Travel Specialist Amadeus Books Chargebacks911 To Help with Disputes

Chargebacks are a problem area for most merchants and airlines are no more immune. So Amadeus, a global distribution company for the travel industry, is launching its Amadeus Chargeback Management program.

Announced Wednesday, the new service will provide airlines with an automated and outsourced chargeback-management program. It comes as airlines struggle with chargebacks, especially for tickets purchased from third-party providers.

Clearwater, Fla.-based Chargebacks911, which is providing the technology behind Amadeus’s program, found in its “Fraud & Chargebacks in Travel” survey of travel merchants that 57% of respondents received more than 150 chargebacks per month, with nearly half of these merchants experiencing more than 500 chargebacks per month. In a separate survey released in May, Amadeus said 70% of travel businesses had 50% increases in the number of chargebacks in 2021 compared to 2019 averages.

The Chargeback911 survey also noted that 47% of more than 100 airlines and travel agencies noted that chargebacks are more common when booked directly with merchants, but 28% said chargebacks are equally common regardless of channel.

“It is estimated fraudulent disputes cost airlines upwards of $1 [billion] annually. By combining our travel and payment information with Chargeback 911’s specialist service, the industry can automatically spot and efficiently resolve disputes,” Damian Alonso, Amadeus’s head of platform and partnerships, payments, says in a statement.

One problematic element for airlines is they tend to have less transaction information if the dispute is attached to a purchase made through a third party, like a travel agency. “Without direct access to booking data, merchants have less information to support them through the representment process, leaving them less confident about challenging the chargeback,” Chargebacks911 says in its report. Forty-four percent said they were less likely to some degree to respond to a chargeback if the reservation was made through a travel agency.