Ryanair - Why you should always pay in original currency

Ryanair used to be a complete ripoff when making payments in foreign currencies - they would charge you in the currency of your credit card, whilst adding a hefty margin, and not give you a choice about it.

Then they mended their ways, and would charge you in the original currency.

Then they went back to their bad old ways - but with an escape route if you spot it in time !


Now they have changed again - offering you a choice of currencies.

In this example I'm booking a flight that 16.99 EUR and I've put in a UK address ... so the first choice is in GBP

but 15.48 GBP represents a 6% commission for Ryanair on the GBP - EUR fx rate

and 179.05 NOK would be a 6.2% commission for Ryanair on the NOK - EUR fx rate

and 76.48 PLN would also give Ryanair a 6% commission on the PLN - EUR fx rate

and 190.94 SEK would give Ryanair another 6.2% commission on the SEK - EUR fx rate

and finally 20.14 USD represents a 5.9% commission for Ryanair on the USD - EUR fx rate

Since most credit cards charge 3% on foreign purchases - and some don't charge anything - this means you should always pay in the original currency of the flight.

Star Alliance gold status

Although the received wisdom in the frequent flyer community is that Aegean Airlines gold status is the easiest to obtain - I thought it was worth a check to see if that really is the case.

Initially to get to Aegean Airlines silver status you need either:

12,000 Tier Miles and two Aegean/Olympic flights or

24,000 Tier Miles 

And then to upgrade to gold status you need either:

24,000 Tier Miles and four Aegean/Olympic flights or

48,000 Tier Miles

So in order to go from zero to gold you need either:

36,000 Tier Miles and four Aegean/Olympic flights or

72,000 Tier Miles

But then to retain gold status you only need:

12,000 Tier Miles and four Aegean/Olympic flights or

24,000 Tier Miles

This compares to an airline such as Thai Airways - which requires the following for gold:

50,000 Qualifying Miles within 12 months or

80,000 Qualifying Miles within 24 months

And then to retain Thai gold they still require the same amount of miles per year / two years.

Aegean Airlines are also sometimes more generous in calculating their Tier Miles - so for example a Thai Airways business class flight booked in C class will earn 150% in Thai's own frequent flyer programme, but will earn 200% in Aegean's.

WhereToCredit is an excellent website to check out which programme to credit your flights.

Looking at a real life example - an itinerary such as LHR-BKK-CTS return in business class (assuming C booking class) would earn: ( 5,958 + 3,152) x 2 x 200% = 36,440 Aegean Tier Miles.  So it would get you straight into Aegean gold if you took a little LHR-ATH-LCA trip later in the year.

So the moral of the story is that whilst Aegean is only a little easier to get to gold, the lower retention requirements are where it really shines.

2020 Fares Unfreeze

Whilst the Mayor is today tweeting about his claimed "fares freeze", the reality (as we have previously seen) is different !

For many TfL users, the daily caps are what impacts them - and they are increasing inline with national fares - something that isn't under the Mayor's control (although he fails to mention this).

So for example, a day travelling around Zones 1 & 2 in London will cost you an extra 20p in 2020.

And for many TfL users, the weekly caps are what impacts them - and these are again subject to the national fare increases, and something which is again mysteriously missing from all official announcements and emails !

A week travelling around London's Zone 1 & 2 areas will cost you an extra 1 gbp in 2020.

For completeness - the full 2020 fare table is shown below:





And for more comparisons over the last five years, have a look a DiamondGeezer's blog post.

Belgian Trains "Happy Ticket"

The Belgian Rail operator NMBS/SNCB offers a special deal over the Christmas & New Year period - a day return from anywhere in Belgium to anywhere in Belgium for just 10 euro!

The deal is so good that it will often be cheaper than buying a single.  And it's also so good that if you're travelling across the Belgian border, it will be cheaper to buy a "Happy Ticket" to the border, and a separate ticket for the onward journey.

For example a single from Charleroi Sud to Calais Ville is normally 42.70
But splitting the journey into a 10 euro "Happy Ticket" from Charleroi Sud to Tournai (near the french border), the remaining trip from Tournai to Calais Ville will cost you 24.70 - a handy 8 euro saving.
And a journey to cross a more distant border could save even more.

The "Happy Ticket" is available for the weekend in mid December, and then all the way from 21st December to the 5th January - full details here

Using the main https://www.belgiantrain.be/en/ website the fare comes up for any applicable journey within Belgium.  But using the https://www.b-europe.com/EN website for international train journeys, the "split ticket" fare (unsurprisingly) doesn't appear - so you have to work it out for yourself.

I bought my ticket from an automatic ticket machine in Charleroi Sud station, and the main screen (in english) highlighted "Promotional Fares", and it came up straight away.

A quick search of the internet suggests that it's been going a few years - so hopefully it will be back again next year.

Maybe this map of the Belgian Rail network will inspire some train travel next festive season!