Continental Shifts to Cashless Cabin Purchases

Continental Airlines Inc. said Monday that credit and debit cards will be accepted for purchases onboard most of its aircraft starting Tuesday.

Flight attendants will use new hand-held devices to process the card payments for purchases of alcoholic beverages and headsets. Houston-based Continental said in a statement that the new cashless system will be available on all Continental Airlines mainline flights, except for service to and from China.

Cash is still being accepted for duty-free purchases, which are available on international flights.

Cash also is still being accepted on Continental Express, Continental Connection and Continental Micronesia flights. Continental is on track to switch to a cashless cabin on those flights in the first quarter of 2010.

11/30/2009 4:25 PM HOUSTON (AP)