Congratulations to Which? for entering their super complaint to the OFT and putting a stop to this blatant daylight robbery of consumers when making debit or credit card payments for air travel.

The amount involved is not peanuts as the OFT estimates that UK consumers spent £300 million on payment surcharges during 2009!

It is well documented that the cost to the travel company of processing  a debit card transaction is between 10 and 20p so how can retailers, and travel companies in particular, justify charging £8 for doing this?

The cost of a credit card charge to a retailer is calculated as a percentage of the value.  Which? believe the real cost of processing a credit card transaction is no more than two percent of the value of the purchase. Travel companies often base the charge on a fixed value, irrespective of the actual cost of the fare, which can lead to you paying more than the true cost.

Airline security prevents paying by cash

Due to tighter security regulations, airline passengers are not permitted to pay for travel using cash because the use of plastic enables security forces to keep tabs on passengers, an important tool in combatting terrorism.

With that knowledge it’s not surprising that airlines are able to exploit passengers by making up their own minds as to what they can charge for a transaction.

Which? also called for the travel companies to make it clearer at the beginning of the transaction what the additional charges are rather than  several pages later or sometimes, only when the consumer is about to complete the payment transaction.

My concern is that these profiteering companies will look at other ways to mug the consumer (sorry, recoup money). Like the banks, they have got used to inflated profits at the consumers’ expense, so inevitably they will seek other ways to fill their coffers.

Hopefully the government will agree to the OFT’s request to change the law to prohibit surcharging for all debit cards, bringing long term certainty for consumers and business.

All we need is transparency, a word I fail to hear in the airlines’ vocabulary.

You can read the Which? report here, Consumer victory as OFT uphold Which? super complaint