After slogging through security, waiting to board the plane, finding a spot for your slightly oversized carry-on and squeezing into your seat, the last thing you want to do is dig out your credit card before watching the latest blockbusters on your cross-country flight. Now, if you’ve got an Amazon account, you may not have to.
Southwest Airlines announced today that passengers are now able to make in-flight entertainment purchases through Pay with Amazon. That means they are able to log into their Amazon account to pay for movies and WiFi with the same payment details they use to order diapers and USB cables.
Southwest Airlines allows customers to use their own devices to access in-flight entertainment options, so users who have complex Amazon passwords saved to their computers won’t have to hunt and peck on a slow seat-back screen to log in.
This isn’t the first time Pay with Amazon has taken to the skies; in 2013, in-flight WiFi provider Gogo added Amazon payments to its purchasing options.
Southwest could have picked a handful of payment providers—like PayPal or Square—to enable quick purchases, but Amazon’s huge customer base and preference for having customers keep cards on file is what likely won the airline’s business. And this will likely continue Pay with Amazon’s recent growth; in 2015, payment processing through the program grew 150 percent year-over-year.
