PAL taps 7-Eleven for ticket payments

Paying for a plane ticket to go to any of Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) 29 domestic routes just got a lot more “convenient.”

The San Miguel Corp.-led flag carrier announced that its customers would now be able to pay for their domestic flight tickets at the 766 7-Eleven convenience stores nationwide.

The new service, the airline said in a statement, was a result of a partnership with Philippine Seven Corp. for the use of the latter’s ECPay’s Payment Center facility.

The airline said passengers who book online but do not have other ways to pay for their tickets electronically no longer need to go and line up at PAL offices to pay for their tickets. “Instead, they may simply go to the nearest 7-Eleven outlet in their neighborhood,” PAL said.

ECPay outlets will only accept payments for flight bookings done online and will not accept payments for bookings done through the PAL reservation hotline.

The new scheme is also designed for those with no credit cards but still wanted to do their bookings online, in the convenience of their homes, offices, Internet cafes or mobile phones. The service is also designed for passengers that need to book flights quickly.

The latest passenger service innovation involves a few steps. First, a passenger books a flight through the PAL website. The flight must be at least 48 hours from the time of booking. Once booking is confirmed, passenger will select the “Reserve and Hold” option on the summary page. To complete the process, the passenger details are inputted and the confirmation e-mail must be printed.

Within 24 hours, the passenger should go to the nearest 7-Eleven retail outlet, present the booking confirmation to the 7-Eleven cashier and pay the corresponding amount. The itinerary receipt (e-ticket) and official receipt will be sent to the passenger’s e-mail address.

On top of the new 7-Eleven service, PAL said it would also put up payment kiosks at Petron gas stations in Metro Manila, a result of synergies between PAL and other companies in the San Miguel group.

In the coming months, PAL said it would further expand its ticket sales and payment centers to more than 3,000 outlets nationwide in coordination with trade partners like ECPay.