Philippine Airlines Bitcoin? | Buying Flight Tickets With Cryptocurrency

In the past couple of weeks, we at BitPinas have been highlighting the many ways you can use your cryptocurrency as payments, whether for mobile load, government contributions, and travel.
- How to Buy Load Online using Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency
- How to Pay SSS Using Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrency
- How to Buy Garena Shells Online Using Bitcoin and Crypto
How about travel?
At the moment, we found a way to pay Traveloka using bitcoin.
All of these are made possible through Coins.ph, which acts as a payment gateway for your bitcoins to be converted into fiat that will be used to pay. Speaking of traveling, can we pay for airline tickets using bitcoin?
Philippine Airlines Bitcoin Accepted as Payment?
Hat tip to Mr. Emerson Fonseca of NEM Philippines for spotting this on Philippine Airlines’ page:

In the image above, we can see that Philippine Airlines accepts bookings using bitcoins through Coins.ph. How is this done?
How to Buy Philippine Airlines Tickets Using Bitcoin?
Normally, we reserve our flight tickets online and then pay those tickets online as well. However, if you want to use the Coins.ph option, you will have to book your tickets by calling the Philippine Airlines’ reservation hotlineย +632 855-8888. This must be initiated through a call.
Are there other options? There’s one that’s recently announced:
Cebu Pacific’s GetGo and LoyalCoin
Last May, blockchain-based rewards platform LoyalCoin announced it has partnered with Cebu Pacific’s GetGo to allow Loyalcoin holders to redeem GetGo points with LYL. While you are technically “redeeming” the loyalcoins you have, it is still a cryptocurrency, and therefore once it is live, it will be an alternative way to pay for flights in the Philippines.
LoyalCoin has also teased a partnership with another major airline company.
[blogcard url=”https://bitpinas.com/cryptocurrency/redeem-loyalcoin-cebu-pacifics-getgo-rewards/”]
Is Buying Airline Tickets Using Bitcoin Much Better?
It depends on how you look at the situation. If you have accumulated and profited enough from bitcoins, then you are technically paying “free money” to purchase your tickets and that’s a good thing.
The original vision for bitcoin is for it to be used for payments. (Read the original bitcoin whitepaper here.) However, keep in mind that many today accumulate bitcoins as a store of value.
Now, by reserving a ticket through the hotline, one can say that that is an additional inconvenience. Many households today don’t even have a landline number.
Therefore, if you use this option, then it boils down to speed. How fast do you want your tickets to be booked? If you want it faster (maybe there’s a ticket sale), then please use other forms of booking. But if you are okay with the regular transaction times when it comes to flight reservations via telephone, and you have enough bitcoins, then this will work for you.
What’s important is this: A major airline accepts bitcoin. That’s a step towards adoption.