YellowRoseOfTexas

Please help. Making airline purchase for travel in Spain via Website. I am using my US cc. I have been given to option for payment;
#1 - I choose to pay in my currency
#2 - I choose to pay in euros.
Change of currency: 1EUR = USD 1.309019
Does it matter which one I go with?

Christina

of course. First, no place in Spain can really charge you in USD as they are in Spain. So they want euro. So paying in USD means they are going to convert it to USD for you and charge you to do that, believe me, they would never do that unless they were making a profit on it (that is obvious, isn't it?). In fact, the USD is valued pretty good against the euro right now as the euro has fallen. So 1 euro only costs $1.25 right now, so they are taking a four percent profit on that conversion. Even if you have a credit card that charges you for conversion, I've never seen one charge more than 3 pct.

Christina

And BTW, some credit cards will still charge you a markup (say 3 pct) even if you have the charge come through in USD if it comes from a foreign country, a real lose-lose situation. Don't do this.

Dukey1

Actually they probably want Dollars so THEY can decide the conversion rate...ask them to charge you in Euros and that way the credit card issuer/bank will determine the conversion rate.

hkto

Based on a quoted rate looks like you are paying in Euros anyway and getting conversion rate that is inclusive of CC charges. Most CC (except Capital One) charge 2.5% on top of their F/X rate. I saw this option offered in duty free at Madrid airport.

alanRow

Sounds like Ryanair and their "guaranteed price"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010...ncy-conversion

DCC was invented in Ireland - though not by O'Leary (allegedly)