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Customer reaction to Southwest Airlines' decision to accept only credit and debit cards for in-flight purchases such as cocktails has been positive, a company spokesperson tells CardLine. Southwest switched to a cashless system Sept. 9, mostly for customer convenience, the spokesperson says. "We think with so many more customers using credit and debit cards, going cashless will give us more opportunities to sell more drinks on flights," the spokesperson says. The company believes more opportunities to sell drinks and food in-flight outweighs the card-processing fees and other costs related to a cashless cabin. "We considered the positives and the negatives and felt there are a lot of positives with this option," the spokesperson says. Southwest is the fourth airline to eliminate cash purchases on all its flights. Alaska Airlines, JetBlue Airways Corp., and Virgin America are the other three. United Airlines and U.S. Airways are testing cashless flights (CardLine 7/2). A spokesperson for Toronto-based GuestLogix Inc., which supplies wireless, handheld point-of-sale devices for airlines, says cashless cabins help airlines keep better track of sales and reduce operating costs because employees handle less cash.
