Cashless cabins expand further

(jocicalek)

American Airlines will no longer accept cash for on-board purchases from February 1, the company announced January 14.

Passengers wishing to buy duty free or other purchases on board will need to use a credit or debit card to do so, according to the airline. American first went cashless for internal US flights in June 2009 and will now roll the scheme out across all its global flights.

"The implementation of cashless cabins on select flights last summer has simplified the inflight transaction process for both customers and flight attendants," said Lauri Curtis, American's Vice President - Onboard Service. "For this reason, we look forward to going cashless onboard all American Airlines flights on Feb. 1."

Cashless cabins are now familiar to US-based customers but are not as commonplace outside the US. Southwest, the largest American carrier, stopped accepting cash on board in September; Continental followed suit in November.