Thai Credit Card Charges When Purchasing International Flights

[meand]

I am searching for international flights on kayak and a place called momondo. Right now, my preferred flight is with Philippine Air.

I have only a Thai credit card. I really hate getting charged the fees associated with purchasing goods outside of Thailand.

Is there a way to get around paying by way of credit card. I see Philipine air has an office on Rama 4 in Bangkok. Will it be possible to walk in and pay in cash for the flight I found?

It is kind of confusing right now because I am not 100% positive I am going to choose that Philippine Air flight, but just wondered if anybody had advice on how to pay for flights searched on kayak et al like this in cash here in Bangkok.

Thanks.

[nowork114]

I never heard of any fees for purchasing anything on CC out of Thailand. The only thing the bank may screw you is exchange rate. Also I'm pretty sure you can pay in THB in their local office (done that with another airline few years back). Also consider booking through local travel agent, sometimes they can get you a better deal than website - and you pay them with your card in THB

[JustinCider]

I never heard of any fees for purchasing anything on CC out of Thailand. The only thing the bank may screw you is exchange rate. Also I'm pretty sure you can pay in THB in their local office (done that with another airline few years back). Also consider booking through local travel agent, sometimes they can get you a better deal than website - and you pay them with your card in THB

Good point about using a local travel agent to book the flight. Very standard practice for the travel agent/airline IN Thailand to charge 3-4% to cover the merchant fees from the credit card company. I always do a bank transfer to the travel agent and have never had an agency refuse this method of payment and there is 0% mark-up. For what it's worth, I have been using Diethelm Travel and they have been above average.

[RBOP]

You could probably get a better deal from the many travel agencies in Thailand. Just have some online quotes to compare also get a few quotes from various travel agencies. But advantage to using a credit card is that very often, depending on who your credit card is with, you get insurance too. Check with the Bank. Happy travels.

[meand]

Thanks. I could not find a better price than kayak. If I use my Thai card I know they will charge quite a lot as I have done it before. I will post back if I figure anything out.

[Pib]

Thai credit cards generally carry approx a 2.75% foreign transaction fee.

[Mrjlh]

Yes, you can walk into any airline office and pay cash. Sometimes even cheaper. I've done it at both Bangkok and EVA Air, so you should be ale to at any airline.

[Friendly Stranger]

I never heard of any fees for purchasing anything on CC out of Thailand. The only thing the bank may screw you is exchange rate. Also I'm pretty sure you can pay in THB in their local office (done that with another airline few years back). Also consider booking through local travel agent, sometimes they can get you a better deal than website - and you pay them with your card in THB

Good point about using a local travel agent to book the flight. Very standard practice for the travel agent/airline IN Thailand to charge 3-4% to cover the merchant fees from the credit card company. I always do a bank transfer to the travel agent and have never had an agency refuse this method of payment and there is 0% mark-up. For what it's worth, I have been using Diethelm Travel and they have been above average.

The levy of the 3% merc fee to the customer is illegal, as I was advised or else, all merc's would be doing this. It is usually the smaller type outfits that do this. I now stop the transaction and go elsewhere if they mention this. And funny enought. they'll let you walk away.

[Dumbfounded]

I recently booked return tickets to Perth and Phuket for wife and myself with Air Asia. They charged an additional 2000 baht for the Australia booking and 385 baht for the Phuket booking because we used a credit card.

[jacko45k]

Perhaps it is an airline payment rather than particularly with a Thai credit card.

My Etihad purchase did not incur any extra charges, booking from their Thailand site.

I have made bookings via an agency, where I simply transferred money into their account, and they issued the ticket.

No extra charges, but of course no credit too.

[RBOP]

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Thai credit cards generally carry approx a 2.75% foreign transaction fee.

Yes, this is true. Read the terms and conditions from the Bank credit card.

[RBOP]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I never heard of any fees for purchasing anything on CC out of Thailand. The only thing the bank may screw you is exchange rate. Also I'm pretty sure you can pay in THB in their local office (done that with another airline few years back). Also consider booking through local travel agent, sometimes they can get you a better deal than website - and you pay them with your card in THB

Good point about using a local travel agent to book the flight. Very standard practice for the travel agent/airline IN Thailand to charge 3-4% to cover the merchant fees from the credit card company. I always do a bank transfer to the travel agent and have never had an agency refuse this method of payment and there is 0% mark-up. For what it's worth, I have been using Diethelm Travel and they have been above average.

