Hello everyone,

I have published a book recently about the design of paper airline tickets, many of them were true design masterpieces. Now I know that most airlines replaced them with electronic tickets in 2008 but I have come across a few airlines that still seem to be issuing and using paper tickets today.

Have you received a paper ticket recently?

Would be good to hear from you!

Every now and then on my airlines employee Facebook pages you'll see people digging up nuggets like paper tickets for nonreving from as late as the early 2000s, from both premerger airlines.

When my parents first started working for CO in 1999, I remember them trying to figure out how to use the paper ticket. I don't know if they ever actually used them or if they even had success with it but I remember it still being around at that time.

Non rev paper tickets lasted beyond 2010. Those were the last notable paper tickets that I know of other than maybe a few stray airlines in remote parts of the world.

I traveled to the Far East in 2019, and have the following tickets;

Jetstar BKK to SIN
Jetstar SIN to CGK
Citilink HLP to DPS
MAS KUL to MNL
Etihad MNL to AUH
Etihad AUH to LHR

Seems to be fairly widespread in Asia.

On my first two days on the line as Cabin Crew with Excel Airways back in 2005 I needed to have a paper ticket filled out by my base manager to get me onto the aircraft as I hadn't been issued my airport ID yet. I've still got them in my aviation files upstairs

Phil
FlyingColours

bennett123 wrote:

I traveled to the Far East in 2019, and have the following tickets;

Jetstar BKK to SIN
Jetstar SIN to CGK
Citilink HLP to DPS
MAS KUL to MNL
Etihad MNL to AUH
Etihad AUH to LHR

Seems to be fairly widespread in Asia.

None of these airlines AFAIK issue paper ticket, hell, even Iran Air is issuing electronic tickets nowadays! Are you sure you are holding paper tickets - it is a booklet with several pages of "coupons" for every leg of the journey. And you will get nasty red fingers by touching these pages by the write through ink... I guess you are just holding a printed booking confirmation of an electronic ticket on a piece of paper.

bennett123 wrote:

I traveled to the Far East in 2019, and have the following tickets;

Jetstar BKK to SIN
Jetstar SIN to CGK
Citilink HLP to DPS
MAS KUL to MNL
Etihad MNL to AUH
Etihad AUH to LHR

Seems to be fairly widespread in Asia.

I assuming that you are confusing tickets with boarding passes.

This is how a paper ticket used to look like before etkts came about, nowadays referred to as a booking confirmation on airline websites:

Is the OP looking for tickets issued at time of purchase? Or would FIMs qualify?

bennett123 wrote:

I traveled to the Far East in 2019, and have the following tickets;
...
Seems to be fairly widespread in Asia.

Paper boarding pass very different to paper ticket!
Even if the boarding pass is printed on card (as many airlines still do for premium pax) or a docket like LCC.

Last paper ticket i recall was an AA issued ex-CMB Colombo, Sri Lanka DONE4 (oneworld Business Class 4 continent ticket) in I think 2005 which had 18 segments and was a few cm thick.
Each page was printed but the tax section had a separate printed sticker.

I have Air Koryo paper tickets from 2007. As a bonus, they are handwritten!
But I guess that if there was one airline doing it old style, it must be them...

Sorry, they are boarding passes.

My last one were a few non revenue tickets within South America back in 2013. Resulted in some arguments at airport staff ticket counters about the correct fare calculation line, which was interesting to witness given the person who did that calculation and printed those tickets was with me on that trip. All ended fine though, reading fare calculation lines wasn‘t everyone’s strong point

airevents wrote:

Now I know that most airlines replaced them with electronic tickets in 2008 but I have come across a few airlines that still seem to be issuing and using paper tickets today.

Could you tell us who they are ? Once lockdown is over, I feel a trip is coming...

I've had many non-rev paper tickets over the years, probably not since somewhere around 2008 though. Although they looked very official and it felt like you were really holding something of great value, I prefer electronic as you can book them from anywhere, the paper ones had to be purchased at your home airport before traveling (at least at my company).

