According to this article inCoinDesk the 260 airlines that work with Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP) nowhave Bitcoin acceptance available to them through a partnership with Bitnet,should they be interested in doing so:
“UniversalAir Travel Plan (UATP), a payment network owned by major international airlinessuch as American Airways, British Airways and Lufthansa, has partnered withbitcoin payment processor Bitnet.
Theintegration allows over 260 of UATP’s airlines to accept bitcoin throughBitnet, starting today. Introduced in 1936, UATP is credited with issuingthefirst-ever charge card. As of 2014, the company processes around $14bn inpayments from corporate customers, travel agents and retail consumers.
AdditionalUATP merchants include JetBlue, Qantas, US Airways and United Airlines.
AkifKhan, vice president of solutions strategy at Bitnet, said he expects theairline’s clients to enable the payment method given the high cost of creditcard processing, challenges with fraud mitigation and the need for improvedcross-border payment tools.”
The concept of bitcoin reducing fraud is specific to the non-repudiationof a bitcoin transaction according to Khan:
“It’svery much in the airlines’ interest for the consumer to pay with bitcoin giventhat the airline will have cheaper fees and they know that money can’t be takenaway in a fraudulent transaction.”
UATPvice president of marketing and communication Wendy Ward said her company’sdecision reflects the “interest shown by many carriers” in bitcoin.Notably, UATP has long been an advocate for emerging payment methods, addingPayPal integration in 2009 and partnering with Alipay in 2013.
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation, Mercator Advisory Group
Read full story at Coin Desk
