Best way to book a flight without having to pay additional fees

[McCloud94 3]

I searched for my journey on google flights and was about to order through united.com directly - just to see the issuing country of my credit card is not supported  

After a call with them, they recommended booking through a travel agent. 

 

But with all of them, I have to pay additional 30-50 euros JUST TO PAY with my VISA card.. wth ? 

I'm getting quite upset as I've already spent hours researching the flights and now even paying for the booking is a hassle. 

 

Any recommendations ?

There must be a way to book the flight for the actual price, without any additional fees..

[Uncle Nick 6,245]

Re you booking through an online agent? You might get better results if you go to an actual travel agent physically.

[zwiebelfisch 7,067]

There are bajillions of german websites that you can buy flights with, and being german they tend to like EC cards or lastschrift.  If you cant use those methods (ie dont have a german account) then I dont see an easy way for you to buy flights here.  Take cash into a travel agent?

[msam 506]

1 hour ago, McCloud94 said:

I searched for my journey on google flights and was about to order through united.com directly - just to see the issuing country of my credit card is not supported  

After a call with them, they recommended booking through a travel agent. 

 

But with all of them, I have to pay additional 30-50 euros JUST TO PAY with my VISA card.. wth ? 

I'm getting quite upset as I've already spent hours researching the flights and now even paying for the booking is a hassle. 

 

Any recommendations ?

There must be a way to book the flight for the actual price, without any additional fees..

 

1 hour ago, Uncle Nick said:

Re you booking through an online agent? You might get better results if you go to an actual travel agent physically.

 

Most airlines also charge a credit card fee. Lufthansa cheekily calls it "optional payment charge". You might get better results from a brick and mortar travel agent, but they also have to make their money somehow. You can also try other comparison websites like Kayak.de. They have better features than google flights if your flight dates are flexible and search offers from the airlines themselves as well as from third party brokers (which always have extra fees attached but sometimes it still works out cheaper)

 

Since you're being asked for 30-50 euros, I am assuming it's an expensive long-haul flight. Ultimately you have to decide how much time it is worth spending to save how much money.

[McCloud94 3]

1 hour ago, zwiebelfisch said:

There are bajillions of german websites that you can buy flights with, and being german they tend to like EC cards or lastschrift.  If you cant use those methods (ie dont have a german account) then I dont see an easy way for you to buy flights here.  Take cash into a travel agent?

do you have any specific tips ? 

I have no problem with lastschrift or sofortüberweisung. 

 

So far opodo.de seemed to be the cheapest (lowest additional fees on top of the flight prices) but still - it's a 20 euro extra. 

 

I will also go and check out a brick and mortar travel agent nearby later today. 

[yourkeau 7,723]

Have you tried using their German website?

https://www.united.com/ual/de/de/

 

They have so many countries and languages, it is not possible that German CC is not supported.

 

 

[kaffeemitmilch 1,295]

Really? Credit card fees from the airline directly??

 

Have you tried Kayak.de?

 

Another option would be to see if they accept PayPal. I use it a lot now.

[Marianne013 546]

Credit card (as opposed to debit card) fees are extremely common when booking directly with airlines. 

For the OP: " just to see the issuing country of my credit card is not supported"

Which country is that ?

[McCloud94 3]

@yourkeau, @Marianne013

 

Slovakia. With a German VISA card it wouldn't be a problem.

 

[yourkeau 7,723]

19 minutes ago, McCloud94 said:

@yourkeau, @Marianne013

 

Slovakia. With a German VISA card it wouldn't be a problem.

 

Ah so. And do you type billing address in Stuttgart?

 

Then the system thinks this is possible fraud, you should use billing address of your credit card. In 2015 my credit card data was stolen exactly for buying a plane ticket. My small investigation showed that the thief must have been a (former) hotel employee in Luxembourg, so they knew my billing address

[McCloud94 3]

uh, crazy :/ 

 

Ye I figured that out. The problem is, they don't support Slovak cards at all. 

 

I've now tired Kayak.de, as @kaffeemitmilch recommended, which forwarded me to billigflug.de - this one looked promising, as it had NO extra fee!

However as soon as I clicked pay the site just reloaded and nothing happened. 

 

They're not reachable via telephone and I'll probably be waiting for an email response for ages. 

 

Incredible!

[kaffeemitmilch 1,295]

But, I've booked directly with United, and other airlines, and not paid a fee. What is your flight and what airline are you using?

[Malt-Teaser 3,728]

Save money, don't go.

[McCloud94 3]

30 minutes ago, kaffeemitmilch said:

But, I've booked directly with United, and other airlines, and not paid a fee. What is your flight and what airline are you using?

 

There's not fee with United. 

United just doesn't support Slovakia. 

[kaffeemitmilch 1,295]

Well I can pay for you with my credit card if you send me money. It would involve you trusting me and sending me money through PayPal for friends, though. If you're ok with that, we can make this happen.

[fraufruit 42,703]

7 hours ago, kaffeemitmilch said:

It would involve you trusting me

 

It would involve me trusting you.

 

There, fixed it for ya.

 

That wasn't helpful. Seriously, have you tried any of the dot com (American) travel sites? expedia.com, cheapair.com, kayak.com, etc.?

[McCloud94 3]

15 hours ago, kaffeemitmilch said:

Well I can pay for you with my credit card if you send me money. It would involve you trusting me and sending me money through PayPal for friends, though. If you're ok with that, we can make this happen.

uh, thanks a lot for that! really appreciate it.

 

I've now managed to book it finally. With a slight change, but it's all good.

[Guest]

The Problem I can see with paying for a strangers travel arrangements is that it will draw attention to both parties...  

 

Thats one sure fire way to get picked on at airports etc...

[zwiebelfisch 7,067]

14 minutes ago, SpiderPig said:

The Problem I can see with paying for a strangers travel arrangements is that it will draw attention to both parties...  

 

Thats one sure fire way to get picked on at airports etc...

 

I have done it for friends a few times, there have never been any problems including flights from both Korea and India (ie not a german card in germany for german flights but something much more suspicious).  For strangers?  Too much trust required for me, but fundamentally its a nice idea.

[Uncle Nick 6,245]

A friend did it for me, no problem.