The levy of the 3% merc fee to the customer is illegal, as I was advised or else, all merc's would be doing this. It is usually the smaller type outfits that do this. I now stop the transaction and go elsewhere if they mention this. And funny enought. they'll let you walk away.

I don't think its illegal.

[Pib]

I don't think it's illegal either, but credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard do frown on the practice because it diverts people from using their cards which means a loss of revenue to the credit card company/bank and actually the merchant also, but some merchants are trying to squeeze every bit of profit from every sale regardless of its impression impact on the customer. Now the store will say it's to keep their prices lower--me thinks that BS!!! If they sold more because they are not pissing off card users who then refuse to buy the merchant could probably reduce item price even more due to economy of scale/higher sales.

DCC transactions are also frowned on by Visa/Mastercard, but they are legal and occur often since they provide the merchant/local transaction processing bank (i.e., the bank the Point of Sale transaction machine belongs to) a higher profit/fee at the expense of the customer.

I avoid stores which push just an extra charge for card usage or have mandatory DCC. DCC is just focusing an extra charge on the foreign card through a lower exchange rate which benefits the merchant/local transaction processing bank. DCC is purely an option of the merchant, just as the extra card usage fee is. Avoid such merchants when possible is my advice.

[RBOP]

Whats DCC stand for?

[Pib]

Whats DCC stand for?

Dynamic Currency Conversion...that is, where the merchant's/local bank's exchange rate is used instead of the Visa/Mastercard exchange rate.

[meand]

Well, I had my friend who will be picking me up at the airport put it in his card.

When paying thousands of dollars for something, tacking on huge fees that I have to go look up, and don't even really know what they will be to be honest, until I get my bill, is a bit excruciating. I am not blaming them, but I just like to avoid these fees. That was the only way I could figure to do it.

The agents were wanting more than the price I got from Kayak et al by the way. But that was a viable suggestion. Thanks.

[meand]

I never heard of any fees for purchasing anything on CC out of Thailand. The only thing the bank may screw you is exchange rate. Also I'm pretty sure you can pay in THB in their local office (done that with another airline few years back). Also consider booking through local travel agent, sometimes they can get you a better deal than website - and you pay them with your card in THB

Good point about using a local travel agent to book the flight. Very standard practice for the travel agent/airline IN Thailand to charge 3-4% to cover the merchant fees from the credit card company. I always do a bank transfer to the travel agent and have never had an agency refuse this method of payment and there is 0% mark-up. For what it's worth, I have been using Diethelm Travel and they have been above average.

The levy of the 3% merc fee to the customer is illegal, as I was advised or else, all merc's would be doing this. It is usually the smaller type outfits that do this. I now stop the transaction and go elsewhere if they mention this. And funny enought. they'll let you walk away.

Yeah, walk away or pull out cash. It is a slimy move for sure.

[Friendly Stranger]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I never heard of any fees for purchasing anything on CC out of Thailand. The only thing the bank may screw you is exchange rate. Also I'm pretty sure you can pay in THB in their local office (done that with another airline few years back). Also consider booking through local travel agent, sometimes they can get you a better deal than website - and you pay them with your card in THB

Good point about using a local travel agent to book the flight. Very standard practice for the travel agent/airline IN Thailand to charge 3-4% to cover the merchant fees from the credit card company. I always do a bank transfer to the travel agent and have never had an agency refuse this method of payment and there is 0% mark-up. For what it's worth, I have been using Diethelm Travel and they have been above average.

The levy of the 3% merc fee to the customer is illegal, as I was advised or else, all merc's would be doing this. It is usually the smaller type outfits that do this. I now stop the transaction and go elsewhere if they mention this. And funny enought. they'll let you walk away.

I don't think its illegal.

I know I read this or was told by a reliable source. I'll look it up. Just for the fact of saying. No vendor has done this personally to me anywhere I've travelled just a small percentage of smaller Thai businesses.

Edited September 9, 2014 by Friendly Stranger

[Pib]

It's not illegal in the U.S....see this Visa webpage discussing the subject of a merchant charging a surcharge fee (and I'm not talking DCC which is also legal).

And some merchants in Thailand charge an extra fee (surcharge) if wanting to pay with a credit/debit card...2 or 3% is common. I've seen it quite often at small shops/businesses like small computer and smartphone shops here in Bangkok. Another example is this one pretty large dog food and gardening supplies store over here in western Bangkok who has a big sign up at the checkout registers saying 1.5% extra fee for a standard type credit/debit card and 2.5% extra for a Platinum type credit/debit card since merchants are charged varying level of fees by Visa/Mastercard depending on the type of card.

