Case Study: Southwest Airlines Uses Accertify's Interceptas® Platform To Cut E-Commerce Fraud In Half

Southwest Airlines, the nation's leading low-fare carrier, continues to differentiate itself from the other airlines — offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service. Southwest is the only U.S. airline to remain consistently profitable this decade and enjoys an unprecedented string of 36 consecutive years of profitability. Southwest has among the lowest cost structures, a strong balance sheet, and is the most productive airline in the sky.

In 2008, online bookings reached nearly 80 percent via southwest.com, the number one airline web site for online revenue, according to PhoCusWright.

Fighting online fraud is a constant challenge for e-commerce merchants and the airline industry is no exception. Southwest had fraud prevention technology in place and was experiencing fraud rates consistently below the industry norm. However, the company wanted to take its program to a higher level. Continued growth in online bookings and the ever-evolving nature of card-not-present fraud demanded a solution that was more scalable and customizable. The goal was to reduce fraud-related losses and make anti-fraud resources more productive, while preserving an excellent Customer Service experience. Another key objective was to leverage new fraud-fighting technologies in the most cost-effective way possible, without dependency on a single fraud prevention tool such as device fingerprinting.

After analyzing an array of solutions available in the marketplace, Southwest selected Accertify's Interceptas platform because it was the most comprehensive and flexible fraud-prevention platform in the industry. Accertify's Interceptas was implemented in June 2008, providing a workbench platform that integrates all of the best-practice tools and key components required for a complete fraud prevention program.