Payment Errors

Background

When an airline 

• is merchant of record for payment OR

• takes payment on account via a settlement platform

And a seller

• is passing customer payment data to the airline OR

• is committing to pay an airline on account via a settlement platform

then a number of common error scenarios can occur. For each error scenario, if it is assumed that the following holds true:

• An Airline

  • needs to communicate payment errors so that a payer is aware of the status of a payment transaction

  • may wish to communicate to a payer information they could use to resolve payment errors

• A Seller

  • if not the payer, needs to know the status of a payment transaction so that it can inform the payer of the status of their purchase

  • needs to know when it must communicate to the payer that they could take remedial action to complete their transaction

• Payer

  • needs to know whether a payment has been successful

  • needs to know when to communicate new or modified information to ensure payment is successful

 Given these general requirements, two types of error codes are defined to allow airlines to communicate the state of payment to a seller in a way understood by both parties. These two types will be:

• Standard Payment Error Codes: used to allow an airline to provide additional context to the seller using specific codes 

• Generic Payment Error Codes: used to allow an airline to communicate payment errors to a seller using generic codes

Standard Payment Error Code Examples

1.1 Payment Errors due to invalid payment

• As an airline, I need the capability to communicate when a given payment transaction is not valid.

• As a seller, I need to know when a payment method is not valid for a given payment transaction.

1.2 Payment Errors Requiring Different information

• As an airline, I may need to communicate that information about a payment instrument is incorrect so that a payer has the opportunity to remedy it and complete the payment transaction.

• As a seller, I may need to update information about a given payment method or instrument so that a payment transaction completes.

• As a seller, I may need to inform a customer to update information about a given payment instrument so that they can complete their payment transaction.

1.3 Payment Errors Requiring Additional Information

• As an airline, I may need to communicate that additional information about a payment instrument is required so that a seller has the opportunity to provide it and complete the transaction.

• As a Seller, I may need to provide additional information about a given payment method or instrument .

• As a Seller, I may need to request additional information about a payment method or instrument from a customer so that they can complete the order.

• As a Seller, I may need to request authentication from a payer so that they can complete their payment transaction.

1.4 Payment Errors Requiring New Payment Method or Instrument

• As an airline I may wish to communicate to a payer that I will not accept a given payment method for a given payment transaction but may accept another payment method in a new payment transaction.

• As a seller, I may need to provide a new payment method for a new payment transaction.

• As a seller, I may need to inform a payer that their payment transaction has not completed.

1.5 Payment Errors Requiring a “Hard Stop”

• As an airline, I may wish to communicate to a payer that I will not accept payment from them.

• As a seller, I may need to know that a payment transaction will not be allowed.

• As a seller, I may need to know that a payer has been flagged as fraudulent

1.6 Unknown Payment Failures

If an airline experiences an unexpected or unmapped payment error upstream and wishes to distinguish this type of error from a “standard” payment error, this additional code could be used.

2. Generic Payment Error Code Examples

2.1 Payment Failure

Generic payment error codes allow an airline to communicate unknown or undefined payment errors to a seller. Their purpose is to allow for a generic split in payment errors into two areas 

If either:

1. An airline is unable to use standard error codes or

2. A payment error does not map to an standard error code

Then a “generic” payment failure code could be used.

Standard Payment Error Code Table

 Generic Payment Error Code Table