Which Thai domestic airline does not charge a fee for paying with credit card?

[tartempion]

Which Thai domestic airline does not charge a fee for paying with a credit card?

 

During 2015 I booked several tickets with Nok Air and never was charged a fee for booking with a credit card (I do have free travel insurance using my gold Mastercard)

A few days ago booked a NOK flight and got a surcharge for 6x90B or 540B for 3 pax.

Since no other company flies that route (UTH-CNX) I switched to paying with debit card but loosing out on my travel insurance.

This year I booked 5 Thai Lion Air tickets without cc charge.

Tried to book a Lion Air ticket to DMK yesterday and got 3x "Invalid Payment" after entering cc  details (same cc as before)

What is wrong with them?

Switched to "pay with Debit card" and got charged an extra 30B by 123service.

I don't buy Air Asia tickets any more because of all the add on-s anyway, they always come out more expensive in the end, not worth the online hassle.

Leaves (expensive) Thai Smile to Swampy for my international flights (although I book cheap Promotions when available and no taxi to/from DMK .

[Diplomatico]

  Thai Airways (and, by extension, Thai Smile) have no additional charges for using a credit card.  

 

  I don't recall being charged by Bangkok Airways either.

[Chip Allen]

They ALL do in one way or another. If a carrier advertises that they don't have a surcharge for credit card usage, they merely adjust prices upward for ALL customers to make up the difference. Nothing is free. They rip you one way or the other.

[cnx355]

Mr. Tartempion, same as you did, I  tried this week  to book a flight with Thai Lion Air  this  week but the credit card  transaction  could not be completed.

I tried on 2 different days with 2 different credit car and they seem to have a problem .

 

I booked many flights with in the past 2 years with them and never had this  problem before.

 

It seems all the low cost carriers now charge a service fee to pay by credit, debit...

[psyvolt]

5 hours ago, tartempion said:

I don't buy Air Asia tickets any more because of all the add on-s anyway, they always come out more expensive in the end

You must be doing it wrong then. If you don't want the add ons, just untick them. Its not hard, and I quite often find Air Asia to be amongst the cheapest to fly with in Asia.

[rogeroc]

Air Asia and Nok do both charge;  like cnx 355 Thai lion would not except my credit card. Confirm from recent experience that Bangkok Airways and Thai Airways do not. The main carriers on the BKK (not DMK) to Norhern Thaland routes are very competitive with the low cost carriers now. Should be even more competitive now Vietjet are also competing on those  routes.

 

With Air Asia you can achieve the headline price, with NokAir you cannot.

[Deepinthailand]

Take the options to pay at 7/11 or tesco or big C no surcharge then

[rogeroc]

2 hours ago, Chip Allen said:

They ALL do in one way or another. If a carrier advertises that they don't have a surcharge for credit card usage, they merely adjust prices upward for ALL customers to make up the difference. Nothing is free. They rip you one way or the other.

 

What is the relevance of that comment to an individual traveller booking an individual flight?

 

Rip off ?? a choice of  6 0r 7 carriers all offering flights between 1000 and 1400 baht on Bangkok to Northern Thailand. Bargain is a better word.

[rogeroc]

Leaves (expensive) Thai Smile to Swampy for my international flights (although I book cheap Promotions when available and no taxi to/from DMK .

 Like this

There is a frequent free shuttle bus between DMK and Swampy as long as you have an onward ticket.

[steelepulse]

Personally I look at which airline provides the best price that fits into my schedule.  Sure maybe Thai Air doesn't have a CC charge, but when they are 2K baht more for a domestic flight, I'll take the much lower cost airline that has a cc charge and still save 1900 baht.  Up to you to determine if a CC charge is a dealbreaker!

[RaggaTwin]

7 hours ago, tartempion said:

I don't buy Air Asia tickets any more because of all the add on-s anyway, they always come out more expensive in the end, not worth the online hassle.

 

You seem like a person that would cut off your nose to spite your face.

 

AirAsia are my favourite Thai domestic airline and there's nothing complicated about their website.

