Airlines flout ban on fees for using credit card

TWO foreign airlines have been caught charging illegal credit card fees to customers in the UK.

Credit card surcharges were banned across all retailers last month. But Dutch KLM and Air France have still been billing passengers using their UK websites.

Consumer group Which? Money investigated after complaints from customers of the airlines – now part of the group Air France-KLM. It found both were applying a 2 per cent fee for payments with some Mastercard credit cards online.

Under EU rules, retailers have been banned from charging customers to use Mastercard and Visa credit or debit cards since January 13. However this does not include corporate cards – and Which? found the airlines were using payment technology that mistakenly classes personal credit cards as business ones.

Both blamed a banking mix-up for the issue. An Air France-KLM spokesman said that customers who had been incorrectly charged ‘will be refunded’. HMRC figures showed card fees across all sectors generated an estimated £473million in 2010.