Qatar Airways Ltd. and DataFlight Europe AS are collaborating to enable authorized bankcard acceptance onboard flights for duty-free purchases, the Doha-based airline announced last month.
The two companies have completed a successful test of in-flight immediate authorization of credit and debit card transactions to enable the airline to sell higher-end goods on its planes, Qatar Airways noted in a statement.
Passengers historically have been limited in how much they may spend on planes using their Visa, MasterCard or other branded cards because of the offline nature of the transactions. For example, JCB has set 750 euros (US$988) as the maximum limit for a card purchase, while the cap is 300 euros for Diner’s Club card transactions. The maximum for both Visa and MasterCard magnetic stripe and chip card purchases is 300 euros. Most airlines do not accept both PIN and magnetic stripe debit cards on planes.
Using Denmark-based DataFlight Europe’s “Onboard Trader,” the crew can make a direct link to the nearest network provider for the online authorization of any in-flight credit or debit card transaction, regardless of whether PIN or signature is used for authentication. As such, an airline does not have to limit the size of its in-flight transactions, Qatar Airways noted in a statement.
The Onboard Trader uses GPRS technology. The service will make Qatar Airways the world’s first airline to offer customers the chance to shop onboard without any bankcard restrictions, the statement says.
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