Chargeback policy

A credit card chargeback occurs after a cardholder initiates a merchant dispute with their issuing bank, the issuing bank will then charge back the transaction being disputed to JetBlue and the cardholder’s account is credited. JetBlue will make every effort to avoid chargebacks by providing documentation to the issuing bank that the customer did in fact travel on their ticketed itinerary; however, if we are unsuccessful, a debit memo may be issued to the travel agency that issued the ticket.

Disclosure of Terms and Conditions

JetBlue recommends that travel agents follow the below guidelines when processing credit card transactions. ARC’s full Credit Card Acceptance Procedures, Chargeback Management Procedures, and Best Practices can be found here .

When a service or refund related chargeback is received, the travel agent is required to provide proof that the terms and conditions of the sale were disclosed and accepted by the cardholder. As noted below, how the information is disclosed and accepted will differ depending on how the sale takes place (i.e. on-line, face-to-face, phone). Most “terms and conditions related disputes” are about the customer’s ability to refund or change a ticket and the associated fees. Therefore, regardless of how the transaction takes place, it is important to provide clear and concise disclosure of the rules at the time of purchase. Additionally, if a chargeback is received, the travel agent must provide proof that the cardholder was informed of the rules.

  • Face-to-face – Provide the customer with a written disclosure of the terms and conditions and ask them to sign it to acknowledge receipt. Retain it in case of a dispute.
  • Online – Include a “click-to-accept” of the terms and conditions of the sale. Include a clear and concise list of the key terms followed by an on-line check box. Obtain a screen print of your system in case of a dispute.
  • Phone – Read the key terms and conditions to the customer and request they acknowledge that they understand. Proof that this disclosure was completed is difficult to obtain, however merchants have some success providing a recording along with a transcript as proof in case of a dispute.

Documentation requirements

With the growth of Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) chip card technology in the U.S., a manual card imprint on a charge form no longer meets the burden of proof that the card is valid if the cardholder claims fraud and therefore disputes the charge. In other words, a signed UCCCF is no longer considered proof that the cardholder is present and the card is valid. Payment card company rules state that liability for card-present fraud (i.e., counterfeit or lost/stolen) loss falls to the entity (card issuing company, e.g. American Express, bank or merchant) that doesn’t support the chip technology. Therefore, since GDSs don’t offer chip reading terminals to travel agents, the agency is responsible in the event of a loss due to the agent’s acceptance of a counterfeit or lost/stolen card.

Here are a few suggestions to help mitigate fraud loss:

  1. Employ the use of several (industry average is seven to nine) payment card company fraud management tools (e.g., Address Verification Service, CID validation) along with other third party tools available to manage risk (e.g., email validation tools, negative list tools, issuer fraud information, IP geolocation, device fingerprinting, machine learning technology);
  2. Know the data about the cardholder and the transaction (e.g., time to travel, cardholder location, previous experience with the customer);
  3. Institute a transaction-scoring tool that ties the various data points together.

For additional information and tips for preventing chargebacks, please visit ARC’s website .