Can I Use Uk Credit Card To Pay In Baht?

[WeeGB]

Hi, I've looked in the pinned section, and over some of the forum, and can't find an answer for my problem that's been posted already.

I want to book a return ticket to the UK, from Bangkok. Can I use my UK Bank Visa card to do this? Will I get todays exchange rate? I am reluctant to book something that I'm not sure of the price, after conversion. I don't have a Thai credit card. I've always booked in the UK before, and have never booked in Thailand, so any advice will be welcomed. I arrived here on a one way ticket, as I have a retirement visa, and a re-entry visa, so I can come back.

Any recommendations for flight insurance would also be appreciated.

Many Thanks

WeeGB

[theoldgit]

Yes you can use a UK Credit Card, but your card issuer will give you a pretty poor rate and your supplier might also impose a fee, but yes you can do it.

Have you thought about using one of the myriad of travel agents that advertise in The Bangkok Post or indeed on Thai Visa, they will be as cheap or even cheaper than booking online, and you can pay by bank transfer thus avoiding any fees, or of course you could go into a travel agent, book and pay cash.

[theoldgit]

By flight insurance do you mean travel insurance?

Thai Visa Insurance is pretty competitive, though I personally use World Nomads who offer BUPA at a pretty good rate, there is no excess and you can book online http://www.worldnomads.com/allcountries.aspx?country=THA

[WeeGB]

Thanks for the advice theoldgit, much appreciated. Had a feeling that the credit company might not give a good exchange rate, and didn't want to buy anything before investigating first. I've never actually used a credit card outside of the UK, tend to have them just as a back up, in case anything goes wrong while I'm here.

Yes, I did mean travel insurance, I'll have a look at the two you recommended.

Thank you again for the advice.

[tartempion]

I always have my credit card charged in Baht.

Have booked several airline tickets over the last month and rate charged with Visa each time exactly 47 euro to the baht.

Seems Visa uses a fixed rate for the month.

Was shopping two weeks ago at Index Mall and was proposed to pay in euros, quick calculation showed Thai baht would be better (if charged 47 for a euro, which it did)

[alant]

book over here flight origination in bangkok say to london and you will mostly be charged in baht, even if you book ba on the ba web site for the uk it will price based on origin (although not tried it with a vpn based in the uk).

if you need to pay in £ try opodo they may do sterling

Edited July 9, 2009 by alant

[apetley]

I have used my UK credit card many times to buy mainly flights in Thailand.

Always got a good exchange rate, as good as that offered in Thai banks.

Only minor problem that I did have was that when booking a number of flights at the same time a block was put on my card because of the 'suspicious' activity. Easily unblocked by a quick call to my card issuer.

[CharlieB]

Yes you can use a UK Credit Card, but your card issuer will give you a pretty poor rate and your supplier might also impose a fee, but yes you can do it.

Have you thought about using one of the myriad of travel agents that advertise in The Bangkok Post or indeed on Thai Visa, they will be as cheap or even cheaper than booking online, and you can pay by bank transfer thus avoiding any fees, or of course you could go into a travel agent, book and pay cash.

Most major credit cards will give you a better rate than you would get on the street.

[midasthailand]

I always have my credit card charged in Baht.

Have booked several airline tickets over the last month and rate charged with Visa each time exactly 47 euro to the baht.

Seems Visa uses a fixed rate for the month.

Was shopping two weeks ago at Index Mall and was proposed to pay in euros, quick calculation showed Thai baht would be better (if charged 47 for a euro, which it did)

I would be happy to give you a rate ten times better than that one, PM me for a date and time to meet for the exchange. I will give you 10 Baht for 47 Euro!!

[citizen33]

UK credit cards will not all give you the same effective rate. The visa or M/C rate will be standard but the credit card company will usually impose an additional % charge for foreign currency transactions. The two nearest to a zero charge (though I'm not sure if they are now passing on part of the Visa FOREX charge as with ATM cards) are Nationwide Building Society and the Post Office. With these cards you will get a good exchange rate when charged in baht. Sometimes a Thai merchant may give you the option of having your credit card billed in GB pounds, at their rate. This is known as dynamic currency conversion (i.e. their local rate will change day to day) and this is not normally in your interest unless your credit card is one of the really extortionate ones for foreign currency purchases.

