MasterCard Worldwide and Yapta.com, which tracks airfares, have announced a new airfare price assurance program for MasterCard U.S. consumer and small-business cardholders who book flights directly with eligible airlines. MasterCard PriceAssure tracks flight itineraries and offers customer service to help secure airline credit for savings on future travel, if the same itinerary they’ve purchased with their enrolled MasterCard card later becomes available from that airline at a lower price, minus any airline change fees.   

MasterCard PriceAssure aims to help people save money when booking air travel at a time when most consumers are feeling frustrated and overwhelmed during their search for low-cost flights. A recent MasterCard survey found that of those who have looked for airfare: 70 percent feel it takes them a lot of time to find low cost flights; 77 percent worry about timing their flight purchases to get the lowest fare; and 79 percent say they will go to great lengths to save money on flights.

To participate in MasterCard PriceAssure, MasterCard U.S. consumer and small-business cardholders must enroll without additional charge at mastercard.com/priceassure. They must purchase an itinerary from an eligible carrier using their enrolled MasterCard card. They then log their flight details on to the site and opt-in to receive price drop alerts, which continually track fares up until shortly before the time of departure and notify cardholders if an equivalent seat class becomes available at a lower price from that airline. After receiving a price drop alert, the cardholder can pursue an airline credit on their own or choose to have MasterCard PriceAssure work to claim the credit on their behalf for a fee of $19.95 per itinerary, which is currently waived for World Elite MasterCard cardholders. For more information, visit mastercard.com/priceassure.