Ryanair to accept Mastercard Prepaid for free

Ryanair has announced that it will accept the MasterCard Prepaid card as its free form of payment from 1st December and its Visa Electron promotion will end one month later on 31st December.  From 1st January the Visa Electron payment card will attract a €5 administration charge while MasterCard Prepaid will become the sole free from…

Ryanair has announced that it will accept the MasterCard Prepaid card as its free form of payment from 1st December and its Visa Electron promotion will end one month later on 31st December.  From 1st January the Visa Electron payment card will attract a €5 administration charge while MasterCard Prepaid will become the sole free from of payment on www.ryanair.com.
 
The MasterCard Prepaid card is much more widely available than Visa Electron and can be picked up from financial institutions/ card issuers throughout Europe (including Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands and Portugal) and online.  Ryanair will accept both MasterCard Prepaid and Visa Electron as free forms of payment for all bookings during the month of December.
 
MasterCard Prepaid cards will not only provide savings on Ryanair flights but can also be used to withdraw money from ATMs and make retail purchases in shops and online.
 
To celebrate its new free payment method Ryanair will, from midnight (24:00hrs) tonight, release 250,000 Christmas seats for just €5 each for travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in late December which must be booked on www.ryanair.com before midnight (24:00hrs) Thursday (3rd Dec).
 
Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: “We are pleased to announce our new partnership with MasterCard which will enable consumers to save even more when travelling on Ryanair’s unbeatable low fares.  MasterCard Prepaid Cards are widely available across Europe from financial institutions and online.
 
“Passengers can use their MasterCard Prepaid Cards to pay for Ryanair flights from 1st December, while our Visa Electron promotion comes to an end on 31st December.  Bookings made with Visa Electron from 1st January will be subject to a €5 administration charge.  Ryanair encourages all passengers to sign up to the widely available MasterCard Prepaid so that they can continue to snap up unbeatable fares such as the 250,000 €5 Christmas seats which are available on over 500 routes until Thursday.”
 
*Visa Electron was originally available through Irish financial institutions but was phased out, and was also available to all Irish residents through the internet