Over the last years Paypal has firmly established itself as a mainstream online payment provider with millions of users worldwide. An increasing number of international airlines offer Paypal as a payment method for flight tickets.
Many people prefer paying by Paypal for convenience and security as they often do not have to fill any credit card details directly online during the transaction.
Here are a few things to bear in mind when using Paypal for flights:
*Before booking you should already have a Paypal account, which is relatively simple to set up.
*Be aware that some airlines can have various restrictions for making Paypal payments. Paypal may only be available for residents of certain countries or for payments in specific currencies.
*When considering using Paypal as a form of payment do check the fee the airline charges – and compare this to other forms of payment that may be available.
*When paying by Paypal it is possible to make the payment via a credit card, debit card, bank transfer or using any positive balance in your Paypal account.
*Do remember that paying directly by credit card in most countries offers a higher degree of consumer protection should the airline or travel company go bankrupt. For example, in the UK paying by credit card for goods priced £100 to £30,000 makes the retailer and card company jointly liable. And paying by credit card via Paypal does not offer the same protection as a direct credit card payment.
*For those who do not have, do not want or cannot get a credit card, then Paypal does offer an alternative payment method for flights worldwide.
*In the US, Paypal also offers Paypal Credit (formerly BillMeLater) which allows users to defer payment for 6 months. A limited amount of airlines let you pay with Paypal Credit.
Paypal Airlines List 2020
At AirTravelGenius.com we’ve published the Paypal airlines list annually since 2008 as well as updating the list accordingly whenever necessary.
This is the 13th year of our Paypal list and the 2020 version contains 78 airlines. The latest additions are Air Niugini, Luxair, Virgin Atlantic, Viva Air and Qantas. Here is the full list is in alphabetical order:
- Aegean Airlines (Greece)
- Aeromexico (Mexico)
- Air Asia (Malaysia)
- AirBaltic (Latvia)
- Air Caraibes (France)
- Air China (China)
- Air France (France)
- Air Niugini (Papua New Guinea)
- Alitalia (Italy)
- Amaszonas (Bolivia)
- American Airlines (USA)
- ANA (Japan)
- Aurigny (Guernsey)
- Austrian Airlines (Austria)
- Azores Airlines (Portugal)
- Binter Canarias (Spain)
- Blue Air (Romania)
- Blue Panorama Airlines (Italy)
- British Airways (UK)
- Brussels Airlines (Belgium)
- Caribbean Airlines (Trinidad & Tobago)
- Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong)
- Cebu Pacific Air (Philippines)
- China Airlines (Taiwan)
- China Eastern Airlines (China)
- China Southern Airlines (China)
- CSA Czech Airlines (Czech Republic)
- Delta Airlines (USA)
- El Al (Israel)
- Emirates (UAE)
- Ethiopian (Ethiopia)
- Etihad (UAE)
- Eurowings (Germanwings) (Germany)
- EVA Air (Taiwan)
- Flybe (UK)
- GOL Airlines (Brazil)
- Hainan Airlines (China)
- Iberia (Spain)
- Interjet (Mexico)
- Jet2 (UK)
- JetBlue (USA)
- Jetstar (Australia)
- Kenya Airways (Kenya)
- KLM (Netherlands)
- LATAM (Chile)
- LOT Polish Airlines (Poland)
- Lufthansa (Germany)
- Luxair (Luxembourg)
- Malaysia Airlines (Malaysia)
- Philippine Airlines (Philippines)
- Qantas (Australia)
- Qatar Airways (Qatar)
- Royal Air Maroc (Morocco)
- Royal Jordanian (Jordan)
- Ryanair (Ireland)
- SAS (Sweden)
- SATA (Portugal)
- Saudia (Saudi Arabia)
- Scoot (Singapore)
- South African Airways (South Africa)
- Singapore Airlines (Singapore)
- SmartWings (Czech Republic)
- Southwest Airlines (USA)
- StarPeru (Peru)
- T’Way Air (South Korea)
- TAAG (Angola)
- TAP Portugal (Portugal)
- Thai Airways (Thailand)
- Transavia (Netherlands)
- United Airlines (USA)
- Vietnam Airlines (Vietnam)
- Virgin Atlantic (UK)
- Virgin Australia (Australia)
- Viva Air (Colombia)
- Volaris (Mexico)
- Volotea (Spain)
- Vueling (Spain)
- Xiamen Airlines (China)
