buying flights in pounds

cena

Anyone here every buy flights in pounds. I have a flight for EUR 345,87. If I convert it to pounds and back to euros nearly a 100 euro in the difference.

coylemj

Where are you getting the FX (EUR <-> GBP) rates? If you used interbank, the Euro number will be the same because there will be only one rate but if you're using retail bank or bureaux du change buy & sell rates, there will be a difference when you convert one way and then back again because they make their profit on the gap between interbank and the FX rates they use for consumer transactions.

To answer your question, you will need a sterling credit card to pay in sterling.

cena

coylemj wrote: »

Where are you getting the FX (EUR <-> GBP) rates? If you used interbank, the Euro number will be the same because there will be only one rate but if you're using retail bank or bureaux du change buy & sell rates, there will be a difference when you convert one way and then back again because they make their profit on the gap between interbank and the FX rates they use for consumer transactions.

To answer your question, you will need a sterling credit card to pay in sterling.

there is a choice of paying in a different currency. Was using xe currency converter

coylemj

cena wrote: »

there is a choice of paying in a different currency. Was using xe currency converter

I put EUR 345.67 into XE and it says that is the equivalent of GBP 307.00 If I manually input 307 into the GBP box, it converts it to EUR 345.67

After converting to sterling, what did you do next which caused you to lose EUR 100?

cena

coylemj wrote: »

I put EUR 345.67 into XE and it says that is the equivalent of GBP 307.00 If I manually input 307 into the GBP box, it converts it to EUR 345.67

After converting to sterling, what did you do next which caused you to lose EUR 100?

If I selected pounds on the airline site it was cheaper

cena

Hi xe change and convert to euro

cena

Use xe currencies converter and convert to euro

cena

Use xe currencies converter and convert to euro

coylemj

cena wrote: »

If I selected pounds on the airline site it was cheaper

OK, I get you. In your first post, you said that you 'converted' it to pounds, what you actually did was that you priced the same flight(s) in pounds. And then converted to euros. And the sterling price (converted to euros) was EUR 100 less.

There's nothing unusual about that. Airfares at a given time of the year are based on multiple factors...... principally competition on the route, the availability of practical alternatives (different routes to the same destination) and how much the locals are prepared to pay. Everything costs more here so it's not a surprise that the euro fare is higher.

cena

coylemj wrote: »

OK, I get you. In your first post, you said that you 'converted' it to pounds, what you actually did was that you priced the same flight(s) in pounds. And then converted to euros. And the sterling price (converted to euros) was EUR 100 less.

There's nothing unusual about that. Airfares at a given time of the year are based on multiple factors...... principally competition on the route, the availability of practical alternatives (different routes to the same destination) and how much the locals are prepared to pay. Everything costs more here so it's not a surprise that the euro fare is higher.

Would it be a great idea to pay this way

coylemj

cena wrote: »

Would it be a great idea to pay this way

Yes but they will be able to tell which bank issued your credit card based on the first 6 digits and they may refuse payment in sterling from an Irish credit card.

Otherwise I'd say go for it.

ifeelill

Can you pay with PayPal ?