By Clif Cooke.  

Cited in Jax-Fax Magazine. A professional travel publication distributed exclusively among Travel Agencies & Tour Operators in North America.

U.S. travel agents who want to endear themselves to their clients traveling to BAA Airports in the U.K. should advise them not to change their U.S. dollars into U.K. pounds at the currency exchange booths upon arrival, if they can avoid doing so

En route to ASTA-Glasgow, I flew via Manchester on a most enjoyable British Airways flight. End of good news!

Upon arrival . I stepped up to one of the several "Currency Exchange" booths outside the Customs hall and asked to exchange $40 (U.S.) for The English Pounds. The sleepy-eyed clerk ran my $40 (through his computer and gave me exactly 20 Pounds and 91 Pences.

Later, on my pocket calculator, I ran the numbers again and found that 1 had been paid exactly $7.03 U.S. for the convenience of changing $40?  A whopping 15 percent loss on an inflated exchange rate and commission. That day, the Official Rate of Exchange was 1.57 US$ to the UK£, not 1.70 as charged?

Advise your clients to prepare themselves to get their foreign money prior to traveling or use their hometown bank's ATM card and draw the funds from their checking or savings accounts. Do not take a cash advance against your VISA, AMEX or Mastercard, since the charges will equal or exceed the 15 percent paid to currency exchange bandits.

With an ATM card you are charged about a 3 percent fee plus you pay a nominal fee per transaction for using your ATM card away from your home bank, depending on the Bank behind the ATM machine at your destination.

Cash advances against credit cards must be paid in full within 30 days or you will pay the 19.9 percent credit card interest rate every month on the cash advance until the monthly credit card statement is paid in full!

ATM machines are now plentiful in Europe, but be sure your clients’ card has a Cirrus. NYCE or Plus logo printed on the card. 

Caveat emptor! Let the tourist (or business traveler) beware!