United Air Lines announced yesterday that they will be moving to the new cashless cabin, the new method for purchasing items on-board, following several other prominent carriers who have already done so. They will begin to phase out cash completely and only allow debit and credit cards for making purchases. The new policy will take effect on March 23rd, however, cash will likely be accepted after the day for a short while during a transition period. Overseas flights will still accept both cash and the plastic option.
It’s much easier for airlines to keep track of their ancillary revenue by switching to a cashless cabin. Passengers who do not have credit cards tend to pay their cash to other passengers, who will make the transaction for the other passenger on their credit card account – if you don’t have credit / debit, it’s not entirely the end of the world if you want to make a transaction on-board.
