One of the ways budget airlines are able to keep themselves budget is by not offering customers any frills, such as food and drink which are usually sold separately at a premium price. Let’s say that you decide that you want a drink but you don’t have any cash on you, what can you do? The good news is that if you fly JetBlue, you will soon be able to pay for your food and drinks using Apple Pay.
According to a report from USA Today, starting next week passengers on JetBlue’s flights will be able to use Apple Pay to pay for their food and drink. Passengers will also be able to upgrade themselves to a premium seat once the flight has taken off, assuming there are any premium seats available, and will also be able to pay for that upgrade using Apple’s mobile payment service.
The payments will be handled via iPad minis with NFC-equipped cases, 3,500 of which have since been issued to JetBlue staff. Alternatively customers can still choose to pay using credit cards as the cases will also be able to accept credit card payment and will be replacing existing in-flight payment terminals.
Apple’s Eddy Cue told USA Today that he believes that JetBlue’s decision to use Apple Pay will pave the way to other airlines adopting the service as well. “Somebody else doing it always puts pressure on the other guy.” So far Apple Pay, despite the fact that it is barely half a year old, appears to be a success as has since been adopted by all sorts of companies in a variety of different industries.