Low cost airline Ryanair has been attacked by the Office of Fair Trading because of its credit card policy. The OFT’s chief executive, John Fingleton criticised the airline for fees that it added to the price of a ticket when customers used specific credit cards at the online checkout. At the end of last year Ryanair decided that customers who paid with an Electron card would be subject to the company’s booking fee where before the service had been free. They changed their no charge policy to those using MasterCard pre pay. The company is allowed to take advantage of rules that say it can advertise its fares without having to declare the booking charge as long as there is at least one option to buy a ticket without incurring the fee. Mr. Fingleton pointed out that Ryanair has chosen a payment option that is rarely used in order to skirt around the rules.

Earlier in 2009 Ryanair said it intended to make its fee system more transparent to customers booking online after the OFT raised concerns. Mr. Fingleton has also slated the airline for its system of adding insurance to the price of a ticket unless the customer opted out. He said that this was an example of the company taking advantage of a legal grey area.

Stephen McNamara who is head of communications at Ryanair has hit back by saying that the airline is not meant for the John Fingletons of the world but for those who wish to take advantage of the lowest airline fares available.