Paying By The Month For Airline Tickets With Affirm

Consumers can now pay for airline tickets in monthly installments, making that dream vacation to Bali more of a reality than a dream, according to a report from CNNMoney.

CheapAir has entered into a partnership with Affirm, a financial services company, that allows would-be travelers the option of three-, six- or 12-month purchase plans to cover ticket costs.

A customer simply needs to select his or her flight through CheapAir, then choose the option of monthly installments on the checkout page for however long the customer wants to take to pay off the ticket. Customers have to provide their personal information: name, email and physical address, phone number, date of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security number.

Affirm then runs a credit check on the customer — it says the check does not ding a costumer’s credit score — and settles on an interest rate to charge based on their credit rating if the customer is approved. Interest rates on the tickets typically range from about 10–30 percent.

A customer can be approved for the purchase plan “within seconds,” and Affirm places no limit on the number of tickets a person can finance. However, tickets are only eligible for this program if they cost $100 or more.

“When you want to take a vacation, it’s a lot of money to put up out front, and you might not be able to manage it all at once. Spreading it out … makes it become more easy to manage,” CheapAir CEO Jeff Klee told CNNMoney.