Pamela Codispoti Habner’s Post

✈️ The global airline industry handles 2.9 billion payment transactions annually, worth a staggering $1 trillion. But did you know these transactions come with a hefty price tag? Airlines are facing $20 billion in payment-related costs each year, eating into 3% of their revenue and a staggering 78% of their net profit. 🛑 Why such high costs? A fragmented payment landscape, legacy systems, and the need to juggle multiple payment methods create inefficiencies and drive up expenses. Curious to learn more about the challenges and solutions for airline merchants? Dive into the full article on our website: https://lnkd.in/eEBJPxVm #Airline #PaymentOrchestration

⌛️ Is your #airline ready for the new wave of DOT #refund regulations? Starting October 28, the U.S. Department of Transportation mandates that airlines issue refunds for significant service disruptions. Adapting to these changes is crucial for regulatory compliance, but it's also a big opportunity to: ✔️ Streamline refund operations 🏆 Bolster passenger #loyalty 📈  Forge a stronger market position Learn how the Payouts Network #InstantPayouts solution can help your airline meet the DOT regulations with ease. #Airlines #CustomerExperience #Fintech #B2CPayments

Achieving more with less is essential in both business and life. When it comes to choosing the right credit card, the question often arises: "Which is the best card?" While many factors come into play, the annual fee is not the primary consideration. The most important factor to consider is the rate at which a credit card earns airline points per dollar spent. Here's a quick comparison: For example, certain American Express cards yield $1 = 2.25 AMEX points, converting to 1.125 airline points, whereas some ABC bank-issued Visa/Mastercards offer $1 = 1 reward point, converting to 0.33 airline points. This means spending the same $1 on an American Express card earns you 3.4 times more airline points than on a bank-issued Visa/Mastercard. Essentially, for the same effort, you get significantly more rewards. It's like choosing between two jobs, where one pays 3.4 times more for the same work. The choice becomes clear: select the card that maximises your rewards for every dollar spent. Same effort, more rewards, repeat to win. #iflyflat #pointstips #theflightsclub

Why does Reciprocal offer loyalty points as its USP? Before starting Reciprocal I used to work at American Express in their FX international payments team. If the client was an Amex card holder, they offered membership reward points for the client's international business payments. Clients used to love it. For many of them, these points paid for their holiday flights every year. When Amex discontinued that product, many clients I spoke with were gutted. So an opportunity to replicate and improve on that offering is why I started Reciprocal. Amex's membership reward points were cool, good for flights and a few more things, but aside from that clients didn't spend them on much else. I'm proud that Reciprocal currently has over 150 brands clients can choose to redeem our points on. More importantly, they can redeem them on things they use in everyday life, not just a holiday. Flights and hotels obviously, but also most major UK supermarkets, Amazon, Ikea, John Lewis, Ticketmaster, Virgin Voyages, Costa, Currys, Asos, H&M, Uber, Wagamama, Apple, Dunelm and loads of other brands you'd use in your day to day spending. So if you like the idea of getting something in return for your business FX payments, please reach out. It could be the difference between the holiday you plan to have, and the holiday you dream of having. #RewardCentricSolution #FX #ForeignCurrencyPayments #InternationalPayments #LoyaltyPoints

October 1, 1958 - AmEx's First Credit Card The American Express Company issues its first charge card in the U.S. and Canada to give traveling customers more flexibility. The purple paperboard card—which later becomes the iconic green or gold plastic card—pre-dates a new era of paying for purchases with revolving credit cards, with MasterCard and Visa following years later. With the American Express card, users could purchase airline, steamship and cruise tickets, with one caveat: They had to pay back the balance in full every month. By the time the new card launched, American Express had issued 250,000 cards, and 17,500 businesses had signed on to accept them. Then, in May of 1959, American Express issued the first plastic charge card. Before entering the charge card business, American Express began in 1850 as a freight-forwarding company, formed through the consolidation of three companies involved. The business gained trust among customers while transporting some of their most valuable possessions. By 1862—during the Civil War—American Express had 890 offices, more than 1,500 employees, and nearly 10,000 miles of railway and express routes in the northeast and Midwest. In 1891, American Express introduced the Travelers Cheque to help customers traveling internationally feel more secure with their money. In 1915, the company started offering customers travel services.

