Beating Jetstar's Credit Card Surcharge

Junkee on 01/03/2014 - 19:49

Hey guys, so we have a booking on hold for 6 adults flying from Brisbane to Bali return for $3558.

We went though the whole process and as you may know, they want to charge us $12.50 per person per flight. This adds up to $150 in fees.

I know there are a couple ways around it (ie. POLI) and I have read that you can use a Mastercard Debit Card with the Mobile site which doesn't have fees.

I would like to know if this "Mastercard Debit Card" can be a "Mastercard Credit Card"? I tried to log in on the mobile site and view my booking, but it doesn't give me the option to pay. So can you only do this on a new booking?

Another idea I came up with was buying seven $500 Jetstar vouchers (which doesn't charge any fees) and pay with my credit card via PayPal and then use POLI for the remaining $58 but I am not sure if you can use more then one voucher for one booking? I read through the terms and conditions and all it says is you can only use a voucher on one booking and any remaining amount on the voucher will be forfeited. If this system works then it's a good loop hole.

Anyone ever tried this or have any other ideas on how we can pay for the flights??

Thanks =)

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Comments

  • PissLUR on 01/03/2014 - 19:52
    +3

    find a lower price from any competitor.

    then call up their price match hotline and go from there.

    no credit card surcharge.

    • Junkee on 01/03/2014 - 19:54

      Thanks for the quick response..

      We have had a look around and the other cheap airlines are not direct flights which our Jetstar ones are.

      Any idea on what airlines offer price matching so I can have another look?

      • PissLUR on 01/03/2014 - 23:10

        yeah. its not possible for flights originating from Brisbane. There is no other budget airlines other than Jetstar flying direct to Bali.

        • grimace3 on 02/03/2014 - 12:43

          Virgin Australia do?

  • retiredfeline on 01/03/2014 - 20:02
    +1

    POLI or bank transfer

    Debit Mastercards are not common but ME Bank is one offering. Won't solve your problem in a hurry though, as you'd have to open an account with them.

    • Junkee on 01/03/2014 - 20:11

      Yeh, the problem is, because it's such a large amount of money, we would like to put most of it on the credit card.

      I have read on the frequent flyer forum that someone used two vouchers for one booking but no one else can confirm.

      • retiredfeline on 01/03/2014 - 20:16

        The surcharge will be more than the interest you earn on that amount. Or maybe you are strapped for cash, and you are taking a holiday, in which case I can only say hmmm…

        • kobrien456 on 01/03/2014 - 21:01
          +2

          Maybe he just likes to be a buck.

        • kobrien456 on 02/03/2014 - 09:34
          +2

          Save a buck

        • YTW on 03/03/2014 - 16:57

          Or maybe it's for points or free travel insurance…

      • fatwombat on 02/03/2014 - 22:40
        +1

        You can use multiple Jetstar vouchers. I have done this and it works fine. Or you can use the Commonwealth Bank Debit MasterCard.

        • Junkee on 03/03/2014 - 14:54

          Thanks, I will be trying this..

          It seems that this is the loop hole for people that only want to use their credit card but don't want to pay the surcharge.

          Buy a bunch of them that add up to the total amount but if you have any less then $25.00 use POLI for the remaining small amount. This is because you can only use a voucher once and any remaining value on the voucher will be forfeited.

  • YadaYadaYada on 01/03/2014 - 20:59
    +1

    Are these the same price on other websites, e.g. expedia? They have no booking fees.

    • Junkee on 01/03/2014 - 21:34

      I just checked expedia and I can find the same flights but I can't work out how to add baggage and pick seats..

      I will give them a call tomorrow though and see how I go..

      Thanks for this ;)

  • thejew on 01/03/2014 - 21:22
    +1

    No credit card travel insurance unless you pay with a credit card ?

  • samlor on 02/03/2014 - 08:54

    Aren't all debit cards like and indistinguishable from credit cards by the merchant? I have done the reverse with Tiger using a prepaid/debit master card where a credit card was stipulated so cannot see why it would not work the other way around.

    • vipulrm on 02/03/2014 - 10:49
      +2

      It is possible to differentiate debit cards from credit cards based on the first 6 digits of the card number.

  • mark12345678910 on 02/03/2014 - 10:01

    I have a prepaid Mastercard (Qantas Cash) and when I book a QF fare online the system works out that it's a Debit Card and reduces the fee down to the debit fee amount. This happens irrespective of selecting debit card or credit card.

