Filip Novotny The United States has the first airline to accept payments with Apple Pay. JetBlue Airways customers will be able to use their iPhones to purchase food, beverages and other select items. After they go on sale, the service will also work with the Apple Watch.
Service Apple Pay to this day, we (or our American colleagues) have seen it used more in brick-and-mortar stores with fixed terminals. However, payments 10 kilometers above the ground understandably require a different solution, and JetBlue Airways has bet on special portable terminals.
Actually, it is not even a separate terminal, but a case for the iPad mini that will be available to the crew members. It will enable passengers to pay with a classic card, but also a faster transaction using Apple Pay, which also eliminates the need to print a receipt. This is automatically sent to the passenger's e-mail.
JetBlue Airways currently supports Apple Pay on transcontinental flights between New York and the West Coast. However, the airline is currently preparing to add more short-haul flights to them, and a total of 3500 flight attendants will receive tablets from Apple as a result.
The Apple Pay service is experiencing a relatively slow start in the United States, and despite the wide support of banks and card issuers, the service is still available in only a small number of stores. The problem remains precisely on the side of the merchants. iPhone owners can use the service to pay in chains such as McDonald's, Walgreens, Macy's, Radioshack, Nike or Texaco.
However, Apple remains optimistic and believes that the number of places supporting the new payment method will gradually expand. VP of Online Services Eddy Cue shared that once one merchant starts something new (read Apple Pay), the other suddenly feels pressured and soon joins.
Let's hope that Apple's management will also give Czech merchants a similar option in the coming months.
