September 20
It may seem like an antiquated topic, but there are still travelers out there who believe the best way to travel by air is with a paper ticket.
“E-ticketing” was introduced by ValuJet in 1994. Since then the International Airline Travel Association (IATA) instituted a goal to convert all worldwide airlines to E-ticketing. For the most part, the major worldwide air carriers have all converted over to E-ticketing; according to IATA, the 230 airlines that belong to this Association were to be 100% converted by June 2008. With the exception of many African air carriers who are members of IATA (only 4.2% of the entire African continent uses the Internet and electronic computer technology[1]), E-ticketing represents the lion’s share of issued airline tickets today.
There are still some travelers however that believe that they are better protected with a paper ticket. Of course, this all comes down to the almighty dollar with regards to the airline industry. According to IATA, the issuance of E-tickets represents over $3 billion in savings annually, and estimates that it costs the airlines over $9 a ticket in additional costs as opposed to a single E-ticket.
While the international standard for paper tickets was developed in the 1930s, IATA realized that in order for the airlines to save huge amounts of money in administrative, materials and technology costs, they began to develop an international standard for issuing E-tickets, which they finalized in 1997. The goal of IATA was to reduce the consumer’s dependence on paper tickets, allowing the airlines to create huge databases, making it easier for each airline to identify its passengers, and re-issue lost tickets. Prior to the E-ticket, paper tickets not only had to meet IATA standards, but the airlines as well as travel agencies had to keep them under lock and key as these could be counterfeited (and have been in the past) just like paper currency. In 2008, IATA stopped issuing paper ticket stock as the vast majority of member airlines had already converted over to the e-ticketing system.
With the advent of smart phones, the airlines have been able to realize additional savings through the issuance of electronic boarding passes. These E-boarding passes contain complex, hybridized “QR” or “digitized” barcodes that are nearly impossible to replicate. This new technology has allowed the airlines to issue travel itineraries and boarding passes without the need for paper at all. This new streamlined process has also made it easier for travelers to have their travel documents replicated should their paper records become lost or stolen.
Another advantage to E-ticketing is that the airlines can now tie your travel documents with bar-coded tags attached to your checked luggage, allowing for the ease of identification and locating misdirected bags. By tracking bags using this process, lost luggage can be reunited with its owner within hours or days rather than weeks or months.
Like any technological advances, however, there are some downsides.
Photo courtesy of Fox News, Inc.
In recent years, most of the legacy airlines in the United States have experienced one form or another of computer system malfunction: ticketing and reservation systems coming to a screeching halt with computer crashes and the threat of hackers accessing their systems. Previous system glitches have proved to be a little more than just challenging, especially to those who have to reissue lost airline tickets. Specific examples include localized problems, like the one experienced by American Airlines in July 2008 when a software glitch caused several cancellations, a myriad of delays and hundreds of checked bags being stranded in JFK’s Terminal 8.[2] In June 2007, United Airlines’ computer systems failed for several hours, causing passengers to be stranded in massive flight delays and cancellations.[3] Although the systems were only down for a few hours, it took the airline several days before their operations returned to normal. And just this past summer, US Airways experienced a power failure at its computer center, causing systemwide cancellations and delays, and stranding passengers at airports nationwide.[4]
The drawback to having computer systems go down is very basic. Customer Service Agents (CSAs) cannot verify travel itineraries or reservations based on E-ticketing and E-reservations. They also cannot tie checked luggage to a customer’s seat assignment. In the American Airlines case, luggage had to be left behind in order to avoid further delays, and passengers were forced to follow-up on locating their checked bags on their own. While this scenario is rare, it can cause headaches for both airlines and passengers alike. Some travelers point to these examples in making the case for having paper tickets issued. But these aren’t the only hang-ups to E-ticketing.
There are times when the airlines need to accommodate passengers by transferring their reservation to a different air carrier. Unless the two the airlines are tied into the same computer system, or are in the same Airline Alliance (Star Alliance, OneWorld, SkyTeam, etc.)it is nearly impossible for the airline to transfer that reservation to the new airline without a paper ticket. Since IATA ticket stock is no longer available, it is up to the individual air carriers to determine how they might re-accommodate you on a different carrier. That reservation you hold is worth $$$ to the airline and transferring you to another airline is simply a loss of revenue to them. If they serve the community to which you are flying, they will, in all likelihood, rebook you on themselves, rather than send you to a rival carrier.
There have also been examples of customer reservations being completely wiped out due to computer glitches. The airlines insist that redundancies are in place to prevent this from happening, so this kind of issue is rare indeed. Recently however, there have been examples of customers who have purchased their tickets through online vendors (Orbitz, Travelocity, Priceline, etc.). When trouble strikes these itineraries, the airlines are typically powerless to do anything about it without intervention from those vendors.
Nowadays, it is important to remember that paper tickets are more costly, time-consuming, and in some cases impossible (depending on the airport you are at) for the airlines to produce and process, which affect their bottom line. Unless you insist on having a paper ticket issued, you will be automatically issued an E-ticket, and your reservation will be stored in the airline’s computer database, along with any ties to your luggage. If you require a paper ticket, you can expect to spend additional time and resources in obtaining it, and most airlines have added a surcharge to the issuance of paper tickets, some adding as much at $100 USD to the cost of the fare.
Also, keep in mind that paper tickets are much like paper money…they have a face value and are worth the money you spent on the ticket. Not all airports can replace paper tickets, especially those issued by a travel agent, so make sure to take great care in keeping these documents safe during your travels.
In today’s modern information world of airline travel, your best option is to shed the need for a paper ticket…you’ll get where you need to be faster, more efficiently, with less hassle and lower costs with an E-ticket. And make sure to take advantage of the airlines various travel tools for issuing boarding cards and keeping up-to-date on your itinerary.
[1] Balancing act.com – Telecoms, Internet and Broadcast in Africa, Issue #256, “Many African Airlines Will Fail to Meet IATA’s E-Ticketing Deadline”, http://bit.ly/nlhNqb
[2] Fox News, Thursday, July 31, 2008: “American Airlines Cancels, Delays More Flights after Computer Glitch and Luggage Pileup” – Associated Press, http://fxn.ws/pWWZyr
[3]ABC News, U.S. News, Thursday, June 21, 2007:“United Airlines’ Tech Meltdown — It Could Happen Again” — John J. Nance, http://abcn.ws/n8a7KQ
[4] Overhead Bin on MSNBC.com, June 10, 2011: “Computer Glitch Grounds Flights at US Airways” – Joe Myxter, http://on.msnbc.com/pZE469
