JetBlue has become the first airline to accept Venmo as a payment option. The peer-to-peer payment app has seen varying levels of success in other business use cases. However, partnering with an airline—especially a discount carrier like JetBlue—could prove to be different.
Venmo is currently available on JetBlue’s website and will roll out on the airline’s mobile app in the coming months. With this move, Jetblue joins a range of retailers and corporate entities that accept Venmo—from Starbucks to Hulu.
But, Venmo’s track record at these outlets has been mixed. For example, Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce retailer, stopped accepting Venmo in December 2023, just over a year after adopting it. While Amazon didn’t provide a reason, speculation suggest that the platform failed to gain traction among its customers.
On the other hand, eBay added Venmo as a payment option last June. “The ability to pay with Venmo at checkout continues eBay’s push toward tapping into a younger demographic with Venmo’s heavy adoption among Gen Z and Millennials,” eBay noted in its announcement at the time. More than a quarter of Venmo’s users are between the ages of 18 to 29.
Analysts believe that the attempt to attract a younger audience may also be part of JetBlue’s strategy.
“I’d imagine that this is about attracting Gen Z and Millennials who frequent the app,” said Ben Danner, Senior Analyst of Credit and Commercial at Javelin Strategy & Research. “Many retailers catering to that demographic have chosen to accept Venmo, such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Urban Outfitters, and Forever 21.”
Group Hug
Venmo is also aiming to drive more high-dollar purchases and has also rolled out a feature called Venmo Groups, which allows users to split and manage expenses within the app. This is similar to buy now, pay later services but aligns with its P2P offering. The ability for people to share costs with friends and family could be especially useful for big-ticket items like travel.
“It’s convenient to have a platform to share these costs all within one unified app experience,” said Danner. “For the group trip to the Bahamas, it’s easy to split the costs, and have transparency on who has committed what amount of payment.”