Ryanair is swapping the only type of card that can be used to avoid a charge when booking a flight with the airline.

Users of the Mastercard Prepaid card will not be charged the £5 per person administration charge from December 1.

However people paying with a Visa Electron card will face a charge for the first time from January 1 when booking a Ryanair flight.

The move was prompted by the fact that both Santander and Travelex are phasing out the Visa Electron payment service.

“Mastercard Prepaid cards are widely available across Europe from financial institutions and online,” said Stephen McNamara from Ryanair.

Passengers paying with Visa Electron are not charged transaction fees by airlines including Aer Lingus, BMIbaby, Easyjet and Flybe.

Several airlines charge a flat fee transaction charge per person, per flight, when customers pay by other debit or credit cards.

Consumer groups have been lobbying airlines to increase their advertised headline prices to include the charge for making the payment if their is not a free option available.

Advertising Standards Authority rules state where an advertisement shows a price it should include all non-optional charges.

About 1.7 million people in the UK have a Mastercard or Visa prepaid card, according to figures from the UK Cards Association.