As new card-fraud controls emerge, even cards used to purchase cocktails aboard airplanes are getting closer scrutiny.
GuestLogix Inc., a Toronto-based firm that supplies numerous airlines with systems to accept credit and debit cards for inflight purchases, this month is rolling out a service to help airlines and other travel operators cut fraud and increase the number of legitimate transactions they approve.
The service also repositions GuestLogix's offerings for a more diverse audience of travel providers that are beginning to offer food, merchandise and entertainment services to travelers through an expanding array of mobile devices, Dan Thompson, GuestLogix director of marketing, tells PaymentsSource.
GuestLogix in 2007 began providing major airlines, including United Airlines Inc. and American Airlines, with technology to accept credit and debit cards. It serves approximately 90% of North American passenger airlines and 40% of global passenger airlines, Thompson says.
The firm's new Global Payment Services targets airlines and other travel operators such as railroads that accept payment cards in an offline mode during transit, according to Thompson. The platform is adaptable to diverse types of hardware, including handheld point-of-sale terminals, seat-back screens, inflight entertainment systems, kiosks, smartphones and tablets, he says.
The service also includes access to a new, proprietary "Hot List" GuestLogix has developed that tracks cards suspected of being fraudulent and declined anywhere in the world within the previous several hours. This information is pre-loaded into the travel operator's in-flight payment system immediately before each departure, the firm says.
The Hot List enables airlines and other travel companies to quickly block such potentially fraudulent transactions even when the merchant lacks a connection to a communication channel providing live payment authorizations, Thompson explains.
A growing number of airplanes are equipped with Wi-Fi, but many still rely on processing card payments in an offline mode when in flight. The Hot List is "a more refined blacklist of recently declined card transactions focusing specifically on travelers," Thompson says.
Subscribers to the service receive the latest version of the Hot List "as often as necessary so they know which cards to block and minimize losses," he says. GuestLogix updates its Hot List several times each day, he adds.
GuestLogix's new service also includes improvements in the process to resubmit legitimate card transactions declined during flights, which often occurs for a variety of reasons, Thompson says.
"Sometimes inflight transactions that were approved offline during a flight are declined afterward for one reason or another, and the airline absorbs that loss," he says.
GuestLogix's new service enables merchants to sort out such transactions more easily and submit them for payment, Thompson says.
"We've seen anywhere from 15% to 40% of funds recovered when airlines resubmitted transactions that were initially declined," Thompson says.
The firm is leveraging its "deep connections within the travel" market to provide the service, which includes certifications with many payment processors and travel-industry operators around the world, he notes.
Travel providers may opt to use some or all of the new service's features, Thompson says.
Costs vary based on the size and scope of the services and on the total number of payment terminals and transactions processed, he says.
The service is adaptable to any type of payment card used around the world, including magnetic stripe cards, EMV cards configured as chip-and-PIN or chip-and-signature, contactless and those deploying Near Field Communication, Thompson says.
GuestLogix recently completed a successful pilot of a program with MasterCard Worldwide to accept contactless payments on Canada's Westjet airplanes (
"We see mobile payments expanding rapidly within the travel sector, and our services are designed to fit into these various channels as they emerge," Thompson says.
What do you think about this? Send us your feedback.
