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The article linked is 7 months old and I still see a Barclay's atm in Heathrow terminal 5, 2 at Gatwick, despite the author's report to the contrary, also at Luton.  It may be that there are fewer options than previously, but it doesn't appear quite as dire as he suggests.

I believe the facts are somewhere in between, but the direction is not good. I can't, at the moment, find the piece I saw a few months ago about the transition, but my memory is that Travelex machines are to go in as lease/concession arrangements that exist expire. In some cases, the existing deals are quite long.

 

At the moment, I can confirm that there are still bank-based machines in place at Berlin Tegel, and I'll have the opportunity in the next couple of weeks to check Prague and Frankfurt.

 

But here's a worse thought...what's to prevent the banks from setting similarly bad rates in their machines at airports? Perhaps they'll be able to join the parade. Doing so would not harm their own customers or anyone whose accounts are in Euros, because there's no conversion...it would only affect visitors from outside the zone. Caveat emptor!

The best part of every trip is realizing that it has upset your expectations

"I believe the facts are somewhere in between..."    PHeymont

 

In between what?  I checked for locations on Barclay's website and reported what I found.   What am I missing?  I'm not surprised that airport ATM's are becoming a bad deal, expected it long ago, but the assertion by the article's author that there are no machines except Travelex's appears to be inaccurate, my only point.

Last edited by PortMoresby

My purpose in posting this was to pass along information that I felt was reasonable, although I could not check it myself. I am glad to hear that it moght not be correct, although, as I stated above, in Brazil (my last international trip) I encountered something similar. 

 

As someone who travels to Europe once every 2 years or so I felt that this was something I was needed to know, and that I could share for others like me, as a warning of changes that are happening.

 

Maybe I chose the wrong headline. Maybe I should have posted as a question, which i am doing next. My point is, that for less frequent traveler, knowing that we can no longer RELY on getting a good rate at airport ATM's is important, because it will certainly change my plans before I leave the U.S.  

Jonathan, I was in no way suggesting you shouldn't have posted it and was very interested in the information, in fact.  It effects us all who travel and as mentioned, I'm surprised it hasn't come to pass sooner.  I could have worded my post better.  Because the article wasn't fresh I wanted to check the facts as best I could from my computer, to see if the sky really is falling.  He mentioned looking for a Barclay's ATM so that's where I went.  I have no doubt there are fewer than before.  My only interest was accuracy of the information - I wanted to know.  I found the writer's information less than accurate but the trend to be true.  

 

None of us can verify the exact accuracy of the outside content we post but I think it's a good thing to use this site, among others, for a starting point and to dig deeper.  If I'm wrong about that then we, and the site, aren't doing our jobs.  Please don't take it personally as I valued the post.

Last edited by PortMoresby

In my original comment, what I meant by "in between" was that the actual current situation lay between "Nothing's happening" and "Travelex has taken over all."

 

Overall, I think the important message is "Hey, the advice printed almost everywhere in the past about using ATMs on arrival at the airport is now questionable...look for bank-owned machines as a preference, but be aware of rates, and if they are not good, take out only what you immediately need."

The best part of every trip is realizing that it has upset your expectations

Bank ATMs in the UK are all, I believe "no fee", meaning no use fee charged by the owner bank for using their machines. Other machines and other places, I believe, tell us what the fee will be, if any, before we complete the transaction and allow us to abort if it's too much.  And we know that the foreign transaction fee charged by our own cards' bank can vary, usually 1-3%, a given to convert currency using a card.  Then there's the exchange rate which has always been the best available using an ATM, as opposed to currency exchanges (Travelex & others) that charge a premium built into the exchange rate, despite offers of "No Fee".  While I have seen bank-owned machines labelled "No Fee", and presumably Travelex will take advantage of our ignorance and also say "No Fee", I've never seen an ATM labelled "Exorbitant exchange rate offered at this ATM".  My question is, obviously, how will a potential customer, about to use one of these machines, know what they're actually being charged?  If anyone knows, I'd love to hear how.  Guesses don't count.

I'm working on a series right now for TG about planning a trip outside the US.  One of the items I plan to discuss is arriving with no cash and using an airport ATM on arrival versus buying a starter amount of currency through an online dealer.  I haven't made up my mind but the online currency vendor I'm thinking of using just got points for non-usurious rates.

I just opened a Capital One checking account, chip & pin debit card, 1% foreign currency conversion fee, rather than the 3% my local bank charges.  The 1% is standard for MasterCard branded debit cards, seems no way to avoid it.  But Capital One charges no additional.  Will check out the AAA card.

 

The series, 'Anatomy of a Trip', will start September 9th, if all goes as planned (does it ever?)

 

Last edited by PortMoresby
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