Flybe launches innovative new currency conversion service

Flybe, Europe’s largest and most successful regional airline carrier, has launched a convenient Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) service that will be of particular benefit to those customers wishing to pay for flights with a payment card not issued in the same currency as that used in the country of planned departure.

Flybe’s new DCC facility now automatically offers customers booking on flybe.com the beneficial option to pay in the actual currency of the payment card, immediately displaying what the converted cost is. As a result, passengers will be aware at the time of payment exactly how much money will be taken from their card. No longer will people have to wait until they receive their statement to know the exact cost of their ticket.

Currency payments have previously been determined by the departure airport, so – for example, Flybe’s Exeter to Charles de Gaulle route is priced in British Pounds; Avignon to Southampton in Euros and Geneva to Edinburgh in Swiss Francs.

Under this arrangement, payment was taken in the quoted currency irrespective of the currency of the card used to make the payment. Banks would subsequently convert, say, the Euro amount into British pounds using a bank-exchange rate and possibly a conversion fee. The customer would not know the true cost of the transaction – in their own card currency – until they received their statement. The new arrangement renders that process redundant.

Mike Rutter, Flybe’s Chief Commercial Officer comments: “We’re pleased to be the only UK regional airline to offer our customers the added benefits of this particular new DCC service. Flybe is committed to transparency and to doing everything possible to ensure that our customers know exactly what they choose to pay for. In these tough economic times people are keeping an even closer eye on their budgets and DCC is an important innovation enabling them to more easily track their expenditure no matter what currency they choose to pay in.”

The new service is available on transactions being made with Visa Credit and Debit cards, Mastercard Credit and Electron cards and only for online payments made through flybe.com.