On 20-Mar-12 02:37, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 15:57:57 on Mon, 19 Mar
2012, Stephen Sprunk remarked:
(On another note, I flew Transatlantic with such an airline last year,
and did wonder how they cope with unaccompanied minors, who almost
certainly won't have any cards).

Just tell minors to use their cash to buy a gift card before they
board.

Eventually you may come to accept that gift cards like that are only
available in the USA. It's been mentioned half a dozen times already,
but maybe if we keep saying it you'll believe it.

They can buy the cards at the airport before they leave on an eastbound
transatlantic (or westbound transpacific) flight.

Some people start transatlantic trips from Europe. Strange, I know.

How long do you think it'll take until such cards are available at the
other end of those flights? It's not a difficult concept to grasp.

While a lot of US-invented financial initiatives do find there way over
here (even sub-prime mortgages) I'm not sure those giftcards will. It
seems to be important to the various stores that they are "tied" to a
particular outlet, or even a particular range of goods, and so the
current extensive (non-credit card) mag-stripe gift card scheme may
continue indefinitely.

That is how gift cards started here, and such are still available and
promoted by chain retailers. However, other retailers (particularly
convenience, drug and grocery stores) sell gift cards that work in
_other_ stores, originally a variety of store-branded cards and later
including Visa/AmEx cards.

Part of this is cultural: giving gift cards is easier and less stressful
than shopping for many people, and giving Visa/AmEx gift cards doesn't
require visiting multiple stores or even thinking about which stores
would be appropriate for each person: just buy a stack of cards and
stuff one in each envelope. A sad commentary, to be sure.

However, many people buy "gift cards" for their own use because they
don't have (and can't get) bank accounts at all thanks to the new
anti-immigrant^Wterrorist banking laws passed after 9/11, and not having
any sort of plastic can be rather inconvenient at times.

[Minors] who are flying regularly, particularly internationally, are
probably _most_ likely to have cards.

They are more likely, I agree, especially after they've been caught out
on the first trip.

My thought was that, simply due to the cost of int'l travel, said minors
likely come from more affluent families, where cards for teens seem to
be more common. That's where it started in the US, at least, though it
seems like nearly everyone has them now.

S

--
Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking