Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT, better known as LOT Polish Airlines has now started accepting bitcoins. By introducing bitcoin payments for airline reservations, LOT Polish has joined a handful of airline carriers who accept bitcoin reservation.
LOT Polish is a Poland based international carrier that connects to over 60 global destinations. The company has recently started accepting bitcoin as an additional mode of payment. However, unlike ecommerce sites which directly accept bitcoin like few ecommerce sites. The bitcoin payments are first converted into fiat currency using a third party payment processor.
Travelers can purchase LOT Polish’s tickets on the airline’s desktop or mobile websites. In addition to bitcoin option, the airline also accepts MasterCard. Visa, PayPal and American Express. According to the airline’s executive director, Jiri Marek responsible for sales and distribution LOT Polish has taken this decision to include bitcoin payments to send a message that the airline caters to every client need. By integrating bitcoin payments, LOT Polish also wants to demonstrate that embraces new innovations in the travel industry.
Jiri Marek said that the decision was taken after due consideration. They have noticed that many of their customers these days are comfortable shopping online for most of the things, including airline tickets. With the bitcoin payments catching up, it is only a matter of time for digital currencies to pick up and become as popular as credit cards. So, LOT Polish saw the potential and decided to introduce the option.
Some of the other European airlines accepting bitcoin payments includes airBaltic and Air Lituanica. Even the Mexican airline, TAR has recently started accepting bitcoin.