Comments on: A foreign transaction fee for a U.S. travel booking? Now you’re roaming alone

By: Ipadirvine

Ipadirvine — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:31:00 +0000

It should be disclosed then confirming the cc purchase through the travel agent /online booking service. The reason it is charged in a different country is to save the company the fees in foreign money conversion.

By: Edda Katz

Edda Katz — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:07:54 +0000

I had the same experience with a Travelocity booking that Brandy Hamill had, except that in my case it involves an Air Canada flight from Philadelphia to Toronto. So far, I have exchanged several emails with Travelocity customer support but have gotten nowhere, and have also had one unsuccessful phone call with them.

But I don’t intend to give up. For me this is a matter of principle. From the links I followed under “you may also be interested in these articles” elsewhere on this web page, it appears that similar fees are being incurred in all kinds of transactions, much to the surprise and detriment of consumers.

By: Aman

Aman — Thu, 14 May 2009 01:00:19 +0000

I have had a similar charge on a ticket booked via Orbitz. It was for a roundtrip from LAX to Vancouver, Canada on Air Canada. I have followed up with Orbitz, but they are intent on making me talk to the Bank of America. Any hints on what I should do?

By: Dina

Dina — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:13:19 +0000

That is the best argument I used when I called the 5/3 bank that issued my CC. I paid Martinair (Holland based) for the trip from Miami in USD, and then discovered that I’ve been charged foreign trx fee. I tried to argue with the bank with no luck. Any ideas how to handle that successfully to recover those fees?

By: Barbara Liguori

Barbara Liguori — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:31:45 +0000

I, too, was hit by a “foreign transaction fee” by MasterCard when I booked a cruise with Viking River Cruises through my travel agent in Tucson, AZ. The price for the cruise was quoted in dollars, and Viking has an office in California. I called Viking Cruises at the California officeand was told that all payments go to Viking headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. When I called Citibank, I was told by an ignorant representative that my purchase was made in Basel, Chile! She insisted that it was a foreign exchange even though the transaction was in US dollars, and I never left this country. I was charged the full 3% foreign transaction charge as if I had made the purchase in Swiss francs.

I read the Citibank cardholder agreement from cover to cover, and there is absolutely no mention of a single-currency fee for a cross-border transaction. There is only the statement about a transaction fee of 3% when the purchase is made in a foreign currency and the transaction in foreign currency is converted into US dollars. I believe this is in clear violation of the Truth in Lending Act and I am pursuing the matter further with MasterCard, since Citibank is not disclosing the nature of this fee.

By: Flight Wisdom Guru

Flight Wisdom Guru — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:56:34 +0000

Even without an agency, we’ve discovered CC companies charging this on charges made online with foreign airlines. We spoke to several airline employees we know, in an unofficial capacity. This is what we came up with.

Officially, foreign transaction fees can be charged on any transaction in which a foreign organization is receiving your money, ie Air Canada, which certainly sends its money to a Canadian bank.

In theory though, if your transaction is priced in United States dollars for a flight originating in the United States, it should not constitute a foreign transaction. Which is the best argument you can give your credit card company. If you purchased a ticket from Montreal to Vancouver though, you are out of luck.