I avoid stores which apply a surcharge or will only accept a DCC transaction, but I still make purchases at a few which have the best deal and variety of goods...but I will pay in cash....sure wish I could pay with my credit cards at these stores so I could get cash back/rewards points but if the surcharge/DCC offset that (which it always does) then it's not worth using your card.

Credit card surcharges may be illegal in some countries but they are legal in the U.S. and Thailand...expect they are legal in most countries...frowned upon my many, but still legal.

[Friendly Stranger]

I don't think it's illegal either, but credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard do frown on the practice because it diverts people from using their cards which means a loss of revenue to the credit card company/bank and actually the merchant also, but some merchants are trying to squeeze every bit of profit from every sale regardless of its impression impact on the customer. Now the store will say it's to keep their prices lower--me thinks that BS!!! If they sold more because they are not pissing off card users who then refuse to buy the merchant could probably reduce item price even more due to economy of scale/higher sales.

DCC transactions are also frowned on by Visa/Mastercard, but they are legal and occur often since they provide the merchant/local transaction processing bank (i.e., the bank the Point of Sale transaction machine belongs to) a higher profit/fee at the expense of the customer.

I avoid stores which push just an extra charge for card usage or have mandatory DCC. DCC is just focusing an extra charge on the foreign card through a lower exchange rate which benefits the merchant/local transaction processing bank. DCC is purely an option of the merchant, just as the extra card usage fee is. Avoid such merchants when possible is my advice.

You guys are right as saying it is not illegal, as it has nothing to do with the law, just a bad choice of words. However, it is against their agreement with the CC company, and they can take action against them as I just looked it up and confirmed this. Sorry for the inaccuracy. Rule of thumb, they should not do this and it should be at your discretion to walk away.

[Pib]

I don't think it's illegal either, but credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard do frown on the practice because it diverts people from using their cards which means a loss of revenue to the credit card company/bank and actually the merchant also, but some merchants are trying to squeeze every bit of profit from every sale regardless of its impression impact on the customer. Now the store will say it's to keep their prices lower--me thinks that BS!!! If they sold more because they are not pissing off card users who then refuse to buy the merchant could probably reduce item price even more due to economy of scale/higher sales.

DCC transactions are also frowned on by Visa/Mastercard, but they are legal and occur often since they provide the merchant/local transaction processing bank (i.e., the bank the Point of Sale transaction machine belongs to) a higher profit/fee at the expense of the customer.

I avoid stores which push just an extra charge for card usage or have mandatory DCC. DCC is just focusing an extra charge on the foreign card through a lower exchange rate which benefits the merchant/local transaction processing bank. DCC is purely an option of the merchant, just as the extra card usage fee is. Avoid such merchants when possible is my advice.

You guys are right as saying it is not illegal, as it has nothing to do with the law, just a bad choice of words. However, it is against their agreement with the CC company, and they can take action against them as I just looked it up and confirmed this. Sorry for the inaccuracy. Rule of thumb, they should not do this and it should be at your discretion to walk away.

Yeap, it just card network regulations/contracts that attempt to keep the practice under control/to a minimum unless local laws allow it. Below is a quote from the Visa link I gave two post up.

Visa’s Operating Regulations also continue to prohibit surcharging outside the U.S. unless there is a local law or variance that requires merchants be permitted to engage in the practice.

I'm "guessing/assuming" Thailand laws or Bank of Thailand regulations don't cover the surcharging issue, therefore it's not against the law. Therefore the merchants who do it only need to be concerned about card network regulations/rules which I expect the merchants don't have much fear of unless it hits them in the pocket book. And unless people complain to the card network (and Thais generally don't like complaining) the practice continues on. When you have many merchants selling IP protected/copyrighted/grey market products illegally with practically no fear of being arrested or fined, why worry about some little ol' card network regulation.

[meand]

It makes sense too that what you guys are saying is accurate. The credit card companies charge the vendors to use the service. For the vendors to just turn around and charge the same or more does not make sense, and as mentioned, why wouldn't every vendor do this. As noted, it's just a way to pretty much screw customers over. I personally think travelers get confused by this and their intl cc fee and don't even know what they are paying when they pay it. It's clear to us but to the average traveler it can get confusing, and they are praying on that aspect of it unfortunately. It should not be tolerated by the knowledgeable consumer.