Airline Credit Card Surcharges

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It’s long been a bone of contention with travellers – the credit card surcharges that are applied to transactions paid for by a credit card. Fortunately, times are changing, and there are now new restrictions on how much can be levied as a surcharge.

The enabling legislation was passed by the government in February with the first phase of the changes coming into effect on September 1. The changes apply to large merchants, and outlaw excessive payment surcharges, While the previous surcharge restrictions prevented this in principle, the new laws have handed the ACCC enforcement powers in ensuring that the credit card surcharges are not excessive.

The airlines were long singled out as some of the worst offenders. Given that, it was inevitable that their surcharges were going to come under scrutiny. It is no surprise, then, that they have been among the first to adjust their surcharges.

Qantas announced their changes first, with the other airlines later following. In the following sections, the new credit card surcharges that apply will be described.

(Updated)

Qantas

Qantas was the first to announce its new surcharges. The new surcharges are outlines below:

Booking made in Australia Debit/prepaid cards Credit/charge cards Paypal Fee cap (per ticket per card in AUD)
Australian Domestic
0.36%
1.03%
0.69%
AUD$22.00
Australian Trans-Tasman
0.36%
1.03%
0.69%
AUD$22.00
Australian International
0.36%
1.03%
0.69%
AUD$120.00

 

Virgin Australia

Virgin was the next to announce its surcharges, and managed to copy the Qantas charges.,

Payments made in AUD Debit card Credit card Fee Cap (per passenger)
Domestic 0.41% of the total payment amount 1.024% of total payment amount AUD11
International 0.41% of total payment amount 1.024% of total payment amount AUD70

Jetstar

Jetstar’s booking feess are as follows

 

Booking made in Australia (AUD) POLi, Jetstar MasterCard, Jetstar Platinum MasterCard, Jetstar voucher Debit or Prepaid Card – MasterCard, Visa PayPal Credit or charge card – American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club, UATP
Jetstar Airways (JQ) Fee free 0.21% Mastercard

0.44% Visa

0.75% 1.0%
Jetstar Asia (3K) Fee free AUD $8.50 per passenger, per flight

 

TigerAir

The new TigerAir credit card fees are as follows

card type price
MasterCard Credit 0.98% of the total booking value
Debit MasterCard* 0.36% of the total booking value
Visa Credit 1.12% of the total booking value
Visa Debit 0.57% of the total booking value

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About Author

Mark is the founder of FlyStayPoints, and caught the travel bug early in life. He discovered the benefits of travel loyalty programs in 2001, and is always learning how they can make travel better. While work takes him between Perth and Melbourne, he is always plotting his next adventure.