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Debit cards are most definitely accepted on planes.

mrtksn 1y ago
Even without internet connection? Edit: OK maybe there's different level of trust and some take a leap of faith :) In my experience debit didn't work but it appears that its not the same everywhere.
- whatevaa 1y ago
  Yeah. They just accept some loss on bounced payments. Got a free meal (well it was a sandwich, nothing fancy) like that.
  - ruszki 1y ago
    Can’t debit account go negative where you live? It’s definitely possible. Even when you don’t have an account credit, or what it’s called. Of course, this is possible only in strange circumstances, but still, I had a debit account with negative statement once. If I remember well, it was because similarly delayed offline transactions. It probably depends on country and/or bank.
- kosinus 1y ago
  I have no idea how the terminals operate, but I was on a flight two days ago and paid with a debit card. The flight otherwise required devices to be in airplane mode. Though there are flights that offer wifi, so there's a good chance the terminal can communicate with the ground, but they just don't allow anything else.
- tecleandor 1y ago
  Yep, but IIRC only if they are credit, not debit. I guess they also have certain special conditions with the processor... Edit: I've also seen it when paying on the cafe car while on train trips in Spain. Even without any cellphone/internet coverage they'll let you pay, but only with credit.
  - ruszki 1y ago
    It’s definitely not that simple. It’s totally random. I have only European debit cards, and I can pay everywhere. The same was true with my cards from other countries. Sometimes only Apple Pay/other NFC based system worked for some reason, which is connected to the same cards, when on the same airline I could pay with my physical cards in any other instances. Sometimes I can pay only with my physical cards. Sometimes one of my card doesn’t work. However, I didn’t have problems with them in the US in the past few years. It was more complicated over there before COVID.
- al_borland 1y ago
  I don’t see why not, they can be run just like a credit card through the same network. When a debit card prompts for a PIN, don’t enter it, press submit, and it runs as credit instead of debit, but functionally works the same as far as the card-holder is concerned. It might take slightly longer to settle, and the merchant likely gets charged higher fees, but it works just fine. When I got my first debit card 20+ years ago my bank specifically told me to select credit and using it, instead of using it with the PIN as a debit card. These days I’ve noticed the systems tend to auto-prompt for the PIN instead of asking credit or debit. But skipping it functionally works the same as pressing credit used to.
  - mrtksn 1y ago
    Having a credit card requires some amount of trustworthiness. Anyone can get a debit card, they even sell it in supermarkets.
    - alexey-salmin 1y ago
      Normally in supermarkets they sell prepaid cards which are distinct from both credit and debit ones. Visa and Mastercard support all three types.
    - ThePowerOfFuet 1y ago
      You're confusing debit with prepaid; they are classified differently and merchants can determine one from the other.
    - al_borland 1y ago
      They’ll give a credit card to just about anyone. It will just have a low credit limit and extra high interest. Most people who have terrible credit have still have credit cards. Debit cards are from banks, not supermarkets. A debit card is backed by a checking account, typically.
    - Daniel_sk 1y ago
      This is not the case of debit cards in Europe. Debit cards are tied to bank accounts. Most people only have a debit card or don’t even know what a credit card is (or what the difference is). We just call them “cards”.
- immibis 1y ago
  Yes, and if your account goes negative, they just fine you and/or send the police to your house to arrest you.
parl_match 1y ago
complicated. star/plus/cirrus etc - pure debit-only networks - aren't accepted on a plane debit cards that are on one of the credit card rails (visa, mastercard, etc) are very common. those work because they're just a normal visa transaction
- mananaysiempre 1y ago
  > those work because they're just a normal visa transaction I wouldn’t be so sure about that. In some payment situations you’re asked whether you’d like to have the transaction go through as debit or as credit—so those two must be different somewhere. And probably in more than just a bit in a packet, as, for example, paying with debit Visas or MasterCards (normal ones, not Electron resp. Maestro) in the Netherlands (where locals almost universally have credit cards) is something of a crapshoot.
  - ErrantX 1y ago
    They use largely the same rails/network (for example Mastercard). The only meaningful difference is on how and when funds are reconciled. Some payment providers ask up front to simplify the flows as it's not totally trivial to determine what sort of card it is, and also because different fees apply - historically some merchants added specific fees to basket etc. (less so nowadays but the UI convention sticks)
    - cesarb 1y ago
      > Some payment providers ask up front to simplify the flows as it's not totally trivial to determine what sort of card it is And because the same card can be both. At least here in Brazil, most bank cards have multiple uses (credit, debit, ATM) in the same card. AFAIK, they're separate applications within the same chip, and the terminal has to select which one to use before starting.
      - ErrantX 1y ago
        Interesting! Did not know that offhand but just looked it up in the technical docs and this is part of the standard. Interesting to hear how other countries have adopted different approaches.

