Anal Tiger Airways (Australia)...
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From: Noodle on 20 Jun 2010 04:11 Hello. Why is Tiger Airways Australia so analy-retentive about AUSTRALIAN- ISSUED MASTERCARD *DEBIT* cards? Why does it charge $8 more, if you do do not use an AUSTRALIAN-ISSUED MasterCard Debit card? Does MasterCard pay Tiger Airways a commission for their use? Does MasterCard have more anti-fraud measures for MasterCard Debit cards, than a normal MasterCard credit card? Why does it cost EIGHT dollars cheaper to use a MasterCard Debit card? And wy $8? Why not $10, or $5 or $15? Noodle.
From: David Clayton on 20 Jun 2010 08:17 On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 01:11:44 -0700, Noodle wrote: > Hello. > > Why is Tiger Airways Australia so analy-retentive about AUSTRALIAN- > ISSUED MASTERCARD *DEBIT* cards? > > Why does it charge $8 more, if you do do not use an AUSTRALIAN-ISSUED > MasterCard Debit card? ......... Actually is is $6 more than their "Tiger Raw" fare, and probably because Tiger have a special deal with MasterCard in Australia that allows these cards to be used at a much lower fee than the others. As someone who used to work in retail and researched the card payment systems in this country, I can tell you that it (generally) costs a retailer a small amount to process a debit transaction on a local card (less than 50c regardless of amount), but international cards are not part of the local EFT system and weren't even available to be processed as Debit transactions, I can only assume that these have to be processed as Credit transactions and these will have a fixed percentage fee. Since Tiger also charge this same fee for all Credit card transactions, then that is the reason. As a side issue, when you pay by EFTPOS using your bank account in this country, the retailer can actually end up being paid a fee for the transaction (and more if you get cash out!) if the rebates are more than the fee charged by their EFT provider. International cards also have a way higher fraud rate, which is why all card issuers charge way higher fees for transactions (that sort of crime does cost the consumer in the end.....) You are looking at 2 to 4 times the fee for an International card, more if it isn't used in an actual card terminal. As far as the fixed fee goes, that seems to be something weird the airline industry has adopted and it is basically a bizarre rip-off for smaller fares and a subsidy of those paying big fares (the change-over is around the $750 sector fare level). They probably justify it by saying it is "simpler" for consumers to have one fixed fee rather than having a multitude of possible different fees that would reflect that actual cost of the card transaction. I assume that Tiger charge as much as the market will bear, and it is a nice little earner for them, because it is hard to believe that costs them that much in bank fees - the benchmark for a company like that with their turnover would be around 0.8% (if not less) of transaction value for a local credit card. If Tiger didn't have a good card fee deal with their bank - or one of the non-bank EFT providers like Tyro who are much cheaper than Australian banks - then they are idiots (like most retailers using EFT in this country who still use bank providers and pay through the nose). -- Regards, David. David Clayton Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a measure of how many questions you have.
From: Noodle on 20 Jun 2010 17:42 Thanks for the answer, David. Good to know the real story. Cheers, Noodle.
From: BernieFlyer on 20 Jun 2010 20:01 "Noodle" <oznoodle(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:0f9558b2-0a08-4010-957b-0fdc730225ae(a)k25g2000prh.googlegroups.com... > Hello. > > Why is Tiger Airways Australia so analy-retentive about AUSTRALIAN- > ISSUED MASTERCARD *DEBIT* cards? > > Why does it charge $8 more, if you do do not use an AUSTRALIAN-ISSUED > MasterCard Debit card? > > Does MasterCard pay Tiger Airways a commission for their use? > > Does MasterCard have more anti-fraud measures for MasterCard Debit > cards, than a normal MasterCard credit card? > > Why does it cost EIGHT dollars cheaper to use a MasterCard Debit > card? And wy $8? Why not $10, or $5 or $15? > > Noodle. If one looks at Jetstar they have their own branded MasterCard and charge NO BOOKING FEE if you use it. Bernie
From: Mr.T on 21 Jun 2010 02:33
"BernieFlyer" <bernieflyer(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:1J-dnXnH5aB8NoPRnZ2dnUVZ_u2dnZ2d(a)netspace.net.au... > If one looks at Jetstar they have their own branded MasterCard and charge NO > BOOKING FEE if you use it. And still charge you if they cancel your flight and refuse to give you a suitable alternative! MrT. |