RIXrat From United States, joined Nov 2005, 619 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1249 times:
My wife went on KLM to DAR Tanzania last month on a paper ticket because she insisted on it. The last time she went on an E-ticket coming back from the U.S. the KLM service desk in AMS was so busy that she missed her flight to RIX.
This time she insisted on a paper ticket and despite the extra EUR 25.00 charge, I bought it. The local KLM office told me that within the next six months there will be no paper tickets issued. All will be electronic. I doubt that.
Imagine her in Dar es Salaam with a power outage, and this is frequent, and the computers not working. Instead of a number, she will at least have a real ticket to come back on.
E-tickets work in the real world, but I have some doubts down there. I don't think my EUR 25.00 investment was a waste of time. Do you?
VinnieWinnie From France, joined Nov 2005, 449 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1230 times:
Well people will always feel more secure with a paper ticket! It's something tangible to which you can refer to if a problem arise! A e-ticket is just a few numbers quicky printed out from your home/office computer! No-one will ever pretend to trust the system on a 100% basis!
But yeah things evolve and paper tickets are bound to be a thing off the past soon! They created hassle and extra costs to airlines! So why keep them if there is a way around the extra burden they create?
Saves a few trees as well
More specifically well 25 euros is a lot I find! It would certainly discourage me from buying a paper ticket knowing that in most cases all the info lies in a computer or I suppose even on paper in less advanced countries!
A319XFW From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1216 times:
Usually when I fly, I use e-ticket and actually only give them my passport and tell them which flight I'm on.
That usually does the trick to get the boarding pass.
Saying that though, I did fly to TAB and there it was essential to have a paper ticket as the airport didn't seem to have computers of any kind at the check-ins. But for that flight there was only a paper ticket possible.
RIXrat From United States, joined Nov 2005, 619 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1196 times:
Yes, I agree with you. There is nothing better to stuff into your ticket automat at the airport, get your seat selection and boarding pass. I just wonder whether DAR has the same mechanism.
SA7700 From South Africa, joined Dec 2003, 2222 posts, RR: 10 Reply 5, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1144 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW FORUM MODERATOR
Quoting VinnieWinnie (Reply 1): Well people will always feel more secure with a paper ticket!
They are a bitch when check-in or gate agents uplift incorrect ones and you are standing helpless at a check-in counter or boarding gate. I have been there last night as a matter of fact. E-tickets are the way to go in the future.
BAxMAN From St Helena, joined May 2004, 671 posts, RR: 6 Reply 6, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1130 times:
E-tickets are great.
It's a pain in the buttocks when poor little Japanese students are mugged in the centre of London and lose their tickets, or when Ma & Pa Bucket leave their tickets on the mantlepiece.
But for more complex itineraries, especially RTW, I would take a paper ticket any day.
And the day we have complete e-ticket interlinability amongst all airlines will be the day an American legacy carrier clears their debt. I very much look forward to the day when UM and HY have interlinable e-tickets.
Traveler_7 From Estonia, joined May 2000, 400 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1080 times:
Quoting RIXrat (Thread starter): E-tickets work in the real world, but I have some doubts down there. I don't think my EUR 25.00 investment was a waste of time. Do you?
I think that when you go somewhere far from home and you haven't been there before and you do not know what to expect then paper ticket is necessary.
So consider that you simply saving your wife nervous system
AerorobNZ From Rwanda, joined Feb 2001, 4147 posts, RR: 11 Reply 9, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1075 times:
E Tickets are far better. All you need is a printout of your ETKT, and your passport. Even if you lose your printout you can still fly because it is in the system. No effort no reissuing, no nothing.
Paper Tickets are more expensive, less flexible, and if you lose the ticket you have to buy a whole new ticket. Paper Tickets are just a messy and costly waste of time for us airlines, the sooner they go 100% electronic the better.
Quoting A319XFW (Reply 2): Usually when I fly, I use e-ticket and actually only give them my passport and tell them which flight I'm on.
That usually does the trick to get the boarding pass.
That's all there is to it. If We require a look at your printout it is because there is a problem with passport visa/entry requirements to the country, and so to uplift you we need to know you are leaving the country (or meeting all requirements). That's of course if you are travelling on several ETKTs not one Itinerary which is in the PNR.
CPH757 From Denmark, joined Sep 2005, 684 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1059 times:
What can a paper ticket offer, that an e-ticket can't? Is basically just text on a piece of paper, with no information that you cannot put in an e-mail confirmation and print out at home?
They can provide you with an illusion on old time travelling, but that's about it? I cannot see how it can provide more safety? An e-ticket is just as good when the computer systems are down, just remember your confirmation. This is your own choice. The computers don't have to be used more intensively on on ticket type than another.
Last flight: Sep 21th HEL-CPH on AY - Next Flight: CPH-SAW on H9
GQfluffy From United States, joined Apr 2005, 3140 posts, RR: 7 Reply 11, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 957 times:
Quoting CPH757 (Reply 10): What can a paper ticket offer, that an e-ticket can't? Is basically just text on a piece of paper, with no information that you cannot put in an e-mail confirmation and print out at home?