Legit shoppers being denied a transaction - how to sort it? Not being able to pay just because a shopper hasn't bought before or a false red flag is dreaded by travel merchants. The challenge of dealing with #payment #authorization or a transaction not coming through must be looked at, especially considering the fact payment networks are more diverse now and the complexity of moving funds is only intensifying. Evaluate, plan and execute on ongoing basis 1.    How to count on real-time messaging with the goal of letting the customer retry in the same shopping session? Payment validation APIs come into the picture by authenticating particulars against payment and compliance rules in real-time, during the payment set-up process. 2.    What solution would be the best solution at that point of time, say spreading the cost of a payment via #buynowpaylater in case lack of funds being the reason behind the decline? 3.    How to manage the authentication process (fingerprints, #facialrecognition etc.)? How to deal with recurring payments? 4.    Facilitating the transaction via judicious routing 5.    Managing and modelling payments data -attaining a high approval rate is a long-term process and for this, entities have to assess customer usage data, and end-to-end transaction performance metrics. The goal is straightforward: how to recover revenue that would otherwise have been needlessly declined. Even the minutest of positive modification can have a huge impact on the merchant’s bottom line. What is being done to ascertain a travel shopper’s legitimacy in a seamless manner? Hear from experts at the upcoming #ATPS2024 in London (22-23 May): https://lnkd.in/gShkJ8n5 Ritesh Gupta Christopher Staab Laurie Gablehouse Worldline Discover Financial Services Nuvei Mastercard Nuvei UATP Outpayce from Amadeus #travelpayments #paytech #airlines #ATPS

Great piece from Skift… I would add “fair for whom” to the discussion. The purpose for companies to operate a loyalty or reward program is to create customer churn barriers, build higher spending, and mine data. In return, perks like complimentary upgrades, freebies, lounge access, or points are given. Companies incur costs to operate these programs and cannot provide infinite benefits to everyone. Today, we see more programs determining loyalty by using direct spending as the key metric. Direct benefits like upgrades, redemption or lounge access are often perceived/experienced as harder to come by than before. How is your company defining/managing “fairness” between costs and benefits of a loyalty program so that everyone is content with the outcomes? Let’s chat. #CustomerExperience #Loyalty Transformidy

In retrospect, brilliant ideas seem so simple. Allowing customers to split #payments between #creditcards so as to maximise their ability to spend, while slashing the sellers’ “card declined” transactions, is one such idea. For more info, contact Hands In CEO Samuel Flynn at [email protected] #splitpayments #carddeclined

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐮𝐱𝐮𝐫𝐲? 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝-𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟎𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬!⚡️ Picture this: It’s 1850, and the Wild West is alive with opportunity and risk. Three entrepreneurial trailblazers—Henry Wells, William Fargo, and John Butterfield—join forces to solve a critical problem: securely delivering valuable goods and money across treacherous terrain. Their company, American Express, quickly becomes a lifeline for businesses and individuals, earning a reputation for reliability in an unpredictable world. But here’s where the story gets interesting. By 1882, American Express wasn’t just about transporting packages; they introduced money orders, ensuring people could send funds safely. Then, in 1891, they launched Traveler’s Cheques, changing how people carried money across the globe. And they didn’t stop innovating. In 1958, Amex entered the financial space with their first charge card, kicking off their evolution into the world of premium financial services. Fast forward to today, and American Express is synonymous with exclusive perks, unparalleled service, and financial innovation. From stagecoaches to Centurion cards, Amex proves that adaptability and trust are timeless currencies. What’s your go-to Amex benefit? Let’s hear it in the comments below! 👇 #AmericanExpress #FinancialInnovation #BusinessHistory #Entrepreneurship #InnovationsMastery