British Airways adopts MasterCard's global e-commerce security solution

British Airways is the first global airline to offer MasterCard® SecureCode™ across multiple regions, with a roll-out to 23 country sites, including the key markets of the United Kingdom and United States. With more and more consumers taking advantage of the convenience of purchasing tickets via the Internet, this signifies an important move from the airline industry in protecting consumers when they shop online.

"MasterCard SecureCode is a powerful solution for addressing British Airways' global Internet security concerns and extends to them a very important payment guarantee," said Stephen Orfei, senior vice president, e-Commerce Center of Excellence, MasterCard International. "Additionally, with the online shopping channel secured, British Airways can focus on what they do best, providing premier service to their global customer base. The business case for MasterCard SecureCode could not be more compelling."

MasterCard SecureCode overcomes two of the most pressing issues in e-commerce today: cardholder concerns about the safety of online shopping, and Internet merchants' need for an enhanced payment guarantee. MasterCard SecureCode works for both MasterCard credit and Maestro debit transactions. More than 9,000 merchants and 2,500 banks worldwide are now participating in the programme.

"The sheer volume of tickets now processed by the Internet means that we're constantly striving to have the best security possible," said Simon Parks-Smith, head of e-commerce at British Airways. "We want to keep our customers using the web and encourage e-commerce newcomers to book with us in this way. MasterCard SecureCode is a natural way to achieve that goal."

For cardholders, MasterCard SecureCode delivers enhanced protection against the risk of credit or debit account numbers being used by fraudsters in cyberspace. Online bookings made on the British Airways site will be secured by the cardholders personal MasterCard SecureCode. This is the key to using a MasterCard card on the Internet and an important extra step that gives cardholders the confidence that their account is protected, while the card issuer and British Airways are assured about the identity of the person completing the transaction.

MasterCard is working alongside British Airways to fully implement MasterCard SecureCode with support from Streamline International, who offers multi-currency credit card acquisition services, and CyberSource, a global leader in digital commerce services.