British Airways has signed up to both Visa's and MasterCard's password-protected online verification systems.
The airline operator has contracted with CyberSource and Streamline to implement the two schemes.
Simon Parks Smith, head of e-commerce at British Airways says: "Online bookings now account for 46% of our shorthaul, non-premium business in the UK and this figure will keep rising. The sheer volume of tickets processed via the Internet means that we're constantly striving to have the best security possible."
Airlines are one of the fastest growing online retail sectors, according to Visa spending data, accounting for almost 10% of online spending in the EU in the last quarter of 2004.