By
Svetlana Soroka
March 25th, 2024
LOT Polish Airlines announces a new payment method – Bitcoins.
LOT, the Polish airlines, has recently announced introducing payments with Bitcoins. Now the customers have more flexibility – both in terms of the selection of products they need when for their journey, and payment methods they want to use when buying tickets.
“We are open for every need of every single client. We go for innovations thanks to which their journey is even more comfortable and pleasant not only on board, but also much earlier – at the stage of buying the ticket,” said Jiri Marek, LOT Sales and Distribution Executive Director.
“Many of them do the shopping online, including plane tickets. It‘s just the matter of time when payments with the online currency will become as popular as using credit cards today. We notice this potential, which is why we are one of the first airlines in the world to give its passengers the possibility of paying with Bitcoins as early as today,” he added.
The new payment method is addressed to everybody who has a Bitcoin wallet, and is an active user of the digital currency when doing the shopping online. Bitcoins can be used to pay for any LOT flight on the majority of the markets where the airline sells tickets.
Payments with Bitcoins are easy to execute, besides they are equally secure as other payment methods. All transactions are handled by PSP – one of the most reputable and popular platforms handling payments with the online currency. LOT does not conduct transactions in Bitcoins, but in the currency used on the market of purchase.
The ticket price will be calculated in the standard currency selected by the passenger. At the payment stage the PSP platform will convert the purchase price into Bitcoins. After approval of the amount and clicking the ‘purchase’ button, the customer will be redirected to the Bitcoin wallet, and the transaction will be finalised.
With introduction of new payment method, LOT is aimed at developing its sales channels even further since Bitcoins are getting more and more popular, and the number of places where they can be used for payment in is constantly on the rise. As early as today, the airline sells every third ticket via the website, also in the mobile version and via the application. Apart from Bitcoins, clients can pay on lot.com with a credit card, debit card and bank transfer.
However, LOT is not the only company to let travellers pay for the services via Bitcoins. For instance, in June last year Latvia-based airline airBaltic became the first airline company in the world to accept digital currencies.
At the same time last year the largest online travel company in the world, Expedia, began accepting Bitcoins for hotel bookings and became the first major travel organization to have payments in digital currency.
Moreover, in February this year, UATP (Universal Air Travel Plan), a payment processor owned by different airlines, partnered with Bitnet so that 260 airlines would accept Bitcoins. The travellers who use the UATP services, can pay for their tickets with the digital currency along with hotels, car rentals and Amtrak.
