Visa Required By UK Fans For Olympic Tickets
Published: 24 June 2010 By MoneyHighStreet Staff 1 Comment
Visa has negotiated an exclusive deal with the London 2012 organisers making it the only card that will be accepted at the Games – excluding those with Mastercard or American Express cards.
Visa will be the only card accepted at the Games for UK cardholders – debit, credit and prepaid cards. Cash and cheques will also be accepted.
More than 4o million UK residents have a MasterCard, compared with 28 million Visa cardholders and approximately 4 million Amex customers.
Visa suggests that those spectators who have a MasterCard or Amex but who currently don’t have a Visa card will be have the option of getting a Visa prepaid card.
You might be wondering how to get tickets for the London 2012 Olympics – see our MoneyHighStreet article on Olympic tickets for more on this and how to register.
Meanwhile, commenting on the exclusive Visa deal, Pal Vicary-Smith, Chief Executive Which?, said “We think it’s outrageous that some UK sports fans should be discriminated against in this way. We want the London 2012 Committee to take steps to ensure there’s a level playing field and that UK customers have equal access to the Games, whether or not they are Visa cardholders.”
This is a really strange concept. I can just imagine in the negotiating room with Visa and the Olympic committee when this deal was struck how they all thought it was a good idea. We want the London Olympics to be completely sold out without rows of empty seats. I did read that they were looking at alternatives – which really is, accept MC and Amex as well
let’s hope they use some common sense with their approach.