BoeingBoy

You're correct. They've been using the "hand held devices" for a while now to work the kinks out. According to the employee announcement, US has "partnered" with some outfit to track and maintain the HHD's.

Jim

flight62

You are correct.

tommyleo

Wow. Just wow. That mean's that this statement from US (as you posted) -- "On the contrary, customers who use credit cards have a higher revenue per transaction than those who use cash because they aren’t limited to what’s in their wallet. We expect that increase in spending to more than offset those customers who don’t make purchases or only carry cash." -- is the dumbest rationale I've ever heard from US, or perhaps from any company.

How on earth does US figure that it will make more money by giving customers only one payment choice? Plus, every CC transactions costs US money. Cash transactions don't.

CMK10

Any idea if people with US CCs or Debit Cards will get bonus miles? UA offers 10 miles per dollar for purchases with their Visa.

aptboeses

Just about every airline that has gone cashless has seen sales jump anywhere from 40% to 120%. It has been proven that people spend more when they use a credit or debit card.

tommyleo

Can you link me to a source? Do you work for MC/Visa?

I'm not denying that people who use credit cards (vs. those who don't have CC's) spend more money. But why would an airline deny the chance to get paid for something just because someone doesn't have a credit card, or because someone decided to spend cash rather than use his CC in that moment? In other words, why not allow both options?

MrMan

This is an easy one:
*Passengers that don't have cash on them don't buy (I rarely carry cash). In todays world people don't carry cash, they debit. Maybe a generational thing.
*Cash has the tendancy to dissappear on the way to the till. Less theft.
*WN and AA have been cashless for quite a while with little drama.

MrMan

delete

flight62

While I am only a f/a and not a bean counter, I do know two sure things:
1. Theft...there is much more than you can imagine.
2. Brinks..It cost to gather that money.

Eliminate the two and I can imagine there is a big savings.

US Airways fired a f/a that had been keeping the money from London flights for years. He didn't even turn anything in. Per trip, London brings in upwards to $1000.00 peak season. That time 5 trips a month is $5000 times 12 months is $60,000 for one person. If only 10 f/a's out of 7000 are stealing, the company has bitten $600,000. There's your main reason right there.

tommyleo

Thanks, flight62. I actually wholly assumed that theft was the real reason for this change, but I didn't want to say so because I didn't want to put any FA's on the defensive. But I always figured that theft was too easy because I know that sometimes FA's comp passengers on certain things -- as a favor to an elite, for example. So it seemed very likely that a FA could just pocket some of the cash collected as well.

flight62

While I would like to think that the over 200,000 f/a's in this country were all honest and moral, that would be silly. With the cutbacks the last few years, stealing HAS become an unfortunate and desperate alternative for a few. Don't worry, however, about courtesy cocktails for elites by some. The same ones will take care of you.

This change will make my life so much easier. I for one am happy to see it coming.

aptboeses

http://www.philly.com/philly/jobs/in...purchases.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...trpucci20.html

Here are two links that I found with a very quick google search. Feel free to search some more as there is a ton of info out there.

I don't work for a CC company but I did work for an airline that went cashless a few years ago and saw their sales increase by 140%. No written proof but was told by the COO during a quarterly meeting.

tommyleo

I read those two links. Thanks. Neither one is clear about whether the airlines in question went from cash-only to CC-only, or -- as US just did -- from cash-and-CC to CC-only. Also, many airlines used to serve free food on board, and then began charging for meals. Perhaps charging for meals was the main reason for the increase in revs?

OK, let's suppose the only reason why revenues increased was because of the CC-only policy. Why would that be? Is there something psychological about pax not seeing money exchanged in the cabin that makes them spend way more money on their credit cards? It's an interesting theory.

vincentvan

I think that is the case. I think about when I go out to eat. I'm much more likel to "go overboard" with my order when using a CC. I am always more careful when spending cash so as not to get caught short.

aptboeses

If you are looking for specific info from specific airlines you might want to ask each individual airline for that as most of them don't release itemized onboard ancillary revenue data to the public.

"Other companies have noticed similar increases. "When plastic is available, the propensity to spend goes up as does the amount they spend," said Scott Easterling, the director of sales and marketing at LiveTV, a provider of in-flight products and services. LiveTV supplies its Cashless Cabin card-accepting technology to Frontier, which introduced its cashless program in April 2007."

"Compared to when we were taking cash, we've seen 100 percent increase in revenue," says Sam Kline of JetBlue which so far sells only alcoholic drinks and headsets. Using a hand-held device, flight attendants swipe a card through in a few seconds with no signature required.

Here is a great quote from an article that explains why people tend to spend more when using plastic.

Using credit cards make it easy to lose track of spending, whether on a plane or in a mall — in some ways even easier, said Martin Lindstrom, author of “BUYOLOGY: The Truth and Lies About Why We Buy.” “Most of the money spent on planes is in the form of micro-payments,” he said. “A blanket, a movie, a sandwich. It all adds up on the credit-card bill but not in our brains. We can quickly forget the money we spent on this-and-that, yet realize the full consequences only when the bill arrives.”

If that doesn't quite quench your thirst for info try using google. There is a TON of info out there!