Well, let me give you an example that I see every day. Say you book a flight from MSP to BIL on NW, transfer to GQ and head to BOI (I know no one in their right mind would do this save those expedia-ers and orbitz-ers...but we'll save that debate for later). You may have booked these flights thru NW reservations and they'll make an e-ticket for you. GQ will not accept the NW e-tickets. Plain and simple. You can call us seperately and make your own reservation and you'll have a GQ e-ticket. Now, we will still let you on your flight, but then we get to go have NW print out your e-ticket as paper ticket. That is a new thing we've finally been able to do. NW hates doing it, we hate doing it, but NW reservations doesn't seem to catch on...nor (I'm sure) do they care.
A paper ticket can't offer more then an e-ticket...but some airlines won't accept other's e-tickets... And pax just don't seem to understand this... Leads to many headaches on both sides. I do hope one day this will get better, but I doubt it.
Now, just for FYI, if you book a reservation on GQ thru one of them aforementioned "fly cheap" websites, you better make sure you click the "mail me paper tickets" box. Because you cannot fly on GQ on their etickets. If you try to....hahaha...sucks to be you.
Aa757first From United States, joined Aug 2003, 3038 posts, RR: 11 Reply 12, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 954 times:
Quoting CPH757 (Reply 10): What can a paper ticket offer, that an e-ticket can't? Is basically just text on a piece of paper, with no information that you cannot put in an e-mail confirmation and print out at home?
Wrong. If you want to get rebooked on another airline, you need a paper ticket. Actually, if you have an E-Ticket, the CSR has to print out a paper ticket. I know little about airline ticketing, but this is how I understand it. Maybe one of our ticketing experts EA CO AS, Lesvoka and that guy who used to work for Apollo can help us out here.
IATA wants all airlines to have E-Tickets only pretty soon. Surely before the close of this decade. I think it is 2007 or 2008. A lot of African carriers are really going to struggle to meet this "deadline."
GQfluffy From United States, joined Apr 2005, 3140 posts, RR: 7 Reply 14, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 944 times:
Quoting Aa757first (Reply 12): Wrong. If you want to get rebooked on another airline, you need a paper ticket. Actually, if you have an E-Ticket, the CSR has to print out a paper ticket
Airbus A3XX From Australia, joined May 1999, 500 posts, RR: 1 Reply 15, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 916 times:
Quoting RIXrat (Thread starter): The local KLM office told me that within the next six months there will be no paper tickets issued. All will be electronic. I doubt that
This is actually true. The IATA has issued directives to airlines and this would require all IATA member airlines to convert to the exclusive use of e-tickets in the near future (forgot about the exact date but it should be on or before 2008).
Afay1 From United States, joined Oct 2001, 1269 posts, RR: 4 Reply 16, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 897 times:
It depends on where I am flying. I would not trust an E-ticket in many destinations in Africa, Asia, or the CIS as airline officials can simply claim it doesn't exist and know you can't do anything about it. How many people actually lose their paper tickets anyway? I am sure some do of course, but it can't be that many. There are also tons of computer glitches that can happen in any country. I flew on USair last month on a ticket I bought from United (codeshare flight). Both times I needed to have a paper ticket printed out and lost my assigned seat. The manager told me that the e-tickets are always getting mixed up, even between partners, and that they often just give your seat away first because the whole thing is a hassle. All of the people I dealt with were grumpy about the whole thing, I can only imagine what would happen if someone wanted to make trouble for me. If your seat isn't printed on a paper ticket, according to several people I talked to, you can forget about any protection.
Also, how does one deal with E-Tickets in countries where customs and security are before check-in, such as Russia and Ukraine? In Russian airports one has to show a ticket to check-in and have it stamped. I can just imagine trying to hand over some crumpled piece of paper I printed out at home to the security guards in say, Tyumen. Obviously this will change with time, but for the moment, paper tickets certainly afford far greater security over e-tickets in many markets.
Arffguy From United States, joined Sep 2005, 129 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 890 times:
Spending the extra money kept your wife's peace of mind at ease and peace in your household. Sometimes that's just the smoothest way to do things in a marriage. Sign me-married ten years.
Commavia From United States, joined Apr 2005, 6793 posts, RR: 59 Reply 18, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 885 times:
Quoting Aa757first (Reply 12): Wrong. If you want to get rebooked on another airline, you need a paper ticket.
Not necessarily true. Once two airlines have an interline e-ticketing agreement, they no longer need a paper ticket to be endorsed over before they can reissue a new ticket. American Airlines (and oneworld) has recently taken the lead in this area, and now has at least 23 interline e-ticketing agreements with, among others:
Alaska Airlines, America West Airlines, American Trans Air, Aloha Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, Midwest Airlines, Northwest Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways, Aer Lingus, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LAN AIRLINES and Qantas, AeroMexico, Copa Airlines, Jalways, Japan Airlines, Japan Asia Airways, KLM, LANPERU, Mexicana Airlines and SN Brussels Airlines.
