Visa Electron for Flight tickets

MrBlobby · 23 Aug 2013 at 11:14

I got a Visa Electron card so I could book up flights with RyanAir, EasyJet and Flybe without paying some random charge but they don't seem to charge now. Do none of the airlines charge ? Is there any point keeping a Visa Electron card ?

tom_e · 23 Aug 2013 at 11:24

Not really a lot of places these days don't accept them and I'm pretty sure they are slowly being phased out and replaced with standard Visa debit cards.

Schlong&Stable · 23 Aug 2013 at 11:26

A visa electron card is just a form of debit card. Banks issue them for current accounts where there is not likely to be an overdraft facility, i.e. for kids and so forth.

So with that said, I am not sure I understand the question. Saying you've got a visa electron doesn't mean very much. Do you mean a prepaid card or something?

MrBlobby · 23 Aug 2013 at 15:40

I mean I opened up an account which has a Visa Electron card associated with it just to buy flight tickets. Should I close the account or is there another possible use for it ?

Schlong&Stable · 23 Aug 2013 at 15:56

MrBlobby said:
I mean I opened up an account which has a Visa Electron card associated with it just to buy flight tickets. Should I close the account or is there another possible use for it ?

You could put money in it.

MrBlobby · 23 Aug 2013 at 15:59

meh

I have a couple of bank accounts, turns out I have to write to them to close it can't be bothered.

KIA · 23 Aug 2013 at 17:18

Request a Visa Debit.

MrBlobby · 23 Aug 2013 at 17:19

No point I've two other bank accounts

[TW]Fox · 23 Aug 2013 at 17:22

KIA said:
Request a Visa Debit.

Which still attracts the charges he applied for an Electron in order to avoid.

MrBlobby · 23 Aug 2013 at 17:24

No airline charges for using a debit card now do they ?

SlyReaper · 23 Aug 2013 at 18:20

It's been a couple of years since I booked a flight, but I was very glad of having a visa electron card at the time. After going through the rigmarole of entering details and whatnot on the website, they had the temerity to charge an extra couple of quid for using a standard visa debit card, with the only way around that being the visa electron. I wouldn't really have missed that couple of quid, but the idea of screwing the airline out of that small amount of money by using the electron card... it gave me a great deal of satisfaction.

[TW]Fox · 23 Aug 2013 at 19:56

MrBlobby said:
No airline charges for using a debit card now do they ?

The low fare ones tend to.

Lartyconshayo · 23 Aug 2013 at 20:02

ryanair still charge for debit and credit card

marc2003 · 23 Aug 2013 at 20:15

tom_e said:
Not really a lot of places these days don't accept them and I'm pretty sure they are slowly being phased out and replaced with standard Visa debit cards.

that won't happen. the whole point of visa electron is that anyone can get a basic bank account with electron card regardless of their credit status. this is is because there is no overdraft facility and every transaction must be authorised electronically to make sure you have the funds available before they go through. without them, large sections of the population (including me

) would be excluded from shopping online.

i'm not the most prolific shopper but i can think of just 2 places that have refused electron cards - tesco online and cineworld.