Bonza customers who used real-time payments network risk missing out on refunds
Travellers who used the real-time PayTo service will hope the troubled airline can manage refunds because, unlike with credit or debit cards, they can't fall back on a bank.
The uncertainty around the future of Bonza Airlines, which cancelled all flights today, has highlighted a risk for consumers as Australia's real-time payments network becomes more popular.
Typically, when a merchant, such as an airline, fails to deliver a product or service the first call for reimbursement is the merchant — Bonza in this case. But if the merchant can’t pay, customers who used debit or credit card payments can usually rely on the bank that issued their card to repay them. That bank in turn recovers its funds from the merchant’s acquirer bank.
However, in the case of direct payments, such as cash or direct account-to-account real-time payments, there is no intermediary for customers to rely upon if the merchant doesn’t refund or replace the purchase.
Bonza announced in November it would accept real-time payments on the New Payments Platform's (NPP) PayTo network via fintech Monoova, saying it would allow the airline to offer PayTo’s “seamless, fee-free payment option for consumers paying online for their flights or travel booking, without credit card or other surcharge fees”.
