The budget airline Ryanair has been accused by the Office of Fair Trading of using unfair tactics in order to force passengers to pay more than they should do for flights.  According to the regulatory body, the airline exploits a loophole in the law stating that an airline only has to offer one free method of payment.  Currently Ryanair only allows pre-paid mastercards as that method of payment that is cost free.



Until recently Ryanair allowed the Visa Electron system as its free method, changing it to the pre-paid mastercard knowing that very few would use that method to pay for flights.  Being such a rare form of payment, the loophole allows Ryanair to charge as much as £5 per passenger regardless of if the transaction is all on one payment.  That means for a family of four, the transaction fee would be £40 if the payment was via any other method than a pre-paid mastercard.