Afay1 From United States, joined Oct 2001, 1269 posts, RR: 4 Reply 19, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 876 times:
I suspect that this interline agreement involves heavy use of buck-passing. What would happen if due to an MX delay, you were stranded at your starting point, say, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. You are bound for Tasmania via MIA-LAX-SYD on AA and Qantas. You will lose all your connections. Does anyone here seriously believe the res agent in PAP will re-issue all those flights? No, they would consecuatively pass the buck on to the next station. Any minor computer glitch along the way could strand you at any point along your journey. In cases like that, a paper ticket will back you up in the face of inevitably surly airline staff.
N723GW From United States, joined Nov 2005, 232 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 870 times:
IMHO- Bad. I used to work for C8, and YX, and 1.) It's an extra 20 dollar charge, we were told that if people asked us why it cost money, you told them that it was thier part in actually paying for the paper. 2.) If you lose it, your pretty much boned. E-ticket, it's in the CPU, you can handle it from home, it's safer for you! A paper ticket would be really easy to steal and use for yourself. Last time I was aware, airlines let you get on a plane without an I.D, you just had to be made a selectee.
Arffguy From United States, joined Sep 2005, 129 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 856 times:
Quoting N723GW (Reply 20): Last time I was aware, airlines let you get on a plane without an I.D, you just had to be made a selectee.
Maybe if you didn't go through security and just went to the gate, like an employee could. Employees usually go through TSA security like any other passenger at my airport. Show your ID and boarding pass.
N723GW From United States, joined Nov 2005, 232 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 849 times:
Right, but I reliefed security a few times, and like I stated, you can board a plane without your ID...you can have a boarding pass, but, security at different airports are all different in procedures and what-nots.
Afay1 From United States, joined Oct 2001, 1269 posts, RR: 4 Reply 23, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 841 times:
You are speaking only about the US, the topic was about E-tickets in general. While they *may* usually work fine here, they don't neccesarily do in other places or on American carriers operating in foreign countries with outsourced staff.
Blrsea From India, joined May 2005, 951 posts, RR: 4 Reply 24, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 791 times:
Don't most airlines use one of the handful reservation system like amadeus etc? Wouldn't it be easier to have inter-airline e-ticketing as reservation systems used are very few? Or am I missing something here?
Carnoc From China, joined Oct 2001, 856 posts, RR: 1 Reply 25, posted (3 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 765 times:
There are many complicated issues involved with e-tickets, so it is not that simple to give out a Yes or No answer.
For example, the customs & immigration personnel at certain countries won't even accept ETKT printouts issued by the operating airlines, thus the Airline Representatives or Ground Handling Agent's Customer Service personnel may have to explain the situation to officers from those Government agencies again and again.
Cheers.
26 Marambio: Having used e-tickets lots of times, I love them. It is way more convenient than going around with a bunch of papers (especially when traveling far aw
27 Leskova: Generally, within alliances, eTickets are unproblematic (though there are exceptions to that rule): it's when airlines don't have eTicket-interlining
28 Leskova: Did you book directly with UA, or is this what it says on your eTicket passenger receipt? I know that Sabre bookings usually have (more or less) that
29 BA757: BA have asked to see mine three years ago when traveling to LCA from MAN via LHR. But thats the only time I have ever been asked. Adam
30 Jumpseat70: Any ETicket can be printed to a paper ticket. But if you lose a paper ticket, you are screwed. Better to have an Eticket. However, for the Europeans,
31 Cgnnrw: This whole system confuses me. So if I have a paper ticket and loose it I have to pay a hefty charge to have me ticket reiussed, right? If I forget m
32 Gr8Circle: How do airlines check you in on an e-ticket if the computers are down, or there is a power failure or something...? Do they have backup printouts read
33 Leskova: Yes, the penalties are quite hefty - but the system is actually quite simple... If you lose your ticket and someone else finds it then, depending on
34 GQfluffy: On some airlines, GQ included, if you show up and you don't have your paper ticket with you, you have two choices. You pay for a new ticket, or you d
35 RIXrat: It was vaguely referred to, but immigration and customs in some not so developed countries, especially those with strict visa requirements, actually d
36 Cedars747: But any way you can print your e-ticket !
37 GQfluffy: The Airlines can. You can't. I'm not sure an airline would print out an E-ticket for you just to have something paper in your hand. I know if you were
38 UN_B732: Here in the US the fee isn't very much, and for flights to KBP it's mostly required, and for SVO I just don't turst them. If it's $10-20, knowing the
39 Shamrock_747: British Airways will no longer issue paper tkts on etkt routes, apart from a very limited number of exceptions. The advantages of etkts are obvious -
40 Abrelosojos: Everyone has a difficult experience. On Saturday, I was trying to book a DL flight in ALB and the check-in woman could not find me in the system irres
41 AerorobNZ: If a person is travelling on an ETKT with a passport that needs a visa/is subject to restrictions on having an onward/return tkt (most countries.) th
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