 

If you have an SCB, Bangkok Bank, UOB, Bank of Ayudhya or CIMB Thai bank account and associated debit card / internet banking then the booking fee is just THB 42.80 for up to nine travellers on one booking which is an absolute bargain.

[KhunBENQ]

2 hours ago, steelepulse said:

Personally I look at which airline provides the best price that fits into my schedule.  Sure maybe Thai Air doesn't have a CC charge, but when they are 2K baht more for a domestic flight, I'll take the much lower cost airline that has a cc charge and still save 1900 baht.  Up to you to determine if a CC charge is a dealbreaker!

 

A common misconception.

I often book domestic flights with ThaiSmile (not mixup with Thai Airways!).

Incl. baggage their prices are always comparable with AirAsia.

 

Did a simple example this morning for Khon Kaen to Bangkok with full baggage (20kg).

AirAsia starts at 790 and ends up at 1,216.30 Baht for CC payment (no meal or the like, insurance unticked).

ThaiSmile starts and ends at 1280 (free seat selection, snack and drink incl.).

Combined with the fact that I prefer Suvarnabhumi over Don Mueang ThaiSmile is a simple choice.

My last flight was Suv. to Khon Kaen on Nov 9 with ThaiSmile advance booked for a promo price of 800 Baht.

 

Only without baggage AirAsia might save you up to 300 Baht.

But still I would go to Suv. as transportfrom Don Mueang more expensive/lengthy.

[off road pat]

8 hours ago, Diplomatico said:

  Thai Airways (and, by extension, Thai Smile) have no additional charges for using a credit card.  

 

  I don't recall being charged by Bangkok Airways either.

Affirmative, Thai airways don't charge extra if you pay by credit card. did it plenty of times.

[Sydebolle]

Live with it and take these surcharges as a part of the deal. You will find out that PG as an example on the BKK-UTH flight ends up being the cheapest (spec offers excluded) as they are completely transparent. Others throw a cheap fare but extras such as food, insurance, seat selection and luggage to be topped by a CC-fee. 

[RaggaTwin]

1 minute ago, Sydebolle said:

Live with it and take these surcharges as a part of the deal.

 

Some of us don't have to live with it as there's cheaper options to deal with extortionate card fees. 

 

Maybe read the thread more thoroughly. 

[Sydebolle]

2 minutes ago, RaggaTwin said:

 

Some of us don't have to live with it as there's cheaper options to deal with extortionate card fees. 

 

Maybe read the thread more thoroughly. 

I said "take it as a part of the deal".
Some restaurants charge extremely little like B 99 for a pizza and a highway robbery price of B 90 for the soda water; combined you spent B 190 for a pizza and a soda. 
All those who cannot live with it - take the bus! 

[RaggaTwin]

Just now, Sydebolle said:

I said "take it as a part of the deal".
Some restaurants charge extremely little like B 99 for a pizza and a highway robbery price of B 90 for the soda water; combined you spent B 190 for a pizza and a soda. 
All those who cannot live with it - take the bus! 

 

I'm still not getting your point. 

 

I can book a Thai domestic return flight and can be charged over 30 quid for credit card charges or I can settle by direct debit from my Thai bank account at 42 baht. 

 

Have you got any constructive advice to offer the uninitiated other than 'wear it'?

[Sydebolle]

39 minutes ago, RaggaTwin said:

 

I'm still not getting your point. 

 

I can book a Thai domestic return flight and can be charged over 30 quid for credit card charges or I can settle by direct debit from my Thai bank account at 42 baht. 

 

Have you got any constructive advice to offer the uninitiated other than 'wear it'?

Regretfully not; Thailand has this thing with Credit Card "fees". Some operators in hospitality charge upto 5%; technically speaking this is illegal UNLESS an article is marked clearly "cash only". The charge of UKP 30+ of course is highway robbery - no argument on that either. 

