Although airline ticket sales rebounded in 2010, loss due to online payment fraud is down since the last survey, in both percentage of overall online revenue and bookings, finds a new report by CyberSource Corporation.

In 2010, airlines worldwide lost an estimated $1.4 billion dollars in revenue due to online fraud perpetrated on their websites, which represented 0.9% of total worldwide online airline ticket sales, says the "Airline Online Fraud Report 2011" report.

In comparison, airlines reported losing $1.7 billion in the previous survey, representing 1.3% of total online airline ticket sales worldwide. This represents a 31% reduction in fraud loss rate from what was reported in the previous survey.

However, over a quarter of airlines surveyed expected their fraud loss rate to be greater than 1% of their online revenue in 2010, suggesting there are still some airlines that could improve their online fraud management processes.

Based on how revenue loss was addressed in the survey, the fraud losses reported include losses for all payment methods together with fraud chargebacks from credit and debit cards.

The fraud loss rate is based on revenue derived from an airline’s website only, and does not include card-present or telephone transactions, which are often included in the fraud loss metrics provided by card associations.

Finally, the loss rates reported in the survey include any losses due to the issuance of credits or refunds to customers to avoid chargeback disputes or to maintain goodwill — a common practice among non-travel online merchants. Credits may also be issued by a different airline department, which may not be responsible for chargebacks or merchant account management.