Restrictions: Air Asia - Australian dollar (AUD) only American Airlines - USA/Canada/UK only Cathay Pacific - only journeys commencing in 21 countries Delta Airlines - USA only; also accepts "Paypal Credit" Emirates - AUD/EUR/GBP/USD only EVA - Taiwan Paypal accounts suspended Jet 2 - GBP/EUR only Malaysia Airlines - only on MHmobile app SAS - Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, and UK only. South African Airways - travel from Australia/Brazil/Europe/NZ/UK/USA Viva Air - Except flights within 48 hours. Disclaimer: list is subject to change and cannot be guaranteed
To make the list easier to digest, let’s split the airlines that use Paypal by continental region:
Airlines that Accept Paypal (2020) by Region
Europe (30 airlines)
Aegean Airline
AirBaltic
Air France
Alitalia
Aurigny
Austrian Airlines
Azores Airlines
Binter Canarias
Blue Air
Blue Panorama Airlines
British Airways
Brussels Airlines
CSA Czech Airlines
Eurowings
Flybe
Iberia
Jet2
KLM
LOT Polish Airlines
Lufthansa
Luxair
Ryanair
SAS
SATA
SmartWings
TAP Portugal
Transavia
Virgin Atlantic
Volotea
Vueling
North America/Caribbean (7 airlines)
Air Caraibes
American Airlines
Caribbean Airlines
Delta Airlines
JetBlue
Southwest Airlines
United Airlines
Latin America (8 airlines)
Aeromexico
Amaszonas
GOL Airlines
Interjet
LATAM
StarPeru
Viva Air
Volaris
Asia (18 airlines)
Air Asia
Air China
ANA
Cathay Pacific
Cebu Pacific Air
China Airlines
China Eastern Airlines
China Southern Airlines
EVA Air
Hainan Airlines
Malaysia Airlines
Philippine Airlines
Scoot
Singapore Airlines
T’Way Air
Thai Airways
Vietnam Airlines
Xiamen Airlines
Africa (5 airlines)
Ethiopian
Kenya Airways
Royal Air Maroc
South African Airways
TAAG
Middle East (6 airlines)
El Al
Emirates
Etihad
Qatar Airways
Royal Jordanian
Saudia
Oceania (4 airlines)
Air Niugini
Jetstar
Qantas
Virgin Australia
Most of the major airlines in the US and Europe are now taking Paypal payments. Use of Paypal by Middle-Eastern and Asian airlines has been slowly growing. Major travel agents/flight websites such as Cheapoair and Hotwire can also accept Paypal for flight bookings.
In Oceania we note the recent additions of Air Niugini and Qantas but the continued absence of Air New Zealand. Note that Australian travel agents Webjet, Jetabroad and Flight Centre have long accepted Paypal for domestic and international flight bookings.
Paypal Airlines List Progression (2008-2020)
When we undertook the first survey in 2008 there were only 9 airlines that accepted Paypal!
For historical reference these were: Air Asia X, Air Tran, Delta Airlines, Jet Blue, Midwest, Monarch Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Southwest and US Airways.
Interestingly only 4 of the original 9 airlines remain operational, as a result of past bankruptcies and takeovers.
The Paypal airlines list has grown from 9 airlines (2008), 14 airlines (2009), 15 airlines (2010), 23 airlines (2011-2013), 34 airlines (2014), 42 airlines (2015), 45 airlines (2016), 54 airlines (2017), 59 airlines (2018), 73 airlines (2019) to 77 airlines (2020).
Paypal was actually first introduced as a payment format for airline flights back in 2007. The very first airline to accept Paypal was Northwest Airlines in June 2007 shortly followed by Southwest Airlines a few days later. Monarch Airlines became the first airline in Europe to accept Paypal in October 2007.
Here are the dates of the 12 airlines which first started accepting Paypal in 2007 and 2008:
1. Northwest Airlines – 28 June 2007
2. Southwest Airlines – 9 July 2007
3. Midwest Airlines – 2 September 2007
4. US Airways – 16 October 2007
5. Monarch Airlines – 23 October 2007
6. Air Tran – 5 November 2007
7. JetBlue – 4 April 2008
8. Delta Airlines – 28 May 2008
9. Air Asia X – 10 June 2008
10. Continental Airlines – 1 September 2008
11. American Airlines – 13 November 2008
12. Jet2 – 15 December 2008
To this day Paypal remains an important payment processor and the current list should slowly expand further. We are also seeing new forms of payment such as Bitcoin (and other crypto-currencies) hitting the mainstream. In July 2014 AirBaltic became the first airline to announce it would accept Bitcoin on its website.
The main Paypal Airlines List is always a fluid work in progress, so if you know of any other airline that we may have missed out please drop us a line!
Many thanks to readers Joachim (March 2017 and April 2018), Filippo (June 2017), Rakesh (July 2017), Sinisa (February 2018), Michael (April 2019) and Robert (February 2020) for contributing to past updates.
