September 6, 2007
American Airlines Forces You To Purchase Crappy Airline Food Via Credit Or Debit
American Airlines flights leaving the San Francisco area will soon be testing an in-flight program that eschews cash. From Sept. 10-Sept. 30, certain flights from the carrier will allow you to purchase cool stuff like $3 headphones and $[way too much] snacks using your major credit or debit card--and ONLY those cards. No legal tender allowed.
American Airlines actually has a position called "Vice President-Onboard Service." Lauri Curtis, who holds this lofty title, indicated that they chose San Francisco because "our departures from there cover an excellent cross-section of distances."
In other words, they want to see from which parts of the country people get more pissed when, from within the confinement of the tiny seat, they have to pull out a credit card, get it swiped, put it back, sign a name, etc. San Francisco is a good, central hub for making such determinations.
While it's nice that they already offer credit card service, taking away cash as a choice is a bad idea. Sometimes cash is a better option . . . And what about the children, man? How many kids, lonely little kids forced to fly alone from time to time, are gonna have a credit card? Plus think about the other passengers: it's very tempting to have one too many drinks if you have to pay on credit.
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what on earth are they thinking? have their union employees gotten so fed up that they are stealing more cash than the extra fees the airline will pay to process all those credit card transactions?
might want to try and address that upfront guys, instead of tossing it in our laps, so to speak.
fire them all!
What douchebags. I use my Mastercard debit for everything and fly American almost exclusively out of SFO. But no more of that. Consider me Pissed Off (Non-Returning) Customer #1.
Looks like this is legal:
http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.shtml
Oh, yeah -- totally legal, just a bad customer service call in my opinion.
To be fair, they are just testing it; I'm just pretty sure I know the answer . . .
Well I guess it solve the problem with them never having any change.
With Virgin America and JetBlue becoming more of a factor, this is a bad time for AA to piss off SF-based customers.
Maybe if more people buy drinks on credit, AA can launch their own version of that Southwest Airlines reality show on A&E, much of which focused on drunk passengers.
Virgin America actually already has a similar policy in place (for all flights). You use the credit card readers in the media center in front of you to order food/drink, and they don't accept cash. It actually worked out quite smoothly when I flew a few weeks back.
Yeah, and like most low cost point of sale transactions MC and Visa will probably NOT require use of a signature. The ATM companies may not require use of a PIN either. Hell, my money says that AA is also equipped to take advantage of the cards with RFID chips (so you don't even need to swipe, just waive your wallet at the card reader... like TransLink).
As for the fees, who here really thinks that AA didn't work out some sweetheart deal with the merchant banks?
Are you guys really seriously pissed off? I'm sensing sarcasm here...
Seriously, Jer, I'd rather just swipe my card than have to dig out cash, wait for a drink, wait for them to get me change...
You wouldn't have to sign, I never sign at Peet's for my coffee.
The service is a privilege, not a right. Just like reading this blog.
I dont get the anger. You have to dig into your wallet for cash or a credit card. This means that they swipe and return the card to you, no signature should be required (it's such a low amount of money). No handling of cash, no more "oh, we're out of ones, let me get back to you with your change," etc. If anything, it'll make the process easier.
I think you more or less nailed it, J.
It's nothing to get seriously pissed about, just an interesting customer service policy change. I'd say I'll be mildly annoyed if they determine it should be a permanent, full-time change (mostly because I'm more or less a credit-phobe). In my opinion, more choice is always better than less choice.
I do fly American fairly often.
I wouldn't worry about getting drunk. If you're flying coach coast-to-coast, you're lucky if you get the flight attendant to take a drink order from you twice, at most.
Spirit Airlines is already doing this -- at least on the flights we took this past weekend. While I do prefer using the credit card (ending the "Do you have cash?" "No. Do you?" rhetoric for good), as you mentioned... children are screwed by a credit card ONLY policy.
The kid behind us only had cash and could not buy any food on the plane. It was a cross-country flight, so a young person could get mighty hungry during that time. She was almost in tears. Fortunately, the guy next to her took her cash and put it on his card. Sweet of him, but crappy of airlines to force people to do this.
Yeah, it's ridiculous that anyone would even get mildly irritated about this. Apparently there is a bunch of Quakers on this page that don't drink on flights. I NEVER have cash on me, this is perfect. How many times have I been caught after connecting flights without cash because I didn't have time to stop at an ATM before getting on my second leg? This is a godsend. You have to get in your pockets to get out cash anyway, are you so lazy that you can't pull out your cards? Viva la booze!
I didn't realize that anyone still flew American. They absolutely suck beyond all that has previously sucked. I've been flying Jetblue since they started flying from Oakland to Boston. That's over 75 flights and never a lost bag, rude customer service rep or overall bad experience.
SFRob
For those people who don't want to use Credit or debit cards. You will be able to purchase a gift card that will work on the flight with cash or another payment method. This way kids and adults can use them.
I was stuck on American a month ago despite the fact every time I've used them I've vowed never to again.
