Originally Posted by
LondonElite
What does it matter what channel you use? If the card issuer doesn't get the money from an airline in administration, you won't be getting any money from the card issuer.
Not correct.
Chargeback is not a service offered by your bank. It is offered by the payment mediator (Visa, Mastercard...).
A chargeback is bank to bank. The merchant's bank has to demonstrate that the conditions were met (within the operating conditions set by Mastercard, Visa, etc) and if not they refund the amount and then reclaim that from the merchant. It is not something that banks really have a great deal of wiggle room. If the Merchant is in administration - that means the merchant's bank may not be able to reclaim the money. But it does not stop them being obliged to pay it back. The system is supposed to encourage banks to be responsible in giving access to receive payments by Visa, Mastercard, etc....
Merchants who suffer high chargeback rates get punished - not just with the admin fee but the banks may remove their access to Visa, etc, or may require a higher "setback" - money they keep hold on in case of future chargebacks.
There may be additional statutory protections imposed by governments on their banks, but chargebacks are run by Visa, Mastercard, etc, and are fairly standardised globally.