Air tickets soon to be bought with groceries

FLYSAFAIR and Pick n Pay recently announced a new partnership that is likely to open up air travel opportunities for millions of South Africans

Travellers will now be able to book tickets online on www.flysafair.co.za and elect to make payment at their local Pick n Pay.

Alternately, tickets can be booked and paid for at the new Pick n Pay Money Counters rolling out this year in selected stores across the country.

“Our promise is simple: we want to offer affordable, easy and on-time air travel and this partnership is a great way for us to deliver on that promise for even more people,” FlySafair chief executive Elmar Conradie said.

Richard van Rensburg, deputy chief executive of Pick n Pay, said: “Through this partnership with FlySafair, customers who want a great deal can pay for their flights with cash or card at any Pick n Pay store.

“Customers also have the option of switching their Smart Shopper points and paying for flights in-store.”

In March Effective Measure published their annual state of South African eCommerce report, which indicated that distrust around online payment methods was one of the largest barriers to eCommerce in the country.

Air tickets are the second most popular online purchase (second to books), but 32.4% of people still indicated they didn’t trust online payment systems.

In support of that, 40.1% indicated they would make more online purchases if there was an alternate payment method they considered more trustworthy.

“For FlySafair, this move is in support of the shopping needs of existing online shoppers,” Conradie said. “But we also see this as a way to make our service available to those that don’t have credit card facilities.”

MasterCard conducted a study in 2013 which indicated cash still accounted for 85% of global consumer transactions. In South Africa only 6% of such transactions are done using cashless methods. “We’ve brought pricing to the market that makes air travel available to more South Africans, and the next logical step is to ensure people can actually access the service,” Conradie said.

“This is just the first of many innovations that we intend to truly make air travel in South Africa accessible.”

Tickets can be booked online at www.flysafair.co.za and payment can be made in any Pick n Pay store nationwide using the ticket reference number provided.