Airline credit union strengthens member relations via FedNow® Service participation
12/17/2025
For over 70 years, Alaska Air Group Credit Union (AAGCU) (Off-site) has served the financial needs of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines employees, retirees and their families.
In our latest Real Talk profile, Dan Hein, president and chief executive officer, and Shannon Jennings, member service manager, discuss how AAGCU leverages the FedNow Service to deliver enhanced value to its members.
Q: How did your unique member base help you identify a need for instant payments?
DH: “Our credit union is open to employees and family members of Alaska Air Group. We have two branches, but our membership is nationwide, which makes online and mobile banking a priority.”
SJ: “Our members rely on remote services, as they travel often for both business and pleasure. As such, we do our best to make our services convenient and accessible. By leveraging the FedNow Service, we’ve enhanced our service offerings to allow our members to benefit from the speed and efficiency of instant payments.”
Q: What were the biggest factors that helped you decide to adopt the FedNow Service for instant payments?
DH: “We were intrigued by instant payments and saw the potential for growth and innovation within our organization. The FedNow Service offered an opportunity to enhance our members’ ability to quickly and easily move funds. As we were already working with the Federal Reserve on other services, we had established trust in the relationship. Additionally, the favorable cost structure of the FedNow Service made it a particularly attractive solution.”
Q: What advice would you offer to other organizations interested in adopting the FedNow Service?
DH: “When onboarding with the FedNow Service, I recommend that organizations fully embrace both send and receive capabilities. Providing a comprehensive solution, rather than a partial solution, will deliver the greatest value to your customers or members.”
SJ: “When implementing the FedNow Service, organizations should not be deterred by their relatively small size. Even with a team of just 16 employees in our case, we were able to successfully implement FedNow Service capabilities without it being a burden on our regular operations. As we already had a partnership with the Federal Reserve, our implementation timeline was relatively short, and the process was easy.”
Q: In what ways are your members currently leveraging the FedNow Service? What other use cases do you expect to support in the future?
DH: “When integrating the FedNow Service into our organization, we made the strategic decision to enable access for all our members. This included implementing both send and receive capabilities from the outset. Our members have organically adopted the service, leveraging it as a peer-to-peer payment solution. We have also begun to see recurring wire transfers transition to instant payments, providing a more cost-effective solution for our members. Looking ahead, we are eager to expand our utilization of the service to fund loans and disburse loan proceeds in real time.”
SJ: “In addition to the transition of recurring wire transfers, we have also observed a shift away from traditional check-based payments. We know our member base, so it’s easy to point out to them where the benefits of instant payments would better meet their needs. Our members are delighted that we’re able to offer instant payments. Knowing your customer — knowing what your customers want and need — is key.”
Q: How has offering the ability to send instant payments impacted your organization?
SJ: “We were one of the first in our state to offer send capabilities through the FedNow Service, and we’ve found that this feature has really helped strengthen our relationships with our members. Being able to provide our members with this payment option has built a higher level of trust as we’ve demonstrated our ability to provide services that our members want — and we’ve seen our deposit levels increase. Offering the ability to send payments via the FedNow Service has been crucial for us.”
Want to learn more about the real-world impact of instant payments? Read more FedNow Q&As here.