JNelson113

My husband and I were talking tonight about the percentage of people who buy airline tickets with cash or checks at satellite airline offices rather than with credit cards.

I think it's got to be extraordinarily small. He thinks it's 10-15%. Anybody have a sense?

Thanks all.

Tango

I pay for most of my travel with a check written to my travel agent. If I had charged all of my travel I would have had a free business class ticket last year but I have gotten off the credit card crack pipe and will never go back. Part of the reason is due to the problems I have had with Diners Card. I had to have a prepaid ticket issued on Air Aruba several years ago and before the ticket was issued, the airline went out of business. Diners refused to refund my money since they could not find a ticket number(I told them there was no ticket number since it was a prepay). I went back and forth with them for over 6 months and no dice. I have spent over $80k on air travel since then and Diners has lost that business.

Steve Fenton

KLM dont like you to pay any other way than by credit card. I got them to agree to accept cash upon ticket collection for a flight next week but they really did not want to do this.

Skip Middleton

I think your husband is way off and the city ticket offices are going the way of free meals in coach.... My guess is in the 2-4% range, and even that's being generours. Maybe in South America where you might be less likely to find cc's, but US if you have a bank account, you have ATM, which nowadays means you have cc.

B747-437B

I guess you have never dealt with the KLM ticket office in BOM then. I tried to pay for a ticket with credit card but they flat out refused to accept it. I had to go downstairs to an ATM and withdraw the amount in cash.

yevlesh2

Depends on the country. In US, I would guess very few pay with cash.
In other countries, such as Russia, credit cards are not yet as wide spread and most people pay with cash.

jonu

After 9/11, it would only raise red flags to pay cash (especially one way!)

aqueouschief

All good points, but also, think how those statistics (US Numbers, specifically) have been affected by online travel. When I pay orbitz I don't send them a check, I use my credit card. I feel safe using them and have always had good luck, but it can be a bit unsettling. In fact I encouraged my parents to buy online and they refused to enter their credit card #. So, I digress, but I'm sure the percentages of Americans using anything by CC are VERY low. Certainly less than 10%.

CountinPlaces

Cash..... What is that??? Oh, I remember seeing some of that some time ago......

korea71

If there was a cash discount (2-3%), I would pay cash in a heartbeat. Being a business owner, those merchant fees can add up.

Boraxo

Three good reasons not to pay cash in US for airline tix:

(1) No recourse if airline goes bankrupt

(2) No recourse if airline loses reservation

(3) Heightened security screening at TSA checkpoints.

ORD Finn

Fees that Visa and MC charge are quite high (maybe not at a competitive level). But on the other hand, handling of cash isn't costless either and it involves more security concerns (=more costs).

But from a consumers point of view... don't we all have ATM/check cards these days? Using them is pretty close to cash, right?

This wide usage of checks in the US is something I never understand. I just hate writing and mailing them (and I am ready to explode waiting behind someone paying groceries by a check). But I grew up in Finland, where I haven't seen checks used since the early 80s or so. Now the banks and bigger retailers there are campaigning for less cash usage -- and actually the introduction of euro has reduced the amount of cash in circulation quite a bit. All the cards nowadays have a smart chip, which you can download electronic "cash" on and use it for fast small purchases.

Tango

1)Charging a prepaid ticket to Diners did nothing to "protect" me---I never got my money back when Air Aruba went under.
2)If you pay be check, you have plenty of recourse.
3)If enough people paid by cash/check, it would not be seen as a security red flag.

korea71

As a merchant, I think Visa charges me about the same rate for ATM purchases as it does for CC purchases. Maybe a little bit less but very negligible. My thinking was to reserve a ticket with a CC than pay in cash at the ticket counter. I am more of a cash person myself.

R&R

CASH! CHANGE! What are those?

I charge everying possible, since I do NOT any coins back in change. It wears out the pockets, gets lost, falls on the floor, and is just a pain to carry around! As soon as I get some, I leave it with a tip.