Introduction of Payment fee

From 01 March 2011, British Airways is introducing a payment fee structure in the UK for BA tickets, purchased with credit card or charge card through a travel agent. This will offer customers in the UK a consistent policy when purchasing tickets.

As part of this change, a £4.50 payment fee will be charged for non-premium British Airways tickets purchased. This charge is currently in place for tickets purchased on ba.com, so this will bring the payment fee charges into line across both booking formats.

The payment fee is applicable to any ticket issued on a BA 125 ticket validation where the form of payment is a credit or charge card and where the fare for the segment is an economy cabin fare; Debit Cards issued by Mastercard or Visa badged as “Visa Debit”, including Electron, or “Mastercard Debit” will be free of charge. The payment fee only applies to transactions made using British Airways’ card acceptance agreements (Merchant Agreements). The payment fee is applied by fare code.


Notes on application

1. The payment fee applies to transactions made using British Airways’ card acceptance agreements (Merchant Agreements).
2. The payment fee does not apply to sectors with a premium fare designation. This means that travel wholly in premium cabins is exempt (First, Club World, Club Europe and World Traveller Plus).
3. Flights which combine premium designated fares and economy designated fares on the same ticket will incur the charge.
4. Certain domestic services on British Airways are sold using fare codes which start with J and C and where these codes are used the payment fee will not apply.
5. Flights which involve travel on an interline or codeshare journey with an eligible economy designated fare will incur the payment fee.
6. The charge applies to prime ticket issue only and not to any subsequent reissue or revalidation.
7. The payment fee is non-refundable.


Payment Fee ratesGB £4.50 per ticket

GDS Automation

British Airways will file the Payment Fee with ATPCo. The GDS will pick up the filed feed and will show this optional charge in the GDS’ merchandising functionality. When an eligible itinerary with a chargeable card is ticketed, the GDS will automatically apply the Payment Fee to the transaction. For further details of your specific GDS functionality please contact your GDS Helpdesk.