The best thing about them was using them at a major airport like SFO or LAX when a junior agent wouldn't know what to do with them. I remember one agent looking at the thing, seemingly turning it every possible way to try and figure it out before calling a more senior agent over with the phrase "he's got a paper ticket" like I had an artifact from ancient Egypt lol. The older guy said "here, give me that" and promptly took care of it. I don't remember if I got on the flight or not, but that made my day!

MIflyer12 wrote:

Is the OP looking for tickets issued at time of purchase? Or would FIMs qualify?

Good question, do some airlines still use paper FIMs? I retired in 2017 and at that time in the US I think everyone was electronic.

I travelled on non-rev paper tickets in South Africa and the US as recently as 2014.

It took a while in PLZ to locate someone who even knew how to process it. Most of the younger staff had never seen one before. Eventually an older guy from the ticket desk was called over to uncover the mystery!

A relic from a bygone era indeed. I can’t imagine there are many paper tickets doing the rounds these days, even for non-rev travel.

I received tickets from Zhezair in Kazakhstan (2018 vintage) and Helitours (Sri Lanka) from 2020 for my book.

Back in 2010 on Delta something screwed up my reservation and the sky club agent gave me a new boarding pass and a ticket on much thicker paper. She told me not to lose it. The boarding pass had "coupon required" on it.

airevents wrote:

Hello everyone,

I have published a book recently about the design of paper airline tickets, many of them were true design masterpieces. Now I know that most airlines replaced them with electronic tickets in 2008 but I have come across a few airlines that still seem to be issuing and using paper tickets today.

Have you received a paper ticket recently?

Would be good to hear from you!

Ahhh, the good old days when a RTW ticket from Australia (or anywhere for that matter) would often consist of 5 or more tickets (4 sectors on each ticket) to make up a singular itinerary / trip. And also where fun things like "Issued In Conjunction With" boxes had to be filled in with all the ticket numbers comprising the entire trip. And "Conditions" boxes which had to often be endorsed with curious terms such as 'non-endorsable' and/or 'non-refundable' , 'non-reroutable' etc.

Ticket stock was unique to each airline and each airline was identified by a unique number. Note the sample ticket shown in Reply Jeffery0032j - see top right.
Each ticket consisted of four (4) sectors and had 4 passenger coupons (1 for each sector) collected by the individual airline(s) providing the sector.
Even 'surface' sectors (arrive into a city at one airport and leave by another) ie: arrive into LaGuardia in NYC and depart from JFK - had to be ticketed with a coupon that was labelled 'Surface'.
the was an area for ROE (Rate Of Exchange) to denote currency value on date of issue.
Those responsible for issuing tickets had a 'ticket validator' which identified the author of the ticket. Tickets were revenue-generators and had to be traceable to an agent, if errors occurred in construction.
Tickets were originated from airline offices, City Ticket Offices and from Travel Agents. Travel agents were provided a Commission. Unbelievable today ..
Frankly, there was a LOT more information than what comes out on your regular e-Tkt.

There were identical coupons for 1 flight / sector coupon for central accounting purposes and claiming revenue from the BSP (Bank Settlement Plan) clearing house. The was also the passenger copy that was left after the trip was completed and all the other coupons had been collected.
All of these tickets were written by hand (neatly) up until the emergence of the computer era, where thankfully, tickets could then be printed via dot-matrix printers.

Question for OP @airevents .... did your book also include the design of MCO's (Miscellaneous Charge Orders) as well? That would certainly be interest as well.

I got the paper ticket during the Air Koryo tour in 2014, but I think it was more for a souvenir than practical use.

Not major airlines but I remember getting a paper ticket from:
New England Airlines in 2014 for WST-BID-WST route
and China Flying Dragon General Aviation in 2015 for DLC-CNI-DLC route

My last paper ticket was in 2010 With orient Thai