Has anyone tried online transactions using visa electron from local banks?

I recently booked airline tickets for inter-euro travels and was charged very high 'admin' charges for using visa/mastercard credit cards.
eg:

flight ticket: £ 60

CC charge: £7
visa electron : free!

i was like wtf? i had no choice but to pay the charges.
Using visa electron seems like the logical choice. Is our local visa electron valid for overseas based transactions?

Have booked easyjet and bmibaby.... ryanair not yet.
The example above was for bmibaby, which has higher cc charges compared to easyjet.

thx for feedback
will find out more from pbb.