As for airlines; I am aware that - depending on carrier - certain banks are "preferred" over credit cards which is actually non-sense. If an operator (I run a restaurant) accepts cards then the commission is 2% plus VAT (i.e. 2.14%) irrespective if debit card or credit card. 
Thai Air Asia is in bed with Siam Commercial Bank; all other debit cards are not even accepted while in Makro you can only pay with a Visa or MasterCard issued by Citibank - no other credit card nor debit card is accepted. 

Vote with your feet - if you can. Some carriers offer cash payment at the next 7/11 within the XXX hours after the booking was made. Quite obviously also this part of the country's industry has not reached the 21st century yet. 
 

[RaggaTwin]

5 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

Thai Air Asia is in bed with Siam Commercial Bank; all other debit cards are not even accepted while in Makro you can only pay with a Visa or MasterCard issued by Citibank - no other credit card nor debit card is accepted. 

 

Vote with your feet - if you can. Some carriers offer cash payment at the next 7/11 within the XXX hours after the booking was made. Quite obviously also this part of the country's industry has not reached the 21st century yet. 

 

What?  I've already given you the key to avoiding credit card charges if you have a Thai bank account and not only SCB.

 

Just over 40 baht as I have previously stated with multiple Thai banks.  Did you read the thread?

[MaxiMaxi]

I remember that Nokair has always charged, either cc, ATM, 7/11, Tesco.....

To book Lionair try via Traveloca.com or Tiket.com

they show you all airlines then you choose ThaiLionair and pay by MC or Visa cc without surcharge if I remember well.

[tartempion]

Live with it and take these surcharges as a part of the deal. You will find out that PG as an example on the BKK-UTH flight ends up being the cheapest (spec offers excluded) as they are completely transparent. Others throw a cheap fare but extras such as food, insurance, seat selection and luggage to be topped by a CC-fee. 

PG stopped flying to UTH more than 1 year ago, so only Thai Smile left to fly UTH-BKK. I just flew return this November for 2x1080THB, that was a good deal (promotion) bot Mostly is 1400 or so one way, no cc charge though.

For my next trip Air Asia came more expensive than Nok.

I loathe AA with all their add ons and avoid them as the plague. Booked Thai Lion Air, Nok with 6x90B cc charge, no thanks, TLA got Invalid Payment when trying to charge my cc, got a Direct Debit surcharge of 30B.

Will mail TLA regard problem paying with foreign cc.

[The Fat Controller]

Just booked with Thai Lion Air using a UK Visa credit card from here in Scotland, payment went through at the first attempt and there were no extra charges.

 

Confirmation and payment receipt were received at my aol.com email address within 2 minutes.

[KhunBENQ]

2 hours ago, The Fat Controller said:

Just booked with Thai Lion Air using a UK Visa credit card from here in Scotland, payment went through at the first attempt and there were no extra charges.

 

Confirmation and payment receipt were received at my aol.com email address within 2 minutes.

Indeed.

I just played around with the site using some fake data.

A flight shown for 1025 Baht.

Only the usual "insurance" added without being asked.

Unticked and back to 1025.

Selecting CC, still 1025.

Selecting counter payment, finish the booking, still 1025.

Booking will expire automatically tomorrow morning.

 

The whole booking process more transparent than AirAsia not to speak of NokAir (worst of the pack).

A good point for Lion!

[MoonUnit]

3 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

The whole booking process more transparent than AirAsia not to speak of NokAir (worst of the pack).

 

Slightly unfair on AirAsia as they are totally transparent in regards to fees.  Though, their CC charges are an abomination, and on that we can agree.

 

As for Nok, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

[KhunBENQ]

1 minute ago, MoonUnit said:

As for Nok, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

Fully agree on this

[rogeroc]

10 hours ago, The Fat Controller said:

Just booked with Thai Lion Air using a UK Visa credit card from here in Scotland, payment went through at the first attempt and there were no extra charges.

 

Confirmation and payment receipt were received at my aol.com email address within 2 minutes.

 

Thanks for that info, i will consider them again in the future. I stopped looking at their deals after they kept rejecting a UK credit card.