There are many services now that use Tap to Pay via NFC (near-field communication), and Alaska Airlines has recently announced that it is adopting it to use on flights for an easier experience. One of the main featured experiences here is the Apple Wallet available on iPhones, with users linking their cards or accounts on the app allowed to pay via their smartphones.
It offers a way for users to go contactless and cashless for all purchases mid-flight, allowing for a more seamless experience that would be enough with their NFC-enabled items.
iPhone's Tap to Pay Arrives on Alaska Airlines Flights
Alaska Airlines announced via its latest release that contactless payments are now available on its flights, allowing customers to use their iPhones and other NFC-equipped devices to use tap-to-pay features for purchases. In the upcoming flights of the Alaska-based company, users with iPhones and Apple Watchs would be allowed to use their devices to complete transactions.
It may be used to purchase different in-flight offers from Alaska Airlines, from in-flight meals, beverages, alcoholic beverages, or souvenirs, this contactless payment is available.
This service will have Alaska Airlines sporting an iPhone that would read the customers' device for their transactions to push through, easier compared to paying in cash.
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Tap to Pay on iPhone via Stripe for Alaska Airlines
"We're proud to partner with Stripe to be the first airline to bring Apple's Tap to Pay on iPhone technology to flight," said Charu Jain, senior vice president of innovation and merchandising. Through Stripe, Apple Pay payments would arrive for travelers, with more flights soon supporting the feature to roll out in the next months.
Other services are also coming soon as detailed in its clip, with cards directly paying via Apple Pay and more in the future.
Tap to Pay and Contactless Experiences for All
Contactless, cashless, and other experiences were made available thanks to the improvements in the NFC technology, alongside the expansion of the UWB (ultra-wideband) feature on devices now. Apple Pay is among the most famous for these experiences as users may directly connect their cards or bank accounts here, also offers the Apple Card, using the smartphone to tap among terminals to complete a purchase.
This also sees the rally by the Mountain View giant that offers Google Pay, its take on the tap-to-pay service available on Android platforms to use via NFC-enabled devices for all purchases. Apart from this feature, Google, like Apple, has selected partner merchants where it offers cashback features, and it allows users to get further discounts on their purchases in both physical and digital stores that accept this method.
FinTech companies and banks have partnered with these services that helped expand more of the experience, stored via the Wallet apps found on these devices for contactless payments. Now, the adoption sees more expansion across various industries, with aviation featuring a massive leap towards tap-to-pay experiences, with Alaska Airlines offering its wide adoption of this feature.
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