The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has put forth a new idea that would see a drop in airline booking fees on credit card bookings by up to $15 per flight.
In a discussion paper on RBA’s website, the group says it has been floating around with the idea to discount booking fees for travellers who pay using a credit card.
The saving would come from a ‘low fixed-dollar amount’ cap on payments made by plastic, News.com.au reported.
“In the case of the airlines, the current fixed-dollar surcharges would appear to be well above the reasonable cost of card acceptance for low-value fares.”
Reserve Bank of Australia
For example, the RBA says a customer booking a return domestic fare will pay surcharges from $2.50 to $17 for debit cards. Those paying with a credit card will be stuck with fees between $7 to $17.
The group says this implies surcharges of up to 8.5 percent on a $200 return fare.
Of the airlines flying domestically, Tiger and Jetstar have the highest standard surcharge per return ticket, with booking service fees of up to $17.
The RBA said there’s concerns that the air sector is susceptible to excessive surcharging and suggested modifying the surcharging standard to allow credit card companies to cap surcharges that “are not percentage-based at some low fixed-dollar amount”.
“This could result in a significant reduction in surcharges payable on lower-value fares.”
Reserve Bank of Australia
“We need a regulator to step in and enforce the rules.”
Would you like to see a plastic discount on air booking fees?