Is Defera safe and legitimate?
Defera is a travel company, founded in 2024 in San Francisco, that lets you book flights, or a flight and hotel together, and pay over time. We protect your payments with an encrypted connection, and we never store your complete card details.
It's a smart question to ask before you share your card details with anyone. Here's how we protect you, what we promise on every booking, and how to check that you're really dealing with us.
Who is Defera?
We started Defera in San Francisco so that travel doesn't depend on perfect credit or a big bank balance. You can book with no credit check and no interest, and pay for your trip in automatic weekly or bi-weekly payments. You can read more about us on our About page.
How are my payment details protected?
- Your connection is encrypted. Your connection to Defera is TLS-encrypted, which means the details you send are scrambled on their way to us.
- We never store your complete card details. Payments are processed by certified PCI-DSS payment gateways that use tokenization. PCI-DSS is the card industry's security standard, and tokenization means a secure token stands in for your card number.
- Saved cards are replaced, not edited. A saved card can't be edited in place. Update Card, inside your trip, takes the full card details in one secure flow and replaces the old card.
How we protect your payment details has more.
What do you promise on every booking?
- No credit check. We never check your credit to let you book.
- No interest and no hidden fees. The Price Breakdown at checkout itemizes your trip total before you book, so you see exactly what you'll pay.
- Your price is secured. Once your booking is approved, your agreed-upon trip price is protected from future airfare increases while you stay in good standing on your payment plan.
- 24 hours to change your mind. If you cancel within 24 hours of booking, your deposit is refunded in full to the card you paid with, automatically.
Our Terms of Service set out how the service works.
How can I tell it's really Defera?
- Emails: your booking confirmation email comes from bookings@mail.defera.app, the moment you book.
- Calls: when you call us, the Defera Concierge asks for your booking reference (or the email on your account) and the passenger's name before it shares any account details.
If an email doesn't look right, How to tell an email is really from Defera shows what to check.
How is my personal data handled?
We ask for the traveler details a booking needs and a card for your payments. Our Privacy Policy explains in full how we handle your personal data.
Where can I read more about your security?
Our Security Center explains how we protect your account, your payments and your data, what we'll never ask you for, and how to report a security concern.
How do I reach you?
Chat with the Defera Concierge, our AI concierge, or call +1 (415) 319-8553, where the same AI concierge answers by voice 24/7. You can also email support@defera.app. Our email response time is 2–5 hours. Our mailing address is on our Contact page.