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Affirm unveils ‘buy now, pay later’ deal with American Airlines

Fly now, pay later?

Affirm CEO Max Levchin

The company announced a "buy now, pay later" deal with American Airlines.

Photo: Affirm

Affirm announced a "buy now, pay later" deal with American Airlines which would let travelers pay for flights by installment, the company said Wednesday.

Affirm said eligible travelers would be able to book airfare $50 or higher on American Americans and have payment options from 3 to 12 months. Affirm said travelers would be shown the total cost of the flight and "will never pay more than they agree to upfront."

Affirm shares rallied more than 3% in midday trading. The company previously announced deals with Shopify and Amazon, covering more everyday purchases. Travel is an expanding category for "buy now, pay later" with rivals Klarna and Afterpay offering their own partnerships for flights and lodging.

Benjamin Pimentel

Benjamin Pimentel ( @benpimentel) covers crypto and fintech from San Francisco. He has reported on many of the biggest tech stories over the past 20 years for the San Francisco Chronicle, Dow Jones MarketWatch and Business Insider, from the dot-com crash, the rise of cloud computing, social networking and AI to the impact of the Great Recession and the COVID crisis on Silicon Valley and beyond. He can be reached at bpimentel@protocol.com or via Google Voice at (925) 307-9342.

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