Stage 7: What must be approved before payment—and checked afterwards?

Close the decision with a short approval memo, then recheck material changes. Treat this as a procurement approval, not permission to override an operator’s safety decision.

The one-page approval memo

• Why this trip: required outcome and commercial alternative considered.
• Why this option: mission fit and reasons for choosing it.
• Who is responsible: contracting entity, carrier and disruption contact.
• What it costs: known USD total, payment schedule and unresolved charges.
• What can change: cancellation, substitution, recovery and fallback.
• What is accepted: named approver, conditions and expenditure authority.
• What supports it: dated proposals, terms and verification evidence.

Verify payment instructions through an independently established contact channel, especially after any bank-detail change. The FBI recommends independently obtaining contact details and verifying payment requests and changes rather than trusting the instructions in the message itself. (fbi.gov)

Before departure, recheck changes in aircraft, carrier, passengers, baggage and itinerary against the approved brief. If trip-specific diligence reports are part of your policy, request updated evidence for changed assignments. (argus.aero)

After travel, reconcile the final invoice against the accepted terms. Record substitutions, delays, additional costs, refunds and response quality. Use those buyer-owned records in the next supplier or programme review rather than assuming the original quote describes the delivered service.