Travel advice: card-users beware

Airlines and travel companies are charging customers increasingly high fees for debit and credit card transactions. Here are some of the worst offenders.

It isn't just the extras we're increasingly asked to pay to check in luggage that inflates the cost of travelling. The method of payment can bump it up too. Last month, Eurostar introduced a fee of £3 per booking for payment by credit card over the phone or online. The company defends the move, saying: "We aren't making a profit [on the fee], this is just a proportion of the charge made to Eurostar by credit card companies – we're finding that these costs are spiralling out of control."

Not that others aren't applying similar charges: booking through a call centre (rather than through a website) and using a credit or debit card invariably means you'll be charged more. However, these costs do vary from company to company, as the following examples demonstrate.

Brittany Ferries (www.brittanyferries.com) No fee for call centre bookings or debit cards; credit card fee £5 per booking.

British Airways (www.ba.com) Call centre fee £5; credit card fee £4.50; no fee for debit cards. Charges are per passenger, per booking.

Bmibaby (calls cost 65p per minute; www.bmibaby.com) Call centre fee £7.50; credit card fee £3.75; debit card fee £2.75. Charges are per person, per one-way fare. No fee for payments with a Visa Electron card.

easyJet(www.easyjet.com) Call centre fee £15; credit card fee £2.95 per cent of the total transaction with a minimum charge of £4; debit card fee £2.95. No fee for payments made using a Visa Electron card.

Eurostar (www.eurostar.com) No fee for call centre bookings or debit cards; credit card fee £3 per booking.

Flybe (www.flybe.com) Call centre fee £12; credit card fee £3.50; debit card fee £1.50 (minimum £2 per booking). Charges are per person, per one-way flight. No fee for payments with a Visa Electron card.

P & O Ferries (www.poferries.com) Call centre fee £5; credit card fee £2; no fee for debit cards. Charges are per booking.

Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) Call centre fee £5; credit card fee £5; debit card fee £5. Charges are per passenger, per one-way fare.