that they're doing you the favour, and you're the inconvenience.

the notion that passengers are inconvenient and should pay for the privilege of giving an airline money is slightly ridiculous.

 

[Mattg]

and thats the issue. Plenty of other companies of a similar size/stature don't change the pricing on payment method - they incorporate it into their pricing. Particularly when its the most common payment method.

Imagine if Woolies introduced a fee, be it a direct cost recovery or a flat fee average (like QF) on top of your groceries for payment by a credit card. The uproar..

I believe Aldi charge a credit card surcharge of 0.5% for Visa and MasterCard. It's more or less widely accepted because (a) the surcharge is reasonable and resembles fairly accurately the actual cost Aldi incurs for accepting credit cards and (b) customers can easily and conveniently get around the surcharge by paying with cash or an EFTPOS card.

I can't say either of those about the airlines.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I think Jetstar used to allow fee-free debit card payments before they got POLi working on smart phones as they are required to give all customers at least one fee-free payment option. Now that POLi works, it looks like they removed this.

Just tried the JQ mobile app from my tablet and it does appear that using the MC debit option fee free has vanished so the only fee free options now are POLI or JQ voucher.

Another thing I noticed was the option to credit ff points to EK Skywards is no longer there so now only QF ff or JQ voucher. Thought EK & JQ were BFF's???

Speaking of which, does Virgin offer a fee-free payment method on smart phones and tablets yet?

Not as far as I'm aware, but don't let that get in the way of a QF or JQ bash.

 

[juddles]

I think this thread has died. Just disappointed that it still carries the incorrect title. Qantas never said that this was a "comfort fee". That was an invention by the usual reporters trying to make a story.

 

[JohnK]

Can they change it to another fee that doesn't discriminate bested on payment type? Sure. Maybe a website booking fee charged on all tickets. Nothing wrong with that.

Why does it have to be a fee/surcharge? Incorporate the booking fee into the airfare up front.

We (quite reasonably) just don't want to see pricing mechanisms that keep our payment systems stuck in the dark ages. We want to encourage efficiency and innovation.

The customer shouldn't be paying for innovation. It's a cost of doing business that you try to recover like any other cost of business.

 

[Mark3000]

So basically their fee-free payment options are as follows:

• Use a Jetstar credit card - which means physically getting that specific credit card and paying an annual fee. The annual fee ranges from $59 to $149. So Jetstar is still getting your money in other ways.
• Using a Jetstar voucher - while the voucher itself is fee-free, they'll make you pay a credit card fee for paying the outstanding balance by card. Which in theory is okay if you can get a voucher which equals the exact cost of the fare. However the vouchers only come in the following denominations: $25, $50, $100, $200, $300 and $500. You can only use one voucher per booking AND, any remaining balance on the voucher will be forfeited if there is still many on there after you make the booking. :!:
• POLi - which is against the T&Cs of most banks...
• Direct deposit - which they won't even let you do if the booking is made less than 2 weeks out.
• Use the "Price Beat Guarantee" - only works if there is a cheaper flight available on another airline on the same route within 1 hour.

With jet star you can use more than one voucher. I used a 200,50 and 25 today. Interestingly the $25 voucher only gave me $20 towards the fare for some reason.
Jet star do say that you pay the credit card fee if you use credit for the balance which is ridiculous if you have only say $5 left. It is hard to get the vouchers to total up to your ticket price.

 

[michaele]

I believe Aldi charge a credit card surcharge of 0.5% for Visa and MasterCard. It's more or less widely accepted because (a) the surcharge is reasonable and resembles fairly accurately the actual cost Aldi incurs for accepting credit cards and (b) customers can easily and conveniently get around the surcharge by paying with cash or an EFTPOS card.

I can't say either of those about the airlines.

I didn't know that about Aldi - but interestingly, I could suggest they are more the JQ market - price sensitive, minimum cost with optional add ons for additional services - eg paying by credit. I still maintain that if Woolworths implemented a similar system, regardless if it is a 'fair amount' there would be a lot of pushback - unlike Aldi, their primary brand message is 'highest quality produce', not 'we are the cheapest'.

I definitely agree the 'options' to avoid the surcharge with airlines are not convenient at all.

 

[travelislife]

At the end of the day companies do what the market will accept. Wouldn't you if you could? The question is how many sales they lose because of the fee? If Virgin decided to get rid of it they would become market leading, but who knows of that would actually translate to increased sales. Which is it doesn't is just lost revenue they could have otherwise had.

My biggest whinge on this stuff is sporting and concert tickets. If the ticket is advertised at $50 try getting that ticket in your hands for that advertised price!

 

[medhead]

Yes! About sporting tickets! Purchased some rugby tickets the other day. Credit card surcharge was included in the quoted price. All good. Then when I select my tickets I have to choose a ticket delivery option with associated fee. A $6.15 fee for me to download and print the tickets myself. Wtf!!! Took the $7.15 option for them to post out the tickets.

 

[Stitchit]

Two comments
this is a major revenue maker as is item 2 below! I am a retailer and I cannot charge these fees for the comfort of dealing with my business!

Does that mean they will soon be charging a comfort fee for using the toilets during flights, and $5.00 per sheet to wipe your bum as well?

This is a rort as is the refunds they hang on to as a "credit in the system" that thousands of people forget about when they do their next booking, then it disappears every year into revenue.

 

[MoolahQ]

Sorry but I don't agree that the credit card surcharges should be revenue for the airline. The credit card surcharge should accurately reflect the transaction cost of paying by credit card. A credit card fee should not be revenue for the airline. If they want to make more money, they should increase fare prices and advertise the full price upfront. I do agree that it wouldn't be fair if one airline did this and not the others, but they should all be forced to do this - then the playing field would still be level.

The local bakery/coffee shop in the small town where I live charge a 50 cent fee for card transactions on purchases of less than $5.50, so purchases greater than this amount absorb the bank transaction fee. The store owner is not earning revenue from the actual transaction but merely passing on his bank's fees, but a company the size of an airline should be able to do a deal with their bank to get a better transaction rate. Haha, of course that won't happen. I understand payment by BPay for air travel is only for advance purchase fares, and what is PoliPay or whatever it's called. I don't need to sign up with yet another external service provider when in reality the whole thing could be done by bloody EFTPOS! Why not for goodness sake.