United Airlines and PayPal are partnering to offer a new way to make touch-free in-flight purchases using QR code technology.
United Airlines Will Partner With PayPal For In-Flight Purchases
During the pandemic, United was one of the first carriers to restore its buy-on-board offerings in economy class. First came alcohol, then packaged snacks, and now fresh meals have also returned. But unlike before the pandemic, United Airlines no longer accepts physical credit cards. Instead, all payment information must be stored within the reservation on the United app or united.com.
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This policy allows flight attendants to avoid touching physical credit cards.
Starting next month, United passengers can alternatively use a PayPal QR code in the PayPal app to pay for drinks, snacks, and even upgrades onboard, even if wi-fi internet is not available.
These PayPal QR codes can be used on “select” flights departing from Chicago O’Hare (ORD) starting in November and will expand across the entire network where contactless payment is offered by the end fo the year.
The process will work similar to Venmo’s QR code system:
- Download the PayPal app and set your QR code preference while online prior to take-off
- Click the ‘Pay with QR codes’ button
- Then click the ‘In-flight Purchase’ button
- Show the QR code to the flight attendant to scan
- Look for an emailed confirmation receipt upon landing
CONCLUSION
For passengers who prefer to use their PayPal balance to settle in-flight purchases, that option is rolling out on United Airlines starting next month.
As United shows no signs of ever accepting physical cards again, I hope that in the future flight attendants will also be able to accept Apple Pay and tap-to-pay cards, which seems an easier and more secure method of payment than storing credit card info on united com.
Sweet! 10X Bonvoy Points on United inflight purchases!
Accepting Apple Pay and other NFC tap-to-pay mechanisms, which have exploded around the world and an increasing portion of travelers are familiar with, would indeed make way more sense. Having to remember to configure your PayPal app on your phone ahead of time, since you probably won’t be able to get online during flight to make your purchase? Priceless.
It’s pretty peculiar that they expect people to have their app installed nand all their details stored therein. I could understand it for a low-cost carrier, particularly one with limited international flights, but UA must have serious numbers of pax flying on codeshares, tickets issued by other airlines and/or rather unfamiliar with their processes. Losing sales from those pax doesn’t seem very clever, particularly if they also manage to annoy them in the process.
CFO of PayPal was former CFO at United
The US needs to get with the program when it comes to tap to pay and chip and pin credit cards. I live in the UK at the moment and it is soooo much easier just to be able to go up to a machine and anything less than 45GBP usually, just tap your credit card and go. I don’t use my US bank card for anything anymore. Sure it’s got a pin on it. You don’t get that option when you use it overseas. It automatically runs as a credit and requires a signature. You’d be surprised at how many people don’t know what to do with a chip and signature card. I’m tired of my card getting “declined” because they don’t know what the extra step means to verify the signature.
I do feel bad sometimes though. We recently took my mom to dinner while she was here visiting her granddaughter. I went to pay the bill with my CSR card. Of course, you have to sign for it, so I did as normal. Didn’t think anything of it. Got a call from the restaurant as we were just reaching our vehicle in the car park. They said the girl didn’t know what to do with the signature card and canceled the transaction and if I’d come back to pay again. I said that’s not possible as my daughter was kicking off fussy around that time and we needed to get home. I’m not walking all the way back to the restaurant to pay again when it was their mistake. I said we’d be home in 10-15 min and if they wanted to call me back, I’d give them the card details over the phone and they could run it again. Never did hear back from them though.