A MAN who brought a lawsuit against Continental Airlines for refusing to accept cash for an in-flight transaction has had his case dismissed by a state Superior Court judge. In January 2010 Michael Rosen had tried to buy some headphones for $3, but because he had left his credit cards in his checked luggage he fell foul of the company's no-cash policy. He consequently challenged the legality of this cashless cabin in court, but the judge declared on Friday that Mr Rosen had not shown that the policy was unreasonable or that he was not informed of it.

Mr Rosen was apparently particularly annoyed because on the outbound leg of his trip he had bought a set of headphones that he had been assured were compatible with all of Continental's in-flight entertainment systems. But they did not work on the return flight where he was, according to his lawyer, "stuck for 10 hours". His lawyer also suggested that the case would not have been bought if Continental had given him a working pair of headphones to replace the set he had with him.

Four things strike me:

1) Continental should indeed have swapped the headphones. The judge agreed with Mr Rosen that Continental breached a contract when supplying headphones that were meant to work in all planes, but did not.

2) It's rather strange for any passenger to leave all their credit cards in their checked luggage.

3) Mr Rosen's lawyer has said that the case would not have been brought if his client had been given a working set of headphones. Was it really beyond the wit of those involved to find another passenger sitting nearby to whom Mr Rosen could have given the $3 cash? In return they would have bought him headphones with their credit card.

4) One could bridle at the whole idea of cashless cabins: with airlines making us pay for more and more items in flight, surely the least they can do is let us choose the manner of payment, etc? But I'm more inclined to accept them as a necessary evil that allow flight attendants to get their jobs done efficiently. Mr Rosen excepted, are many passengers annoyed when they can't use cash?