Credit cards, no cash, on United flights to/from New York

I’m sitting here at San Francisco International, getting ready to catch this morning’s United Airline non-stop to New York’s John F. Kennedy airport.

There was just an announcement:

From May 15 to June 15, on flights between San Francisco and the New York area, United is running a test. You can only use credit cards to buy things inflight. That includes the $5 snack boxes, alcoholic drinks, and so-on. No cash will be accepted inflight, just credit cards.

What lame-brained idiot thought of that? I’m sure that when United rolls this stupidity out nationwide, the airline will claim it’s “for the convenience of our customers” or “to improve the quality of our service.”

Z Trek Copyright (c) Alan Zeichick
2 replies
  1. David Dossot
    David Dossot says:

    Funny. I am just back from a trip during which I made myself a reflection about how credit card processing was slowing down the progression of the cart.

    If you are in the last row in coach, you will end up in NYC starving and still waiting for the cart 😉

  2. Andrew Binstock
    Andrew Binstock says:

    American Airlines did the credit-card only thing last month, as a trial. This month, I noticed, they took cash and credit cards. So, it’s not a United-only thing.

    I suspect it has to do with the expense and hassle of dealing with cash.

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