AI-ENABLED fraud is becoming a more significant concern among global travel industry leaders, a new white paper published by Sabre has contended.
The proliferation of autonomous AI agents that are capable of rapidly performing searches, bookings, and refunds in tight time windows is heightening the chances of fraud occurring at unprecedented speeds, the report suggested.
Traditional fraud control measures are not currently meeting the threat level either, with leaders pointing to more deliberate ‘human-in-the-loop’ checkpoints for high-risk actions.
Stronger identity controls and clearer policy enforcement were also called for as remedies to counter rising AI-related fraud.
Travel was described as being uniquely exposed to AI criminality because it is a high-volume and high-connection sector.
A single trip can touch airlines, agencies, hotels, ground transport, payment solutions, identity providers, and multiple third parties behind the scenes, with security teams increasingly looking for leadership and partnerships that acknowledge these shared dependencies, risks, and responsibilities.
“Travel organisations demand confidence that service providers are protecting systems and personal information, and those protections extend beyond the provider’s own walls,” Sabre’s study suggested.
Travel security leaders were cited as “bracing for continued growth in cyber attacks” targeting the travel industry – particularly in the airline sector which often relies upon legacy systems.
“Reservations and servicing often depend on older systems not designed for today’s threat landscape or velocity of change,” the report noted.
“Attackers are evolving, interfaces are expanding, and tolerance for downtime is shrinking, and while [travel]leaders want modernisation, they also want evidence that resilience is being built into the transition, not deferred until after the next cyber incident.”