Even without internet connection? Edit: OK maybe there's different level of trust and some take a leap of faith :) In my experience debit didn't work but it appears that its not the same everywhere.

whatevaa 1y ago
Yeah. They just accept some loss on bounced payments. Got a free meal (well it was a sandwich, nothing fancy) like that.
- ruszki 1y ago
  Can’t debit account go negative where you live? It’s definitely possible. Even when you don’t have an account credit, or what it’s called. Of course, this is possible only in strange circumstances, but still, I had a debit account with negative statement once. If I remember well, it was because similarly delayed offline transactions. It probably depends on country and/or bank.
kosinus 1y ago
I have no idea how the terminals operate, but I was on a flight two days ago and paid with a debit card. The flight otherwise required devices to be in airplane mode. Though there are flights that offer wifi, so there's a good chance the terminal can communicate with the ground, but they just don't allow anything else.
tecleandor 1y ago
Yep, but IIRC only if they are credit, not debit. I guess they also have certain special conditions with the processor... Edit: I've also seen it when paying on the cafe car while on train trips in Spain. Even without any cellphone/internet coverage they'll let you pay, but only with credit.
- ruszki 1y ago
  It’s definitely not that simple. It’s totally random. I have only European debit cards, and I can pay everywhere. The same was true with my cards from other countries. Sometimes only Apple Pay/other NFC based system worked for some reason, which is connected to the same cards, when on the same airline I could pay with my physical cards in any other instances. Sometimes I can pay only with my physical cards. Sometimes one of my card doesn’t work. However, I didn’t have problems with them in the US in the past few years. It was more complicated over there before COVID.
al_borland 1y ago
I don’t see why not, they can be run just like a credit card through the same network. When a debit card prompts for a PIN, don’t enter it, press submit, and it runs as credit instead of debit, but functionally works the same as far as the card-holder is concerned. It might take slightly longer to settle, and the merchant likely gets charged higher fees, but it works just fine. When I got my first debit card 20+ years ago my bank specifically told me to select credit and using it, instead of using it with the PIN as a debit card. These days I’ve noticed the systems tend to auto-prompt for the PIN instead of asking credit or debit. But skipping it functionally works the same as pressing credit used to.
- mrtksn 1y ago
  Having a credit card requires some amount of trustworthiness. Anyone can get a debit card, they even sell it in supermarkets.
  - alexey-salmin 1y ago
    Normally in supermarkets they sell prepaid cards which are distinct from both credit and debit ones. Visa and Mastercard support all three types.
  - ThePowerOfFuet 1y ago
    You're confusing debit with prepaid; they are classified differently and merchants can determine one from the other.
  - al_borland 1y ago
    They’ll give a credit card to just about anyone. It will just have a low credit limit and extra high interest. Most people who have terrible credit have still have credit cards. Debit cards are from banks, not supermarkets. A debit card is backed by a checking account, typically.
  - Daniel_sk 1y ago
    This is not the case of debit cards in Europe. Debit cards are tied to bank accounts. Most people only have a debit card or don’t even know what a credit card is (or what the difference is). We just call them “cards”.
immibis 1y ago
Yes, and if your account goes negative, they just fine you and/or send the police to your house to arrest you.

parl_match 1y ago

complicated. star/plus/cirrus etc - pure debit-only networks - aren't accepted on a plane debit cards that are on one of the credit card rails (visa, mastercard, etc) are very common. those work because they're just a normal visa transaction

mananaysiempre 1y ago
> those work because they're just a normal visa transaction I wouldn’t be so sure about that. In some payment situations you’re asked whether you’d like to have the transaction go through as debit or as credit—so those two must be different somewhere. And probably in more than just a bit in a packet, as, for example, paying with debit Visas or MasterCards (normal ones, not Electron resp. Maestro) in the Netherlands (where locals almost universally have credit cards) is something of a crapshoot.
- ErrantX 1y ago
  They use largely the same rails/network (for example Mastercard). The only meaningful difference is on how and when funds are reconciled. Some payment providers ask up front to simplify the flows as it's not totally trivial to determine what sort of card it is, and also because different fees apply - historically some merchants added specific fees to basket etc. (less so nowadays but the UI convention sticks)
  - cesarb 1y ago
    > Some payment providers ask up front to simplify the flows as it's not totally trivial to determine what sort of card it is And because the same card can be both. At least here in Brazil, most bank cards have multiple uses (credit, debit, ATM) in the same card. AFAIK, they're separate applications within the same chip, and the terminal has to select which one to use before starting.
    - ErrantX 1y ago
      Interesting! Did not know that offhand but just looked it up in the technical docs and this is part of the standard. Interesting to hear how other countries have adopted different approaches.