I made the further mistake of eating airport food during a layover, woke up on the final leg of the late night flight feeling awful. Reached into the seatback for the puke bag and there was nothing there.
Hearing this news will make it so that I never feel bad about puking all over the last American flight I will ever have the misfortune of suffering through.
I wish the legacy carriers would just hurry up and finally go out of business.
Yes. Some people are truly pissed off. I’m sure other airlines will pay attention and soon all airlines will be doing this. As mentioned, Virgin and Spirit already do this.
Sorry, this is a bad idea. I’m one of those people who don’t use credit cards. Its just too complicated and complex. I thought about signing up for one but the forms are so confusing.
Cash is simple and straightforward. And don’t get me started on an airline food gift gard.
Am I the only person that packs his own sandwich, apple, and oreos to take on the plane?
If they do a prepaid card, they better have kiosks at the airport to get a card for free (example: Kinkos). Those visa/mastercard prepaid debit cards are costly with those nasty service fees.
Either that or every airport has a special vending machine that gives food and drink tickets that accept both cash and credit cards. Heck, do that and spare the hassle of buying those expensive cardswipe machines (example: 100 vending machines for all serviced airports), versus 500 card readers on planes).
Staggering display of myopism here. Let me spell it out: the purchase of goods on an airline is for my (the customer's) convenience, and not for the convenience of the airline in question.
It is neither a priviledge nor a right, but a service -- a service which now seeks to exclude those who, for whatever reason (and there are plenty) are credit-card averse. Should American Airlines, or any other carrier, decide to impliment policies which encourage the use of a credit card, that's all fine and dandy. But to issue a policy which forbids the use of legal tender smacks of classism. We all know how much you guys love, love, love your Cash Back and Rewards Points, but ours is not a Luddite objection. Not all of us are shopping from fucking SkyMall magazine, you dig?
Some of us are low-wage income earners.
Some of us are not as fully integrated into the system.
And we'd like to eat while we fly, too.
Thanks
-Signed,
The Help
There's got to be a way they can just have it added to your ticket... right? Should be like a hotel, with a room tab. They could make it a seat tab and you settle the bill on your way out. Not sure how this would work logistically... but for most people they already have your credit card...
On that note... can you even buy an airline ticket without a credit card any more? I don't mean to be obnoxious, it's just that I'm kind of young (26) and I've never bought a ticket without a card. Do they bill you and you send a check?
I didn't think there were so many luddites who're too confused(???) or paranoid to use credit cards. The sooner we transition to a cashless (and checkless) society the better.
My thoughts EXACTLY sangfroid826.
Frontier Airlines pulls this crap, too. After you've gone to all the trouble to make sure that you have a $5 bill for cocktails because exact change is much appreciated.
Meh. Credit cards are faster. Everyone has a credit card these days. I just don't see the problem. (Except for unaccompanied minors, who should probably get special treatment.)
Why don't the repukelicans pass "The Sanctity of Cash Transactions" amendment?
Of course you don't see the problem, aj, because you have a credit card. Selection bias, much? And now, at the risk of blowing your mind, I'm going to suggest to you that some people don't have a credit cards. They don't have credit cards because they don't have bank accounts. They don't have bank accounts because they don't have money.
Some of them, from time to time, may need to travel long distances. Shocking that the paupers budge at all from their gutters, I know. Of course, we don't want them eating next to us. We'd rather they shopped elsewhere. Let's just cut to the chase and confine the dirty steerage class to Greyhound and be done with it.
I remember what it was like to not have a credit card. I'm not naive enough to believe this policy is about customer convenience. It's about exclusion and greed. If that elicits an "oh-come-on," try cashing a check issued from a bank where you don't have an account.
Cash works. For everyone. Everywhere. That's why they call it "cash".
Some people have poor credit and can only get a card if they pay a deposit or a accept a horrible rate.
Some people choose not to use credit cards because they can really lead to overspending. If you use cash, you can only spend what you have in your pocket. Even debit cards can be problematic if you are spending next month's rent without keeping track.
I guess those who only use cash will have to hope they can get a neighbord to pay with their card and take the cash.
It's easy to say people should then bring their own food (no beverages, of course, but who needs to drink while flying), but I have had plenty of delays forcing me to run to catch the connecting flight. Poof, there goes the chance to buy food in lovely DFW or Chicago.
I fly AA regularly, do carry and use various cards, but do not really like this trend.
I eat every 2 hours. I weigh 500lbs. Little people are people too!..p12
I can stand the food and the other little pains that all of us go through. I will bring my own if necessary, but what get me is American can create a lot of pressure on TSA to be honest about their wait times at checkpoints.
What TSA puts on their websites is misleading. I know I worked as a Checkpoint Supervisor at three major airports--BWI, JFK and DFW. After five years I quit. American could force them to be at least accurate.
Check Out:www.rustyhinges.org
Texas Ron Linebarger
Click on issues after reading the main page. I think you will enjoy this if you fly.
Happy flying--I will see ya out there.
American Airlines has a policy in place for unaccompanied minors regarding snack purchases. They don't charge -- either cash or credit/debit -- so I doubt they will charge during this test.