When low-cost airlines dismantled the all-inclusive ticket and began charging for each service separately, they not only changed the fare model but also redefined the commercial relationship between airline and passenger. This à la carte model, in which travelers decide to pay for their baggage, seat, and meals, turned each service into an independent purchase decision. These are the ancillary services, and today they represent a significant fraction of total airline revenue globally, especially for low-cost carriers.
However, for a long time, this transformation occurred almost entirely outside the cabin: on the website at the time of the booking purchase, when managing the booking days before the flight, or during check-in. On board the aircraft, primarily due to high transaction costs, most low-cost carriers stuck with the same model: a shopping cart, a printed catalog, and a cash transaction. Today, in this article, we’ll discuss the new possibilities that technology offers for activating the most direct sales channel in the airline business: onboard sales.
A channel without commissions or intermediaries
In-flight sales have a unique characteristic that no other airline sales channel can offer: the airline makes the sale with complete autonomy. There are no travel agencies, metasearch engines, or distribution platforms that can charge commissions. The passenger sits there, with all the time in the world, and the airline is the only one with a commercial presence. This condition, which has existed since the first commercial flights with service carts, was never fully exploited to reach its true potential, mainly because the available technological tools didn’t allow it.
Low-cost airlines were the first to understand that onboard sales could become a strategic sales channel rather than just an add-on service. The à la carte model changed the rules of the industry, and now airlines have digital platforms that allow them to update prices, personalize catalogs, and record transactions, turning that data into valuable information for informed decision-making. However, this model can still be improved, as it should be able to offer a dynamic product selection tailored to each passenger’s profile and destination, determining the optimal moment during the flight to present the offer.
Selling offline makes in-flight commerce possible
The main historical argument against digitizing the in-flight entertainment channel was technical: in-flight connectivity is unreliable, expensive, and sometimes simply nonexistent. In that sense, if the platform required a constant connection to display the catalog, process payments, and register sales, the proposal just wasn’t viable. Now, what changed the equation wasn’t satellite connectivity, which improved the situation but didn’t solve the problem for low-cost routes, but rather the architecture of the solutions: content is loaded before takeoff, and the internet connection is only needed again at the time of payment.
This distinction is key to making the model viable for low-cost airlines operating routes where investment in continuous connectivity isn’t justified. In this way, the catalog, prices, inventory, and passenger profiles are available and updated before each flight. Then, when a purchase is made, the transaction is processed in compliance with required security standards, such as the PCI-DSS, which guarantees the same level of protection as any online payment. Thus, the passenger buys with the same confidence they would have on the ground.
Empowering the crew as a commercial sales driver
The cabin crew shares the same space with passengers throughout the entire operation. No other airline team has the opportunity or the means to influence a passenger’s purchase decision in real time to such an extent. However, historically, the crew has been the team with the fewest tools to do so: without visibility of up-to-date inventory, without access to relevant passenger information, and with payment processes that, in many low-cost operations, still rely on cash or terminals that are not integrated with the rest of the system or belong to third parties that keeps the information on their side and deliver to the airline only the information they think is needed.
A point-of-sale system designed specifically for the cabin environment solves the problem. It allows crew members to check available inventory in real time, access passenger profiles, learn their preferences, and ultimately process payments seamlessly, even without cash. The interface must be as agile as the pace of service: crew members work on the move, with constant interruptions, leaving no room to grapple with a complex system. For low-cost airlines, where revenue per passenger depends directly on onboard sales, every lost transaction due to a lack of tools represents a real cost.
Pre-sale, customization, and dynamic pricing
The most advanced digital in-flight sales platforms don’t wait until the plane is airborne. The sales cycle begins before takeoff, either through the airline’s website or mobile app. This allows travelers to select and reserve the products they want days before their flight so that, when they board, their choices are already confirmed. This advance purchase has an added benefit: passengers who have pre-ordered have their orders guaranteed, and those who haven’t arrive in the cabin with a personalized selection they can choose from at the start of the flight.
Artificial intelligence enhances this strategy by considering variables that a static catalog could never account for: the passenger’s purchase history, flight duration, time of day, route, and actual inventory availability at that specific moment. With this technological solution, the airline can dynamically and transparently adjust prices before and during the flight, based on projected demand and available inventory. This will provide an exceptional passenger experience while increasing onboard sales.
Routines and preferences as a starting point
The analog in-flight sales channel has a significant limitation: it doesn’t generate data. The service cart generates one-off revenue, but it leaves no trace of what the passenger inquired about, what caught their eye but wasn’t purchased, or the product combination that worked best for that specific route. A digital platform transforms each interaction into structured information: what this passenger bought, when during the flight, which other products accompanied the purchase, and at what price. The value of this record is not only relevant to the current flight but also becomes a commercial asset that accumulates and improves with each flight.
When this information is integrated with the airline’s loyalty program, the flight ceases to be an isolated event and becomes a node within an ongoing commercial relationship. Onboard purchases are added to the passenger’s profile, processed, and offered on the next booking or flight. Low-cost airlines that implement this type of strategy, which allows them to understand their passengers’ historical behavior, gain a previously unattainable competitive advantage: knowing their passengers not by what they say, but by what they buy.
Are you ready to take off with your onboard sales?
We understand that each airline’s business model has its own unique logic, and that this logic must be at the heart of any technology implemented in the cabin. That’s why we don’t build generic onboard sales platforms; at be bolder, we develop customized solutions that adapt to the commercial structure, fleet, and passengers of each operation.
If your airline is evaluating how to activate or transform its onboard sales channel, that’s the starting point for a worthwhile conversation with us.
Commercial Team
[email protected]
* Image by Inti Tupac Liberman on pexels.com
