Thanks for the response, both of you, Hye and Gen-X. Very interesting topic indeed. I agree that most people, including myself, thought that the surcharge is common, that is why I am surprise to know it is against the rules. Merchants selling fixed price items will probably don't dare to impose surcharge as it is detectable through the receipts/statements, so it is the non-fixed items that are 'vulnerable' to exploitations. Personally, I think it is good to negotiate for the best possible discount first before revealing that we are paying using AMEX. Shock and awe tactic

While you are not wrong per se in your stand, the surcharge is a business cost and like any other cost, customers will always be the one paying for it in the end. Our rights as customers is as simple as buying elsewhere who does not change up front if one is so unhappy about it.

u think because of u complain then the MC/Visa will take action against AA ?

stop dreaming.

MC/Visa earn $$ from AA.

The problem is there isn't enough people complaining and this "convenience fee" is pioneered by European carriers. We don't see American carriers imposing such "convenience fee" because they are very well aware that if someone sues them, they are going to lose and it simply is not worth the risk. Suing people after all, is something super common in the United Stated of America

No. As it is commonly known that additional surcharges were not allowed under MC/VISA rules, They wrote it into their rules and they are American based companies who can get sued by the billions if there's a case against them. I made that attempt, why not?
From that attempt, I knew that AA took advantage of a loophole. It is also widely spoken in many other forums and not only AA is a culprit. As bro Miles said, many other budget airlines also do this.

It is because not enough people complain then AA gets away with it. Often many will sit and do nothing and just ask other people not to do anything as well.
If there's enough awareness then there's something to fight for. I may be alone but at least I try to create awareness through my own means. It better than asking people not to do anything.

AA is just being sneaky by imposing those fees under the guise of "Convenience fee". What's the percentage of people using cash to pay an airline ticket online?

This post has been edited by hye: Nov 19 2011, 10:54 PM

And if you buy your ticket with cash over the ticket counter at their office or at the airport, they will charge you a fee too because according to Air Asia, running a ticket counter is expensive and people wishing to buy air ticket over the counter have to "sponsor" their ticket counter This was the excuse given many years ago when they were trying to push people to use their online ticketing system. Then, the big brother of all no-frills airlines in the world, Ryanair came up with this convenience fee idea to get away from paying too much commission to VISA International/MasterCard Worldwide and a few years later, Air Asia follow suits too

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Nov 20 2011, 01:22 AM

Can always pay direct from savings account no convenience fee

Yes. That is exactly what i do every time i buy a ticket from them because i am not willing to pay the stupid convenience fee at all

But if the amount of cash rebate by using MBB2Amex (esp. on weekend) is more than the fee it is still worth your while and it includes travel insurance and other benefits.

On the subject of travel insurance from cc, I did my research and found the coverage to be rather basic. (My personal opinion)
Those who are looking to seek cover from travel insurance, I'll advise to make comparison with travel insurance offered by insurance companies. There are short term and annual plans to consider.

Recently I just bought few AirAsia tickets and got charged for RM 8 per way & per person for convenience fee. I wanted to enjoy the MBB VI insurance coverage but in the end was charged way higher than the regular 2-3% cc surcharge (since my tickets only worth RM 500+). This is absolutely absurd & Airasia is actually making money from this, for example my case.

And by the way, I am in KLIA PPL & the food really degraded a lot these days. Also I saw a few travellers just sneaked into PPL (there is a long queue due to the holidays) without even going through the counter.

AA is making money from us paying for the tickets, taxes and whatever charges months in advance. Imagine how much they earn from interest itself. Not only that, they also make money by delaying like forever refunds for airport tax when we do fly on the day we book the tickets. It has been a year since I requested for my airport tax to be refunded, but up to date, still have yet to receive it. After credit card, I think AA model of collecting money upfront is the best way to make money out of nothing.

To all: RHB is now offering 0% 6 months Balance Transfer Plan until 31 January 2012. This is great, at least I may actually benefit from my RHB Plat in January 2012 when CIMB and MBB 0% BT expire. Was wondering how to maximize returns from my children's school fees in January with credit cards and now I got my answer

Click here to read my short article on RHB 0% 6 months balance transfer plan and 0% installment for iPad2.^

For those who missed my article on Education Bills with credit card, click here to read it.

This post has been edited by Gen-X: Nov 20 2011, 10:09 PM

Hi all, besides maybank n cimb, any others bank got 0% balance transfer promotion?

Balance Transfer

if put fd pledge for cc still need show them income statement?

This is really bad...

depends on which bank u want to apply. OCBC no longer accept FD pledge, for PBB, no need. Other bank, not sure

Talking about credit card surcharge, here's what some merchants are advertising at garage sale

> [WTS]Google Android Phone in Malaysia (ORI) 17/11, Moto,LG,Samsung,HTC,SE,Huawei,Acer,ZTE (Samsung)
Note: Maybank 0% interest for installment. For RHB 9%



Same guy > [WTS]【IMCC ORIGINAL HANDPHONE SPECIALST SHOP】, FULL RANGE PRODUCT !!! C.CARD (17/11) (LG)
Note: Here +5% for Maybank Installment



Make more sense to use a card without surcharge and if want installment convert to 0% Balance Transfer

This post has been edited by Gen-X: Nov 21 2011, 02:54 PM

Please post your question HERE. And before you do that, kindly read the first post of the attached thread first.

Gf just got her first principal credit card approved. Maybankard 2 Platinum. She earns RM 10k gross monthly nett about 7k+. Maybank gave her CL 20k.

Is that considered ok or low?