We are excited to announce that we’re the first online travel agency in the world to accept Bitcoin, an entirely digital currency, as a method of payment for flights on CheapAir.com!
If you have not been following the Bitcoin craze, rest assured—you can still purchase flights using credit card or Western Union—but if you have been following the Bitcoin trend, we hope you’re as intrigued as we are with this progressive form of digital payment.
The idea came to us a few months ago, and we’re proud to say it ignited directly from a customer inquiry to one of our Travel Advisors: Can I pay with Bitcoin for my flight? The question didn’t just stop there; it made its way to our development team and CEO, Jeff Klee. After some initial research and discussion, it then landed on our development release schedule.
We’re always interested in making booking flights as easy as possible for our customers, whether via our voice-activated iPhone app, our exclusive amenities guide or our Price Drop Payback™ program. Plus, we’re always thrilled to be the first to try something exciting and new—and Bitcoin felt like an instant fit.
Bitcoin launched in 2009—and if you aren’t familiar, it’s a payment that is processed through a network of private computers. It’s been increasingly adopted among brands like WordPress, Reddit, OkCupid and more. Currently, Bitcoins are being exchanged at roughly 1 Bitcoin to $700 USD.
For now, we’re only accepting Bitcoin for flight bookings made on CheapAir.com. We hope to extend this payment option in the near future to hotels and flights booked via our iOS app.
In the meantime, try it out and let us know what you think in the comments below or by email! Your feedback is invaluable. After all, it’s customers like you who inspire us to try new things every day.
Interested in learning more about Bitcoin? Check out bitcoin.org.
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Traveling the World With Bitcoin
Did you know there are quite a few options out there to pay for flights and travel accommodations with Bitcoin? In fact, everyone’s favorite cryptocurrency can pay for plane tickets, purchase a rental car, and book lodging in cities across the globe. Over the past few years, a good handful of travel companies have embraced Bitcoin, thus enabling people to visit worldwide destinations on the decentralized currency.
Cheapair
The Many Ways You Can Book Your Travels Using BitcoinCheapair.com is well-known in the cryptocurrency community for offering affordable flights for Bitcoin. The California-based company introduced Bitcoin support in 2013. Cheapair believes it was one of the first travel firms to accept the digital currency for payment processing.
“We will do whatever it takes to make travel buying easier and give Cheapair customers more options,” said Jeff Klee, CEO of Cheapair at the time. “We’re intrigued by the growing Bitcoin phenomenon, and we are happy to provide Bitcoin users an easy, secure way to book flights.”
The platform’s interface is pretty straightforward and operates like any other online travel service. Users can book flights to anywhere in the world from most airports and major airline services. Cheapair can also provide hotel accommodations and car rentals for trips as well. All of these services can be purchased with bitcoin immediately by using the company’s shopping cart portal.
BTCTrip
296972-cbd3603b1ff5fb60e80c763b70910abf-medium_jpgBTCTrip believes it is “the travel agency for the cryptocurrency community.” The New York-based company, founded in 2013 by Yamil Alis and Martin Fernandez, enables users to pay with bitcoin for travel needs. Currently, the service offers flight and hotel accommodations, covering many destinations worldwide. The user interface is fairly simple, allowing users to fill out where they would like to travel, followed by departure and return dates. The travel company also accepts Dogecoin and Litecoin payments.
Expedia
The Many Ways You Can Book Your Travels Using BitcoinExpedia is probably one of the most popular online travel agencies and has been around since 1996. The full-service travel giant announced it would accept bitcoin back in June 2014. The announcement pleased the cryptocurrency community, as it meant a degree of mainstream acceptance. The company partnered with Coinbase to facilitate bitcoin purchases for flight and travel accommodations.
Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase, explained that “By accepting bitcoin as a form of payment, Expedia is giving a wider community of users the opportunity to book hotels from their site’s inventory of properties all around the world quickly and easily.”
Expedia users simply choose a flight, hotel or car rental using the company’s online platform, and proceed to pay with bitcoin at checkout. Expedia does have a separate terms and conditions page specifically for bitcoin purchases. The site explains how Coinbase facilitates the payment, tells its customers about miner fees, and how bitcoin transactions are irreversible.
More Flights for Bitcoin
The Many Ways You Can Book Your Travels Using BitcoinThere are other companies that offer airline tickets for bitcoin payments. If you are planning to travel around the European mainland a company called Abitsky offers discounted flights and travel accommodations for travelers paying with bitcoin. Destinia is another company that offers trip amenities for destinations all around the world using cryptocurrency payments. Destinia recently said it would rather “build bridges than walls”, speaking out in opposition to Donald Trump’s immigration statements. The travel agency is offering a 5 percent discount for those traveling from Mexico to the U.S.
Another full-service travel agency that accepts bitcoin payments is Fluege.com, which offers flights, hotels, and car rentals worldwide. Furthermore, the well-known airline service Airbaltic has offered alternative payment choices, such as bitcoin for flights, since 2014. The well-known airline takes passengers to many Baltic state destinations, and the company can be found at many local airports worldwide.
While planning a trip can be frustrating, finding a travel agency that accepts Bitcoin is pretty easy.
