Build the chargeback file before the flight, not after the dispute

A dispute arrives sixty days after a flight. The operator has an invoice and a memory. The cardholder has a story. Representment is decided on documents, and the documents either exist already or they do not — nothing can be created afterwards that is worth anything.

The operators who win disputes are not better at arguing. They collected four things before departure, as a matter of routine, because after departure is too late.

The four things

• ·The signed charter agreement, naming the payer, the passengers, the aircraft and the terms — including cancellation.
• ·Cardholder authorization that ties the specific card to the specific booking, rather than a card on file with no linked transaction.
• ·The itinerary as flown, with any change orders signed by whoever requested the change.
• ·Proof of performance: the flight happened, these passengers were aboard, it departed and arrived.

The one that gets missed

Change orders. An itinerary changes by text message, the flight operates, and the evidence pack describes a flight that did not happen. The cardholder says they never agreed to the revised trip and the record agrees with them. A one-line confirmation of every change, acknowledged by the customer, closes it.

The same applies when the payer is not the passenger — a company paying for an executive, or one person paying for a group. If the cardholder was not on board, the file has to show why they were paying.