Delta Launches Buy-Now, Pay-Later Option to Capture Gen Z Flyers
Photo Caption: Delta and American Express have launched a new buy-now, pay-later option aimed at wooing more younger travelers. Delta Air Lines
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Delta is the latest to jump on the buy-now, pay-later train with American Express' "Plan It" offering. The airline hopes the functionality will help it attract — and keep — more cost-conscious younger travelers who have been leading the recovery.
Younger travelers are big business for airlines. No matter what one thinks of millennial, Gen Z, and younger cohorts, these generations make up more than half the U.S. population and are among those leading the air travel recovery.
Delta Air Lines has these demographic shifts firmly in its sights with its latest booking offering: a buy-now, pay-later function provided by American Express. The Plan It tool, which debuted Thursday on the Atlanta-based carrier’s website and its app, gives potential travelers three options to pay for their trips in installments over three to 24 months. American Express charges users a fixed fee based on the total for the purchase monthly for the duration.
The feature is the latest in the broader trend towards more trip flexibility for travelers. The largest change in this sphere was when airlines ended most change fees early in the Covid-19 pandemic. As American Express Head of Global Lending and Co-brand Anthony Cirri put it in an interview, “consumer travel needs have changed” and Plan It is the “next evolution” in this process.
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