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Budget airlines: Monarch scraps credit card fees as Ryanair compensation battle rolls on

Budget airlines: Monarch scraps credit card fees as Ryanair compensation battle rolls on

Airline passengers are going through a turbulent time - good news for Monarch, and yet more bad news for Ryanair.

Anna Jordan

Motoring and Travel

Anna Jordan
Updated on 12 December 2016

It’s been a mix of good and bad news for airline passengers of late.

In the same week that Monarch Airlines announced it will be ditching its hated credit card fees, Ryanair passengers have been told they might have to jump through even more hoops to claim compensation for delayed or cancelled flights.

We tell you all you need to know.

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The good news: Monarch fees

Monarch airlines has scrapped its 3% credit card fee. The change will apply to customers booking flights and holidays via Monarch’s website or call centre.

This means you would make an impressive £60 saving on an average booking.

Virgin Atlantic has also ditched the card fee but will other airlines follow? As it stands Flybe customers still pay 3%, Ryanair 2% and easyJet 1% (down from 2%).

At the end of 2015 a new cap on card interchange fees was introduced. These make up the bulk of the costs incurred by airlines when processing payments.

The cap sits at 0.3% for credit cards and, once you factor in additional costs, consumer group Fairer Finance described any airline charge of more than 1% as "excessive". 

Shortly after the rules were introduced, rival budget airline Jet2 scrapped its card processing fees altogether.  

The bad news: Ryanair compensation

And the bad news? Ryanair passengers might have to fight for compensation in Irish courts.

A woman who claimed for a delayed flight to Italy in 2015 was told by Ryanair that the case should be heard in Ireland rather than England in line because of a clause in the airline's terms and conditions, according to her lawyers.

Her case will be heard in Liverpool next April but, if the court sides with Ryanair, there are concerns that all of its passengers will have to go through Irish courts to fight for denied compensation.

Customers can currently claim up to £500 for a delayed flight, but understandably they might not bother if they have to through Irish courts to do so.

Nicholas Parkinson, of flight compensation firm FlightDelays.co.uk, told the Guardian that compensation for most flights is between £210 and £350.

Read our guide on how to claim compensation for delayed and cancelled flights.

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