Airlines Encourage Travelers to Use Credit Cards

If you are a regular airplane traveler, you are supposed to know how necessary a credit card is during a trip. Today, many air carriers started to take credit cards for purchases during the flight. It is not only a matter of convenience, but also security. Pick pocketing is not a rare thing in airports, this change in airline payment policy is going to save the passengers' money. Many people also underline the fact that paying with plastics is a good way to track the expenses and plan the budget.

It happens so that you want to pay for a cup of coffee and have to wait for the flight attendant running around and searching for the change. Now you can buy food and drinks and pay for services during the flight with your credit card, thanks to portable wireless card readers which process the plastics requiring no signature.

The most popular and authoritative airlines as JetBlue, Frontier, Virgin America, Spirit, AirTran and Midwest have already put the new payment policy into practice. Delta and American airline companies accept both cash and plastics, while Continental airlines still take cash only. Some carriers offer payment coupons (for example, Continental Currency coupons) which can be used for onboard purchases.

In order to promote the new onboard payment order, some carriers introduced special offers. For example, Alaska Airlines will provide 10 miles per each dollar spent for people using Alaska Airline Visa during the flights.

What are other reasons for the change in payment policy? As a matter of fact, this will help airlines cope with the economic problems. Since fuel prices skyrocketed, they had to increase airfares. As a result, travelers had to turn to cheaper carriers, thus making the situation more complicated for airlines. Companies started to find new ways of getting revenues: selling food and drinks, life insurances, car rentals and even scratch cards. Prices in many duty-free shops have also become higher since then. Companies are trying to survive on the market, using ancillary profits.

In addition to that, airline carriers decided to make use of the great popularity of credit cards. The latter now preserve the purchasing power and all the advantages even on board the plane. People feel freer to spend with their point rewards credit cards, which is going to help companies earn more on onboard sales. Besides, credit card payments will make purchases quick and easy and exclude the problem of change.

In connection with this, banks are anticipating the growth in popularity of frequent flyer credit cards. Credit card issuers issue co-branded plastics to be used on one or several airlines. For example, Gold Delta SkyMiles or the well-known JetBlue card by AmEx enable the customers receive special benefits from their favorite carriers.

As for the travelers, they are going to see more alluring offers in this segment of the market, as many airline companies present special rewards programs for those who use the credit card during the flights.

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