Some lack of knowledge going on with some travel or aeroplane companies going on still…
Hey Kyle,
I still had my Monzo card declined by Wizz Air on a flight to Italy on the 4th of October 2023. Had to resort going through Apple Pay (lucky I had set it up, I tend to test our software on my personal device and reset it often, so most times I do not bother setting up Apple Pay).
I contacted support and they do not seem to care much about this and said it’s normal for merchants to deny certain banks, here’s an extract of our conversation:
Support : I had a look on my end and cant see any declined for that amount the only transaction I do see on my end is the apple pay transaction that has been made that was successful .
The payment was supposed to go through as Monzo is considered a Mastercard ,so it could be that there was issues with the terminal ,if it was a Monzo issue or they didn’t support Monzo then the apple pay transaction was also going to decline on your end .
Me : That makes sense, I think the issue with the terminal might be intentional since she clearly stated that Monzo is not accepted, so I’m wondering why? Is it normal for merchants to choose which banks to allow or deny within the Mastercard system?
Support : It normal ,we as Monzo also at times choose which merchants is allowed to take payments from the account or who we deal with .
So my question is whether this issue is being given enough attention, as the right alternative for me at the moment is to get a another card with another bank as a backup, which I’d rather not have to go through the hassle.
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Monzo support don’t know what they’re talking about half the time. It’s wrong. But that’s par for the course with Monzo.
A merchant can choose to accept all Mastercards or none. They can’t pick and choose based on issuing bank.
Email acceptance@monzo but don’t expect much, it’s been long ongoing.
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We were refused to use Monzo onboard a Whizz Air flight yesterday. The attendant was full of herself and quite rude, “we dont accept prepay cards” because “they are used by criminals”.
Have emailed Monzo.
Will be submitting a formal complaint to Whizz Fail.
Moreso they refused to try contactless because the €30 payment was “too high” for contactless… Like wtf?
Someone needs some retraining.
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Did you tell her Monzo haven’t been a pre-paid card since 2017?
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Did you try to use Apple Pay or just tap the card?
We did. She was full of herself though. She didn’t want to be wrong.
TBH I think its the people who train them who tell them don’t accept XYZ
We weren’t allowed to try to use the Monzo cards at all. As if it would risk the attendant being proved wrong.
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Look listen I’m a flight attendant and I know whats best, Monzo is a prepaid card and is used by drug dealers. Here at WizzAir we don’t accept shit.
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When I say contactless I actually mean Google/Apple Pay, which we use for everything. We tried to pay with a phone but were refused because the amount was “too high”. €30. Absolute joke.
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Next time put your Monzo card in an Oyster card holder and tap face–down, and when it goes through show her the card and 
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The machine can’t block a Monzo card. It can either take or not take Mastercard.
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I’m fairly sure they can’t do this. It might just be random chances that both showed errors. Machines aren’t that smart.
They could potentially put the Monzo etc. BINs on the block list on their card terminals. Bit OTT though.
They can block BINs on their terminals. Wont be bank level block, so the sunshine cards could still potentially work.
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Be useful to try!
I’ve never flown WhizzAir though and don’t intend to!
I’ve had the misfortune of flying them a few times. I don’t really intend to do so again though.
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I’d honestly never heard of them until this thread resurfaced.
Swizzair