Can an airlines refuse cash payment?
 

Reading another tread, I started to wonder if an airline in Europe can refuse cash payments. Indeed, many airlines only allow CC payments for overweight charges at checkin. I found this document and if I read correctly there is no reason to refuse cash payment. Can anyone comment on this?

http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/...s/elteg_en.pdf

I'm not a lawyer, so I cannot give you a legally founded answer, but to my knowledge cash payments cannot be refused, contrary to cc payments, but the airline might send you to a different counter or office far away from the check-in desk, if you want to pay for overweight. I don't think they are obliged to accept cash everywhere, that's like in supermarkets where you have some cash registers for cc only and others for cash.

That link is about practice in the Euro (currency) zone, I've not read the document yet, however from a UK background the key point is the following (and from a very fast skim read, it looks like other countries share this perspective):

Legal tender is something someone is obliged to accept to settle a debt. I.e. where a debt exists already, it can be settled.

It does NOT confer onto you the right to make a purchase using that method of payment. The person selling is free to refuse business unless their chosen payment method(s) are used - thereby preventing a debt situation from occuring.

Hence, an airline might have T&C which say they have not agreed to transport you, until you have paid. So no debt obligation will exist at the time.
Similarly, they have not agreed to transport your overweight luggage until you have paid, so no debt exists.

Probably not applicable to excess baggage, but Italy has enacted a law on cash transactions making it illegal to pay cash for anything over EUR1,000. Spain has a similar law with a EUR2.5k limit, and there are rumours that France is also considering similar legislation, so yes I believe that in some circumstances, airlines can not only refuse to accept cash, but are actually prohibited from accepting cash by law.

Yes, but in this case i am looking for things like excess baggage and other charges (for example printing out a boarding pass). It would be fun if you could stop Ryanair charging you.