Pay with Venmo comes to JetBlue in bid for younger travelers

The news: JetBlue will let customers check out with Venmo, per a press release. The payment option is available to US customers on jetblue.com and will launch on its mobile app in the coming months.

When using Pay with Venmo, US customers scan a QR code that takes them to the Venmo app to complete the purchase. They can then pay via their Venmo balances, linked bank account, or card.

How this helps JetBlue: Offering a variety of payment options can help the airline ensure customers have their preferred option available. And Venmo has a large, strong user base to appeal to.

• We expect 76.4 million people will use Venmo in the US this year, per our forecasts.
• While this base uses Venmo mostly for peer-to-peer (P2P) purchases, the app is quickly growing its buy button’s base: The number of monthly active Pay with Venmo users shot up 20% YoY in Q3.

Adding Venmo as a payment option can boost JetBlue’s appeal among younger consumers: 45% of millennials and 42% of Gen Zers use Venmo, per a March 2023 survey from The Motley Fool.

What it means for Venmo: This tie-up can help PayPal monetize Venmo.

• The average revenues per account that uses Pay with Venmo are roughly three times that of all Venmo accounts, per PayPal’s Q3 earnings.
• The payments giant has been working to grow its merchant acceptance network and volume—scoring partnerships with retailers like eBay and StubHub.

Working with JetBlue could give Venmo a big boost: Airline ticket prices are often higher in value than other retail payments.

Our take: This partnership is beneficial for both JetBlue and Venmo. But getting some Venmo users to start using it for JetBlue purchases could be difficult.

• Some customers may not have their preferred travel credit cards saved in Venmo but will want to use them to rack up points.
• Others may be making the purchase on their desktop without their phones in reach, which creates friction when you have to use the QR code.

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