Those flying with Continental Airlines in coming weeks will be witness to a host of new changes impacting the legacy carrier. Continental announced today that it has converted fully to cashless flights, meaning that fliers have to swipe a credit or debit card for all in-board expenses. And, as of this summer, passengers will have more in-board services from which to choose than ever before. Coming soon, fliers will have the opportunity to purchase in-flight Internet service from Gogo Inflight for prices starting at around five bucks and depending on the length of the passage. Each of Continental’s twenty-one Boeing 757 aircrafts will be outfitted with the service powered by the Aircell mobile network, which will be available on deomestic flighst between the lower forty-eight U.S. states.
Continental is riding the trend of big carriers offering Wi-Fi on their trips. Air Canada, American Airlines, Delta, United, and Virgin America all offer some form of internet access on at least some of their domestic flights. Another major Continental competitor, US Airways, will be rolling out Gogo internet sometime early this year according to a press release.
For Continental, wireless internet access is the next step in a series of convenience services they have been rolling out for their passengers, including DirecTV viewing on fifty-three of their aircrafts. First class fliers get this privilege for free along with their complimentary glass of Champaign, but those in coach are obliged to pay a nominal fee for their TV-surfing while onboard. And in paying that fee, they have to use plastic instead of cash. Continental was the last major American airline to switch entirely away from cash, both for the convenience of passengers and the sanity of flight attendants. Passengers making duty-free purchases onboard are still welcome to use cash, in an interesting exception to the new rules.
As became effective in December, passengers on all Continental flights excepting those to China must use credit or debit to buy everything except duty-free items onboard. That includes cocktails, headset rentals, and internet access if you want it. Continental flight attendants will be armed with hand-held card readers which will efficiently read the passengers’ plastic, process the transaction, and aid the airline in controlling and ordering inventory to restock the planes as needed. The airline claims that its passenger base was vocal about preferring plastic, and that flight crews disliked “fumbling for money and making correct change.”
It’s tough luck for the estimated twenty-two percent of Americans who don’t carry plastic – no in-flight Bloody Marys or web surfing at thirty thousand feet for these Luddites. Regardless of the fact that credit card companies are jacking up fees and cutting credit access, these people will have to at least consider a credit card if they want to travel in comfort. Naturally, Continental offers a co-branded MasterCard for those consumers needing a logical place to start in applying. Many consumer groups have argued that the airline should have retained plastic as an option for its customers, but back-tracking seems highly unlikely at this point.
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