Southwest Airlines Mobile App Gains Apple Pay Support

[MacRumors]

Southwest Airlines has added Apple Pay support to its mobile app, enabling customers to pay for tickets, in-flight meals, baggage options, and other ancillary services using Apple's mobile wallet.

As an alternative payment method to debit and credit cards, Apple Pay offers more security by allowing customers to make transactions without storing their payment details in another commercial database.

In a press release announcing the support, Southwest said the airline's new Apple Pay integration would enable users to "purchase tickets from the carrier's app - with Apple Card if they so choose - and store it in the Wallet for redemption at the gate."

"Providing modern digital payment solutions to our Customers is critical," said Christopher Priebe, Director, Treasury, Payments and Risk at Southwest Airlines. "The launch of Apple Pay enhances our ability to sell flights, as well as ancillary products using one of the most widely-used digital wallets in North America."

The Apple Pay integration is the result of a partnership agreement with Southwest Airlines and digital commerce provider, CellPoint Digital, with help from airline-owned payment network UATP.

The partnership allows airlines to deploy new payment methods quickly using, including major global wallets like Apple Pay, Visa Checkout, WeChat Pay, Alipay, Google Pay or Pay Tm, along with bank transfer, installments and cash-based payment options.

Article Link: Southwest Airlines Mobile App Gains Apple Pay Support

 

[Caliber26]

As if I really needed another reason to love Southwest.

 

[Jbusick7944]

As if I really needed another reason to love Southwest.

The best.

 

[brianbobcat]

Now if only the Southwest Visa supported Apple Pay then I could actually buy my flights with Apple Pay and still keep all the Southwest card perks.

 

[uofawildcats96]

Now if only the Southwest Visa supported Apple Pay then I could actually buy my flights with Apple Pay and still keep all the Southwest card perks.

They do support Apple Pay, I use mine all of the time!

 

[MacUser09425]

Great news. Hopefully spreads to all airlines. And hotels. Booking overseas trips can be tedious- seem to frequently get flagged by card companies fraud software.

 

[MisterSavage]

Fantastic. It amazes me that in this day and age companies expect me to enter a credit card in their app when there's a built in payment system already in the operating system. Having the choice to use Apple Pay is so much better.

They do support Apple Pay, I use mine all of the time!

I was using Apple Pay with it all the time when I was trying to meet the minimum spend to get the companion pass.

 

[lederermc]

Now if only the Southwest Visa supported Apple Pay then I could actually buy my flights with Apple Pay and still keep all the Southwest card perks.

SouthWest Visa (Chase) does support Apple Pay. The problem you probably have is the SWA web site does not.

 

[scott523]

Fun fact: Southwest began accepting Apple Pay as a payment method on Safari for in-flight WiFi earlier this year.

 

[MisterSavage]

Fun fact: Southwest began accepting Apple Pay as a payment method on Safari for in-flight WiFi earlier this year.

Holy cow I didn't realize that. Thanks for the tip. That's much easier than the cut/paste method I was doing to buy it.

 

[Evan Davis]

Is this something new for the US?

Some (not all, of course) European airlines have been offering Apple Pay on their apps for a few years now.

British Airways also offers food purchases in the air using Apple Pay https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/food-and-drink/short-haul-economy-dining

Wait till you discover gambling apps here now offer Apple Pay!

 

[Pman17]

Good news for Apple Card users

 

[pizenson]

Has anybody used it? When I try it crashes the app...

 

[DMinTX]

I just tried to book a flight.

I tried to pay with Apple Pay using my Apple Card as the payment card. It failed with a generic “failed” message.

Tried to contact Apple support via text. They put me through to Goldman Sachs. I got an initial “what can I help you with message, but no response to my explanation of the issue for almost five minutes.

I gave up and purchased using my old debit card directly since I didn’t want to rick missing the booking.

Very disappointing experience.

 

[31 Flavas]

I just tried to book a flight.

I tried to pay with Apple Pay using my Apple Card as the payment card. It failed with a generic “failed” message.

I just tried to use Apple Pay with my Apple Card for a SW ticket. I too, was getting a “something went wrong” message.

However, I was able to get my ticket ordered after I changed the address. My Apple Card billing address has the zip code + the 4 extra digits. But I entered address manually with only the regular zip code and used that for the checkout. It worked then.

 

[MisterSavage]

I used this to pay for WiFi during a flight. SO much better than having to manually type in my credit card info like I used to have to.