Note – this article is now heading to “Out of date” with the recent happenings. Check here and here.
Martin Lewis Smiths Money Saving Expert is a semi regular read of mine when I have 5 minutes to catch up. He published a very good article on trying to save money when flying some of the Low Cost Carriers (Ryanair, BMI Baby, EasyJet, WizzAir, Aer Lingus Short Haul, etc)
Have a look at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/beat-budget-airline-charges
Now he says the magic words “don’t use a credit card or debit card” – try and get an Electron card.
Visa Electron is a card that doesn’t allow you be overdrawn (unlike the Visa Debit/Delta card) and actually isn’t hard to obtain if you know where to look.
Through the Halifax – Halifax have an EasyCash account that allow you to get an Electron card and fund the account. Obviously, a bit of planning is needed to use it, and how much to keep in it – but useful for bagging those cheap fares
Through TravelEx – Their travel currency card is a Visa Electron, and could be worth a look. However, I do urge you to look at the fees (for example, a card issued in Sterling has a 2% load fee). For short trips, they may work out more expensive in terms of load and spend fees
The Post Office – Again the Post Office has an Electron Card. It has an initial high load of £50, and various fees (including a 1.5% Sterling load fee). Investigate before hitting that buy button.
However, check where also you can get an Electron card issued. For example, you can get them issued in most of the world, except in Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United States – in which case there is very few ways round on avoiding fees.
It’s worth noting that some airlines (BMI Mainline, British Airways) can also impose a fee for using a Credit Card. Whilst this again stinks to high hell, sometimes the costs of the card and benefits of the card will outweigh the card fee.
Happy hunting!