Edited July 9, 2009 by citizen33

[Rinrada]

I have used my Nationwide Gold Visa CC on many occasions in LOS...Big C-Tescos-Global (of course)plus the usual Air Fares,Car Hire and Hotels ...one time bought a round of drinks in the Oriential terrace bar...and like their Flex account get the interbank rate ...and no charges.....

(only for Cash .but..NEVER use)

Just used it again last night to get 2 R/T flights on EVA... London - Bangers for £405 each incl.tax....

now looking at Air Asia ...Bangkok-CM in Sept......best it seems is 700bt each way....not 2 Bad..init

(last time I got the 99bt specials)

[seank]

Well for some reason my Thai credit card wouldnt work on the Eithad website and there was no way I was going to use my Sterling Credit card because its an extra 3% and than not a great exchange rate.

So I logged onto Expedia and bought exactly the same ticket (Bangkok -> London return) but in sterling rather than bt. If you plan to go on exact dates and not change your flights than I would use http://www.expedia.co.uk/.

[moonhunt]

If you pay flight ticket with credit card, travel agency may charge their processing fee to you.

But at least one benefit you can get by using credit card is that you can get insurance for your flight as a part of Credit Card service for free.

I guess in reality it is not free, and it is included in credit card service charge or annual fee.

[WeeGB]

Hi again, firstly apologies for not getting back on here again yesterday, particularly as I had started the topic.

Unfortunately had computer problems in the late afternoon, but now I've disconnected external hard drive, main computer is now working, seemingly OK. (Please imagine a "smiley" with fingers crossed here ).

Thought the following may be of use to others.

I finally managed to contact Egg, in the UK, who supply my Visa credit card, and asked them about charges. I was told they charge a "standard" (their words not mine), rate of 2.95% for using the card, and they use the Xe.com exchange rate for the day, as the basis for converting from Thai Baht to Sterling. This was 55 Baht to the Pound yesterday, according to XE.com's site.

As I'd also enquired about using travel agents in both the Bangkok Post and in Bangkok itself, following "theoldgit's" advice, and spoken to my Thai Bank regarding a money transfer to pay for the ticket, which they didn't seem to know too much about, (I live upcountry), so I decided better to be safe than sorry.

I decided to use the Visa card, mainly because I didn't want to lose the chance of getting the flight on the day I wanted. My next 90 day report is due in early August, and I didn't also want to take a chance on how quickly the Immigration sent it back to me, as last time it took three weeks.

Although it's probably cost me around 60 pounds more, (transaction not yet on the account website), I do have the e-ticket printed and ready to go. It seems that things people do routinely in Banks in Bangkok, and other areas where there are a lot of tourists, are not necessarily known about in upcountry Bank branches, the staff there could give me no idea of how long a transfer would take, and I didn't want to end up running around trying to sort things out later.

Many thanks to all for their advice.

Cheers

WeeGB

[theoldgit]

As I'd also enquired about using travel agents in both the Bangkok Post and in Bangkok itself, following "theoldgit's" advice, and spoken to my Thai Bank regarding a money transfer to pay for the ticket, which they didn't seem to know too much about, (I live upcountry), so I decided better to be safe than sorry.

Sorry I should have explained that a bit more, it's just a case of paying the cash into the Thai travel agents bank account, I have done that loads of times, actually electronically from my Kasikorn account but I'm sure you can pay cash into any account at a bank branch, mainly to save the fee that travel agents charge [not all airlines charge this fee] and of course the 2.95% that the UK card issuers charge.

At the end of the day you have paid for the convenience and all that remains is to enjoy your trip.

[torrenova]

Just watch out for the rip off dynamic FX conversion they might offer you. That is, you pay in the currency of your card. The problem is that they use a rubbish FX rate and you lose out.