    Conversely I've tried to take some cash out at Masters (debit+cash) but it fails….and I need to select credit card.

    Go figure!

    • vipulrm on 02/03/2014 - 15:34

      I reckon this is because the Qantas Cash cards done have debit accounts associated to them

    • JediJan on 02/03/2014 - 20:01

      Interesting. I have a Qantas cash mastercard too (forgot to use it) but purchased Qantas return ticket recently with my Visa credit card … $30 credit card fee … Ouch! Qantas frequent flyer points equated to $120 in cash cards though. Would have thought you should be able to do a cash out on it though; perhaps a Masters policy?

  • cheekybel on 02/03/2014 - 19:58

    I too refuse to pay the credit card fee, especially when there's mulitple passengers. I just use the POLI and it transfers across really quickly. Also allows you to book a sale flight, have the seats held, then have time try and get time off/holidays otherwise just let it lapse!
    Enjoy your trip!

  • Giraffe on 02/03/2014 - 20:38

    As well as checking with Expedia, you could try Flight Centre. They have a price beat policy, and every time I've used them they have been happy to waive the credit card surcharge (even Amex).

  • Schniz2 on 03/03/2014 - 08:19

    I got a Woolworths Reloadable Prepaid MasterCard Debit to use on the mobile site which more than paid for itself the first time i used it… it costs $10 to buy it online or in store and the cheapest option for low use is to choose the $1 recharge fee. You can recharge via bank transfer or in store… my only gripe is that you cant recharge using visa/credit so you have to wait a couple of days for the transfer to clear before you use it (i assume in store is instant)

    https://www.woolworthsmoney.com.au/wowm/wps/wcm/connect/WowM…

    Am a little bit wary of POLi… there have been some worrying reports about security

  • Brianqpr on 03/03/2014 - 09:39
    +1

    I almost booked Bali flights for August with Jetstar a few weeks back and ran into the same problem. Was going to be $100 for the 4 of us in fees to use the credit card. The only option to avoid this fee seemed to be a bank transfer so I made a booking and had 2 or 3 days to pay. Then I find out that they only accept transfers from certain banks and my bank CUA isn't on their list??? Why not, I can transfer, Bpay etc to everyone else with no problems? In the end I didn't bother completing the booking and found a better deal for Fiji instead, not with Jetstar!

    Last week I booked return flights from Sydney to Bali with Garuda for next January. $2,500 for the 4 of us (2 kids) with 30kg bags each and all food and in flight entertainment included. The cheapest I could get Jetstar when I was looking at it for August (their Jan prices are not out yet) was about $2,150, or $2,250 if you wwant to use a credit card, after adding in the in flight entertainment and baggage (no food) so I'm pretty happy with what I got. Garuda were excellent when we flew with them 2 months ago and their flight departure time going from Sydney to Bali is much better than Jetstar's. I booked through travel.com.au with no credit card fee.

    • retiredfeline on 03/03/2014 - 09:43

      Hmm, maybe this was a recent change? I had no problems using bank transfer with CUA but this was a year ago I think.

  • John on 03/03/2014 - 14:45

    Find a friend who has the Jetstar Mastercard. I dont think it attracts any surcharge.

  • Gaz1 on 03/03/2014 - 19:42
    +1

    Hopefully someone from Jetstar will be reading this & see the business they are losing due to this fee.

    • IdBuyThat4aDollar on 03/03/2014 - 22:24
      +1

      Yeah its ridiculous booking flights when they charge a booking fee per person per flight. It should just be a single booking fee.

  • IdBuyThat4aDollar on 03/03/2014 - 22:22

    Don't know if this will work but if you have a Qantas Frequent Flyer membership and have one of those new cash cards that they issued (http://www.qantascash.com/) load it up with money and use that. Technically its a prepaid mastercard not a debit card so not sure if this will work.

  • Junkee on 18/03/2014 - 09:13
    +2

    Thanks for all the advice everyone!!

    Just an update for you all and a tip for anyone else that stumbles upon this thread..

    We managed to buy seven $500 gift vouchers to make up the $3,500 which were payed for with a Credit Card without any fees.. We then applied them to the booking and payed the remaining $58.00 with POLI..

    This meant we payed no credit card fees for the flights!!!

    It seems like a good little loop hole to beat their ridiculous credit card surcharge..

    Hope this helps someone else =)

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