Purchase card refunds

Return redeemed travel points when suppliers cancel flights made with P-cards

When travelers’ plans are changed by their air suppliers, you can facilitate a return of the earned loyalty points they used for a purchase card (P-card) booking . You’ll create a file and upload it to the Expedia SFTP server. At a high level, that means you’ll:

Request the TPID, EAPID, and SITEID information from Expedia. This information is an essential part of the report name to ensure that refund information is mapped correctly. See the Naming convention section for more details.
Create a file according to the specified format and structure, and name according to the naming conventions.
Upload the file to the Expedia SFTP server.

By adhering to the sections defined in this documentation, you can ensure that the file is processed smoothly without errors or omissions during the automated process.

File format

To successfully process a file for refunds, it must comply with the following standards:

The file format must be either .csv for unencrypted files or .pgp for encrypted files. When submitting an encrypted file, ensure that the entire file is encrypted as a single entity using PGP encryption, rather than encrypting each row individually.
The first row of the file must always contain the column headings.
All 10 columns in the table below must be included, in the order listed. No additional columns should be included.
Each row’s contents must be separated by a pipe character (|), not a comma.
After the column headings, each row corresponds to a single transaction record.
All required columns must be present and contain valid data. Records with missing required fields will be skipped or flagged for agent review.

File structure

Order	Column name	Description	Data type	Example	Required?
1	AIR_TICKET_NUMBER	Airline ticket number. Must be 10 digits. If this field has no value, an agent review will be necessary to match records with Expedia. Note: Ticketless carriers will use the confirmation number instead.	String	9607721439	Required (conditionally)
2	AIRLINE_CARRIER_CODE	2 or 3 character alphanumeric airline carrier IATA code. If this field has no value, an agent review will be necessary to match records with Expedia.	String	DL (Delta) AC (Air Canada) UA (United Airlines)	Required (conditionally)
3	TRANSACTION_AMOUNT	2-decimal number representing the amount charged to the card. A negative amount indicates a refund. Note: This field is required for refund transactions, but not for credit transactions.	Number	104.23 (Charged) -104.23 (Refund)	Required
4	CURRENCY_CODE	3-letter ISO currency code.	String	CAD USD	Required
5	POST_DATE	P-card post date in mm/dd/yyyy format.	Date	11/07/2024	Required
6	TRANSACTION_DATE	P-card transaction date in mm/dd/yyyy format.	Date	07/07/2024	Required
7	TRAVELER_FIRST_NAME	First name of the traveler associated with the ticket. Maximum 50 characters. Do not use pipe characters. Allowed values: Latin letters (A-Z, a-z), accented letters (such as é, ü, ç), numbers, spaces.	String	Parvathi Mary Ann	Optional
8	TRAVELER_LAST_NAME	Last name of the traveler associated with the ticket. Maximum 50 characters. Do not use pipe characters. Allowed values: Latin letters (A-Z, a-z), accented letters (such as é, ü, ç), numbers, spaces.	String	Smith De La Cruz	Optional
9	SUPPLY_INFO	Additional information about the supplier, often the merchant name. Maximum 300 characters. Allowed values: Latin letters (A-Z, a-z), numbers, spaces. Special characters (such as @, ', -, #, é, ç) are not allowed.	String	AIR CAN 0111111111111 CARIBBEAN AI1062222222222 BRUSSELS AI 0823333333333	Optional
10	AIR_CONFIRMATION_NUMBER	6-digit alphanumeric air confirmation number. This field is used as an identifier when a ticket number is not present. It is required only when dealing with a ticketless carrier. Allowed values: Latin letters (A-Z, a-z), numbers. Do not use: spaces, special characters (such as @, #, é, ç)	String	ABCD12	Optional (required for ticketless processing)

Sample file

File name: [PARTNERNAME]_ 5002_900188_ 900188_20241108.csv

AIR_TICKET_NUMBER|AIRLINE_CARRIER_CODE|TRANSACTION_AMOUNT|CURRENCY_CODE|POST_DATE|TRANSACTION_DATE|TRAVELER_FIRST_NAME|TRAVELER_LAST_NAME|SUPPLY_INFO|AIR_CONFIRMATION_NUMBER 
9607721439|AC|104.23|CAD|11/07/2024|11/01/2024|Sam F.|Doe|AIR CAN 0111111111111|ABCD12
5954412772|WS|-550.9|CAD|02/08/2024|02/04/2024|John|Smith|CARIBBEAN AI1062222222222|WQJGL5 
54412723|UA|-265.9|CAD|02/09/2024|02/04/2024||||

File parameters

Before you can upload your refund file, you’ll need to follow some standard conventions, including setting the file name and encrypting the information.

Naming convention

All files submitted for refunds must follow the naming convention outlined below. Any deviations from this format will result in the file being excluded from processing.

The file name should be structured as follows: [PARTNERNAME]_TPID_EAPID_SITEID_YYYYMMDD.csv, where:

PARTNERNAME: Your organization’s name.
TPID: The travel product ID assigned by Expedia.
EAPID: The Expedia Affiliated Partner ID assigned by Expedia.
SITEID: The point of sale ID for the site assigned by Expedia.
YYYYMMDD = the year, month, and day the file was generated, represented by 4 digits for the year and 2 digits each for the month and day.

Do not include special characters or spaces in the file name. The file size should not exceed 5 GB.

Encryption

For enhanced security, you may choose to encrypt the file using PGP. Request our public PGP key from your account manager and:

Secure the entire file, not just its contents.
Add the .pgp extension (for example, PARTNERNAME_0_1_1_20250101.pgp)

Upload instructions

To successfully process the file, it must be submitted using Expedia SFTP hostname: eps-pcard-transactions-datafeed.transfer.expedia.com.

To establish an SFTP connection, you’ll need to provide the following details:

Preferred username for the SFTP user (alphanumeric, maximum 20 chars)
SSH (Secure Shell) public key
IP subnet to be added to the allow list (the SFTP connection will only be permitted from this allowed subnet)

Using any SFTP connectivity tool, open a new connection on SFTP client. Select secure file transfer protocol and enter the server and username your Expedia account manager will provide.

Note: You can only upload refund files once per day.

Testing

Prior to launching your template site, we recommend that you test the refund upload process. For initial validation, begin by uploading a sample report file with mock data. We will verify that the file is received and confirm that the data is processed successfully.

Then, validate with production bookings prior to site launch. Your Expedia account manager will coordinate with you to submit a report for a specific date, based on production test bookings made during user acceptance testing.