I’m going to be headed down to San Francisco for BlogHer08 later this week and I decided to check the Alaska Airlines website to make sure there weren’t any service changes or issues I needed to be aware of. Nothing I like less than arriving for a flight and finding out some policy has changed and I’ll only be granted a boarding pass if I’m wearing green or some other such nonsense.
Anyway, this little piece of information about a new cashless cabin policy caught my eye.
Effective August 5, 2008, Alaska Airlines will offer the convenience of a cashless cabin. Passengers will no longer need to hunt for cash to pay for on board purchases — including Northern Bites® meals, Picnic Paks, cocktails, wine, beer, Red Bull® and digEplayers. Onboard purchases can be made with any major credit or debit card. Cash will no longer be accepted onboard.
Now, it could just be me, but if they’re doing this for my convenience, they should let me pay with cash. Admittedly, having the choice of cash or charge is nice, and I can imagine it would be quite helpful for business travelers, but not everyone who travels has access to a credit card.
The notice goes on to say that everyone who uses their special Alaskan Airlines credit card will actually be earning miles with every dollar.
How interesting.
‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software
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That is so sad. I returned from a long stint in Asia about a month ago, and airlines like Jet Airways and Thai still gave you food and wine for *free.* It was like being back in the 1990s.
“Convenience of a cashless cabin.” Meh. How about convenience of a free glass of wine to smooth out the inconvenience of being crammed into an economy-class seat that feels like it’s padded with cardboard?
Drea,
I do find the trend towards having to pay for every little thing a bit annoying. I think I have more issue with how they’re handling it. I’ve seen several alternative suggestions around the blogsphere that seem a lot more sane than what the airlines are doing.
It just seems like they’re shooting themselves in the foot, customer service wise.
Crazy.
Hey, thanks for stopping by!
‘Chelle
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