Email Deliverability in the Travel Industry

Traveling is one of the most enjoyable experiences a person can have and is a widely popular leisure activity.  Travel is also a risky endeavor, requiring careful planning and sometimes last minute itinerary changes especially in business travel.  Lodging and airfare are typically the most expensive pieces of the budget, so you want partners you can depend upon to inform you of confirmations and itinerary changes in a timely manner.  But, can you trust the emails that come from these airline partners?

DMARC Creates Trusted Senders

DMARC is a requirement for trusted email communication.  An email from a sender with DMARC properly configured to a strict “Reject” policy can be trusted.  Without a “reject” policy, a sending company could easily be spoofed by a fraudster and have that email accepted by inbox providers.  Adopting DMARC protects the email recipient and the corporate brand.

DMARC Adoption in the Airline Industry

Trusting email correspondence from your airline is an important part of enjoying your travel experience.  If an airline domain can be easily compromised by fraudsters, your travel plans are at risk.  Unfortunately, email hygiene and DMARC adoption rates are low among airlines.

MxToolbox’s September 2020 study uncovered the following concerns about airlines ability to deliver emails to their travellers:

  • 8% of airlines sending IP addresses are blacklisted, meaning that email from these domains could be blocked from your email entirely.  Good luck getting that flight update.
  • Only 40% of airline domains have adopted DMARC.  Email delivery from the other 60% of airline domains is at high risk for fraud and phishing and may be more likely to end up in the Junk folder than the Inbox.
  • Only 14% of airlines are using Strict DMARC policies (7% Reject, 7% Quarantine).  The remaining companies are at high risk of being used for fraud and phishing.
  • Only 1 Airline has deployed BIMI to display their logo in the recipients inbox. BIMI gives an extra level of assurance that the sender is legitimate and reinforces the corporate brand.

Protecting Your Brand with DMARC

To maintain the highest levels of email deliverability, businesses like yours (and these airlines) need a proven Email Delivery management system like MxToolbox Delivery Center.  Delivery Center provides you with valuable insight into your email delivery posture and the on-going maintenance necessary to maintain peak performance:

  • Leverage our unique Adaptive Blacklist Monitoring to manage the email reputation of all your senders.
  • Manage SPF, DKIM and DMARC (and BIMI) to improve compliance and reduce the threat of fraud and phishing using your domain.
  • Review daily volume and SPF, DKIM and DMARC compliance rates to ensure the best email deliverability.
  • Implement Feedback Loops to gain unique information on how your recipients view your emails and when they mark you as spam.