William Lipovsky
There are many reasons you may want to book an airline reservation using two different payment methods.
You may need to use more than one payment method for a particularly expensive fare or may have unused prepaid gift cards or rewards points you want to use.
Most airlines don’t allow split payments when purchasing airline tickets. However, JetBlue does allow this.
Below, we explain how to split payments for airline tickets, plus workarounds for the airlines that don’t allow it.
Airlines That Allow Split Payments
We contacted customer service agents for the major airlines and found that JetBlue allows split payments.
JetBlue doesn’t allow split payments for online reservations; you must call JetBlue’s customer service department at (800) 538-2583 in order to pay with more than one payment method.[1]
It’s important to note that JetBlue accepts a maximum of two payment methods per reservation. You can pay using the following combinations:[1]
- Two credit cards
- Two debit cards (including prepaid debit cards like gift cards)
- One credit card and one debit card
Workarounds
If you plan to fly an airline that doesn’t allow split payments, you might want to consider an alternative ”fly now, pay later” payment option.
You might also consider the following workarounds when booking your flight reservation:
- Book two one-way tickets instead of a roundtrip reservation. Rather than paying for your outgoing and return flights together, you can book each flight individually and pay for each flight using a separate credit or debit card.
- Buy a gift card. Most airlines will allow you to use a credit or debit card and a gift card together to pay for a trip, even if they don’t typically allow split payments. In this situation, you can use your second credit or debit card to buy a gift card, then apply that gift card to your booking.
- Ask for customer service assistance if traveling with a large group. Airlines sometimes make exceptions to their payment policies for those traveling in large groups (such as for a business trip). Typically, a group reservation needs to be for eight to ten passengers or more. If this is the case, you may wish to contact the airline to find out what payment options are available.
Airlines That Don’t Allow Split Payments
Many airlines choose not to allow split payments, either due to limitations in their payment processing systems or by choice.
Note that there are often exceptions if you want to use an airline’s gift card to pay for a portion of your purchase. For example, you can use one credit card and one or more American Airlines gift cards to book an American Airlines flight.[2]
In the course of our research, we found that the following airlines don’t allow split payments:
