Air Namibia saves by selling tickets online

"Customer behaviour has changed and most people now want to be able to book and pay for their tickets online," says general manager of commercial services at Air Namibia, Xavier Masule. "We have also been able to retain customers, because if they can't buy online they will just choose another airline. Online payments have helped us keep our market share, as well as enter new market in many parts of the world, without having to open expensive physical offices."

Excellent advice and guidance

While credit card fraud is always a risk, Masule says Air Namibia has worked closely with PayGate, its payment services provider, to improve its controls. "PayGate is up to date on best practices and have given us excellent advice and guidance. For example, we have decided to close online bookings 72 hours before each flight, and to suspend any booking made using a credit card that is red flagged on PayGate's system."

The result, says Masule, is that fraudulent transactions have dropped from 15 a day to one every second or third day. This does sometimes mean that legitimate customers are inconvenienced, but their customer service centre will unblock a booking if the card holder can answer certain security questions.