Getting foreign exchange at short notice before a flight

A trip gets confirmed on Thursday for a Saturday flight. The question is not what the cheapest option would have been with a fortnight's notice — it is what is actually achievable now, and how to avoid paying airport prices for the privilege of being late.

• Three or more working days — a normal online order with delivery. Best rate, nothing special required.
• One to two working days — an online order for branch collection, or a same-day city delivery where offered. Slightly less choice of currency, rate broadly unchanged.
• Same day — a branch counter. Rates are a little worse than online but nowhere near airport level.
• At the airport — the last resort, and worth using only for the first day's spending.

Order online for branch collection. You get the online rate and the online paper trail, and you collect in person on the day. It is the option most people do not know exists, and it solves the majority of short-notice cases.

1. 1PAN and passport, photographed clearly, front and back where relevant.
2. 2The visa page, or evidence of visa-on-arrival eligibility.
3. 3The ticket or itinerary showing the travel date.
4. 4A card or account ready to pay from immediately — a slow payment is the most common cause of a missed same-day cut-off.

Counters have cut-off times for same-day release. Arriving at 5pm with complete documents is usually worse than arriving at 2pm with one missing, so start the call early even if the file is incomplete.

• Buy only enough for the first 24 hours. Do not fund the trip at that rate.
• A forex card loaded online can often be activated faster than notes can be delivered — worth asking.
• Decline dynamic currency conversion on every card terminal abroad. It is the one markup entirely within your control.