Ryanair fined €256M over ‘abusive strategy’ to limit ticket sales by OTAs

Post by onli » Tue, Dec 23, 2025, 5:20 PM UTC

alibarber wrote: post #103

onli wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to be built into the credit card terminals. So it's a visa thing, not on the shop. I had that with very small shops in non-touristy areas of Mexico where it was absolutely clear to not be a scam attempts by the shops owner. They had no idea what the terminal asked.

It's absolutely the shop. Their payment processor (the people they rent the machine off of) offers them this oppurtunity to 'unlock hidden revenue for merchants'[1][2][3] and they are happy to do this. Visa in fact tried to ban it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_currency_conversion Of course, there are regulations and agreements with various institutions that should be followed - but it's free money for the sh…

Post by petesergeant » Tue, Dec 23, 2025, 5:27 PM UTC

tyre wrote: post #155

arethuza wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ryanair used to do some things that were quite remarkably devious - the option to not by travel insurance was in the middle of drop-down list of countries! To make sure I had remembered that correctly I looked it up and here is a description of it: https://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/ryanair-to-change-hidden-tr... NB I've travelled with Ryanair quite a lot and actually don't mind the actual flights but it is wise to man…

I remember when they were seeking approval to provide blow jobs on flights (free in business class iirc.) The only thing that they won’t up charge. They even tried to get approval to charge for bathroom access. Wild company, but they are entirely on brand. To be fair, consumers have driven airlines this way. They’ve shown that they’ll buy based almost entirely on price and suffer any amount of agony in exchange. I ju…

Post by xp84 » Tue, Dec 23, 2025, 5:30 PM UTC

kalleboo wrote: post #111

clan wrote: post #102

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Almost. To such a degree I would call it a very dark pattern. There is however one very good argument for. Currencies with very high volatility. Think extreme inflation. If you accept their conversion you know what you pay in your own currency. You have then mitigated a risk. If your own currency is volatile then you might gamble and win. If the foreign currency is volatile you will usually win by paying in the forei…

Historically (like, 15+ years ago when I did the SEA backpacking circuit) there have been some cards with ridiculous fees for international transactions. Like, a flat $10 per transaction. Back then when I saw prompts like this on card terminals I assumed it was targeted at those cardholders (or people who had heard stories of those and were unsure and worried what they would be charged and wanted to be reassured by a…

Post by xp84 » Tue, Dec 23, 2025, 5:34 PM UTC

rantallion wrote: post #84

dcminter wrote: post #9

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Point of sale terminals also do this when travelling - it wasn't especially surprising, just one straw too many. Of course foreign exchange offices have been doing this scam since forever ("no fees!")... --- Edit - note that with a bureau d'exchange my objection is not that they charge for the exchange; clearly that is the exact business that they are in. It's the "no fees" etc. marketing that hides from the less ast…

> direct costs of the exchange up front Isn't that fairly easy to estimate? If they're showing you a buy rate and a sell rate, you know the interbank rate is going to be pretty much halfway between the two. I don't think anyone's changing money and thinking the bureau isn't profiting.

Post by baxtr » Tue, Dec 23, 2025, 5:37 PM UTC