Continental goes cashless

Continental Airlines Inc. said its flight crews will begin accepting only credit and debit cards for on-board purchases starting Tuesday.

Cash can be used for duty-free purchases.

Continental Airlines Inc. said its flight crews will begin accepting only credit and debit cards for on-board purchases starting Tuesday.

Cash can be used for duty-free purchases.

“American Airlines, owned by AMR Corp. (AMR), went cashless onboard flights in the U.S. and Canada starting in June. And all Southwest Airlines Co. flights stopped accepting cash in flight, starting in September. Other airlines that only accept plastic in the air are AirTran Holdings Inc., Alaska Air Group Inc., Midwest Air Group Inc., JetBlue Airways Corp., UAL Corp.’s United and Virgin Group’s Virgin America, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Crews on Continental, the world’s fifth-largest airline, will use new hand-held devices that read cards for purchases of alcoholic beverages and headsets during flight. Testing of the devices, which allow the airline to track which items are most popular, began this summer.

The new cashless system will be available on all Continental Airlines mainline flights, except for service to and from China. Cash also will be accepted on Continental Express, Continental Connection and Continental Micronesia flights. Continental plans to switch to a cashless cabin on those flights in the first quarter.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...