Continental Shifts to Cashless Cabin Purchases
By wchung | 23 Apr, 2026

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)