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We have booked flights online with Flybe to the Isle of Man for a golf holiday. Ordinary luggage can be booked online, but golf bags have to be booked by telephone. Staff charged me £20 each way per golf bag (£80 for two sets), whereupon I was told that the credit-card administration charge was £2.99 each way per bag (£11.96 extra). In the end, I paid £4.40 to use my debit card. How can Flybe justify £11.96 for one credit-card transaction? Liz Lodwig, Kent
Flybe replies: “Customers pay only for what baggage they take on board, which creates greater charging transparency for low-cost travellers and greater operational and fuel efficiency across our network. This is one of the reasons Flybe is able to keep the basic price of tickets low. To defray the substantial administration and financial-services costs when processing credit and debit cards, a handling fee applies per sector.”
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2007
£47,995
2008
£42,945
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£40,850
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Another cop out reply from a low cost airline.
In the interests of transparency - why don't they tell us how much it costs to process a charge of £80? Because there is no way it is £11.96!!
Billy Shearer, London, UK