Money Hack: Banish that pesky flight booking fee

Invest in travel gift cards to stave off unwanted fees.

When it comes to booking flights, cost almost always plays a part in the decision process.

So if you, like me, have ever been through the gamut of nominating all your travel requirements on a booking site only to be stung with an unexpected and potentially hefty transaction fee on that final payment page because you used a credit card, know that there are ways to avoid it. Or at least lessen the blow.

Here’s how.

The hack

Purchase an airline gift card/voucher.

While many travellers may reluctantly find themselves accepting that credit card charge at the flight checkout, what some might not know is that there's another option available to them that's often hidden on that payment page: gift cards. More often than not, gift cards have reduced or no transaction fees attached, even for credit card payments.

Kind of ironic, right?

Here’s a cheat sheet of some popular airlines that let you save by purchasing and redeeming gift cards:

• Qantas

  The flying kangaroo doesn't charge anything to purchase or redeem gift vouchers. If you choose to book with a credit card, you stand to pay around 1.3% of your total flight price. Alternatively, you can pay via POLi to avoid any fees.

• Virgin Australia

  Similar to Qantas, Virgin Australia allows you to purchase gift vouchers. You WILL cop a $2.75 processing and handling fee to purchase it, but you won't be charged a cent to use it. Still sounds like you're being ripped off, but if you pay for your flights using your credit card you've got a 1.3% card payment fee per passenger, per booking to contend with. Book with a debit card and you're looking slightly better with a 0.6% charge.

• Jetstar

  Budget carrier Jetstar is probably the most complicated when it comes to processing fees. It charges 0.48% of the flight price for debit card payments, 0.75% for PayPal payments and 1.06% for credit card payments. There are no processing fees on POLi, Jetstar Mastercard, voucher or gift card payments. You can purchase vouchers online or gift cards at retail outlets. And yeah, neither will charge you a cent more for doing so.

• AirAsia

  Electronic gift vouchers (EGV) are available to purchase and redeem online with AirAsia. The terms and conditions state that they are applicable “towards the purchase of the base airfare and other fees which may be attributed to such E-Gift Vouchers only.” Sounds grey to us, and since we’ve never tried it, we’d advise you tread cautiously before committing to the purchase. Alternatively, POLi and PayPal payments do not incur any processing fees with AirAsia bookings.

You might be thinking, "this is too much bother to shave off some dollars" and for domestic flights that extra buck or two may not mean a world of difference, but when an international flight of $1,500+ adds an extra $20 to your bill you may be singing a different song.

finder money hacks is a bi-weekly roundup of the latest tips and tricks to improve your finances. Check back every Wednesday and Saturday for new hacks.
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