My experience from the US is... interesting. I tapped-and-paid $700 (not a typo) when visiting NY... and American Express had no idea I was in the US (unless they cooperate with US Border Controll). In the UK, I'm limited to 30 GBP.
Many airlines transmit level 3 purchase data as part of the credit card transaction, which will contain your complete itinerary -- which can be fed into the bank's risk system.