Latvian Carrier Extended its Cryptocurrency Payment Options

Airlines all over the world are willing to expand their service to meet the demand. Interestingly, passengers flying with Latvian airline airBaltic now have more cryptocurrency payment options. Based on the information taken from the airline’s website, passengers can now pay for tickets using Ether as well as Dogecoin.

As a reminder, the airline accepts other virtual currencies such as Bitcoin Cash as well as four U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins. Let’s have a look at the stablecoins accepted by airBaltic. The list includes USD Coin, Binance Dollar, Gemini Dollar, and Paxos.

It is worth noting that, Latvian national carrier began accepting Bitcoin payments back in July 2014. The Latvian national carrier airBaltic understands the importance of virtual currencies.

Importantly, despite accepting cryptocurrency payments, ticket prices are not denominated in the supported cryptocurrencies. Interestingly, cryptocurrency payment gateway service BitPay handles the conversion of virtual currency payments into fiat. This process takes place after a person buys the ticket and people should be aware of this fact.

Cryptocurrency payment options and aviation

The country’s national carrier always strives to search for ways to improve the customer experience starting from the booking process. As a reminder, over the years around 1,000 clients used the payment option. Despite modest results, this option offers passengers a unique payment option hard to find elsewhere.

It is no secret that crypto adoption is gaining momentum in the travel and hospitality industry. Customers of travel agencies, airlines as well as hotels have the opportunity to make bookings using cryptocurrencies.

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Hopefully, crypto-friendly travel agencies like Travala boast an extensive network of supported airlines and hotels that accept cryptocurrency payments.

Moreover, the aviation industry is also deploying blockchain technology for various purposes. Interestingly, the need for digitization amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic seems to have also encouraged a greater focus on utilizing the emerging technology.

For instance, a world-famous airline announced a pilot scheme in February. Air France started to use the ICC AOK pass system developed by MedAire and Internation SOS on March 11. As a reminder, the ICC AOK pass is an app that travelers can install on their smartphones.

This app contains a secure record of their COVID-19 test results from approved labs. Thanks to this app, there is no need to present a paper test result. It serves as a secure form of verification of the user’s COVID-19 negative status. Last but not least, the test will run for four weeks.