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It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s … well, it’s just a plane, but there are fraudulent charges cruise being made on it! Many in-flight purchases aren’t transacted while in the air, causing the airlines to lose millions of dollars each year from fraudulent swipes. As technology improves, this risk will begin to disappear and make room for another risk — tablet hacking. cruise Here’s what’s going on with credit card fraud on flights and what can be done to mitigate the risks.
Unlike most credit card purchases, charges made while in-flight typically don’t go through until after the plane has landed and the passengers have gone their separate ways, reports CBS News. The point-of-sale devices flight attendants use to ring up charges aren’t cruise typically connected to the Internet, so these purchases aren’t transacted in real-time.
This means if a passenger buys something on a flight — like an alcoholic beverage cruise or pair of headphones — he may be able to successfully use an expired, fake or maxed-out card. By the time the charge is processed, the cardholder will be gone.
For the airlines, a drink here and a pair of headphones there don’t really add up to much. But after you factor in things like duty-free purchases on international flights, airlines are losing hundreds of millions of dollars per year just from fraudulent credit card charges.
As Internet access becomes more popular on flights, connected point-of-sale devices will be able to determine if a card is invalid. These devices, usually tablets, will be able to process transactions immediately and deny cards that are expired or fake. This will solve the airlines’ problems, but it raises a different issue — airline tablet hacking.
According to a study by AirInsight , up to 57 percent of the tablets used by flight attendants and pilots aren’t properly secured from hackers. If these devices are hacked, passengers’ cruise credit card information easily can be stolen.
One way to prevent this: Airlines could re-examine their cashless rules for in-flight purchases. Unless security is improved on the devices used to ring up sales, the airline’s security and passengers’ credit cards risk compromise with a credit-only system. The courts maintain that airlines don’t have to accept cash , but it’s something to think about.
Regardless, airlines need to invest in better cybersecurity for the tablets being used processing cruise purchases. If 57% of the tablets lack proper security, the remaining 43% have figured it out. The rest of the point-of-sale devices need to get on board.
For now, most airlines do not use connectivity for their point-of-sale cruise devices, so your credit card security is likely not at risk. Still, the airline may lose money if you use an invalid card. If the tablets are connected, and you’re worried about card security, it may be a good idea to make any necessary purchases in the airport prior to boarding.
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