I have read with interest yet another article in Travel Weekly (November 22) on credit-card frauds and Mike Monk’s outline of a typical scenario.
A large percentage of the problems could be prevented by the customer/client having to produce, as identification, both the credit card with which the booking was paid and his passport at the time of collecting his tickets on departure.
In the absence of this, the tickets should not be handed over.
This serves also to prevent the late-booking frauds where TOD is essential.
It is just a simple case of the travel agents and tour operators/airlines providing and accepting the information and working together.
While this would not prevent all fraud, it should certainly go a long way to preventing the simple TOD frauds and furthermore, once a few fraudsters have been caught, the publicity generated may well act as a deterrent to others. It will also require somewhat more positive action by the credit-card companies who seem to have a fairly relaxed approach (they are not the ones to suffer the loss). Perhaps ABTA would organise and implement a scheme which would be acceptable to all concerned.
Arnold Granat, chairman, Quality Travel, Grantham, Lincolnshire