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Personal Finance > Saving & Spending > Travel
Taking an E-ticket ride
February 13, 1998: 4:20 p.m. ET

Ticketless travel continues to improve as an option for frequent fliers
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NEW YORK (Biztravel.com) - Regular or decaf? Smoking or non-smoking? Aisle or window seat? To these weighty decisions of our time, business travelers now must add the question: Electronic E-ticket or paper ticket?
     After a flurry of improvements by airlines in 1997, travelers and providers are rapidly adopting electronic ticketing in 1998. By the turn of the coming century, the traditional paper ticket might be as hard to find as a full-service gasoline pump is today.
     Airlines wax ecstatic over the development, which saves on the cost of paper ticket processing, estimated at as much as $8 per ticket vs. $1 for each E-ticket. Electronic tickets also position the carriers to take advantage of other electronic trends, such as Internet purchases, smart cards and airport kiosk machines.
    
Regional airlines first out of gate

     The E-ticket began with regional airlines, such as ValuJet and Western Pacific, which saw electronic ticketing as a natural fit with their no-frills business strategies.
     In January 1995, when Southwest Airlines (LUV) became the first major carrier to offer systemwide "ticketless travel," the rest of the industry began to follow suit. By the end of 1997, every major U.S. airline and an increasing number of European and Pacific Rim carriers were asking, in one form or another, that now-familiar question: electronic or regular ticket?
     "As the public gets more used to electronic transactions throughout the economy, electronic ticketing is likely to become the norm," says Jim Ruppel, Southwest's director of customer relations.
     More than half of Southwest's passengers fly on E-tickets. United's (UAL) electronic sales have surpassed 30 percent of its total ticketing, with the percentage ranging from 10 to 40 percent for large airlines to twice that for regional carriers. A recent survey of business travelers found that 75 percent preferred E-tickets, and many observers believe that business passengers account for more than half of all E-tickets sold.
     Electronic tickets may be purchased via the Internet, telephone, airline counters or travel agents. Regardless of the source, E-ticket passengers typically pay with a credit card and receive a confirmation number. Some carriers automatically mail an itinerary listing fare, seat assignment, and confirmation number; other airlines send a confirmation only when asked.
    
One less item to carry

     At the airport, an E-ticket passenger simply states his name and shows the gate clerk a photo ID - a driver's license, passport, or other government-issued ID -- and receives a boarding pass.
     While procedures vary, most airlines allow check-in without the confirmation number, although a few, led by overseas carriers including Air France and British Airways, require passengers to present frequent flyer smart cards.
     E-tickets generate mixed feelings among business passengers, who are feeling more - or less - secure about the logistics of flying. To most, an E-ticket can mean any or all of the following benefits: one less item to pack; streamlined check-in, little or no charge for ticketing changes, or perks like bonus miles.
     Want to book flights for your sales staff in three different cities? Ask for E-tickets, and simply give the confirmation numbers to the other passengers.
    
The downside

     An E-ticket, however, also brings its share of inconveniences. You might still need an expense receipt, you can't use E-tickets for many overseas destinations and you can't easily transfer to another carrier between legs of your itinerary.
     Though it may appear to defeat the purpose of electronic ticketing, business travelers should always ask for a printed confirmation. During the most recent strike at American Airlines, passengers "holding" E-tickets were unable to transfer to other airlines until they had first acquired a printed copy of their ticket.
     In a worst-case scenario, you could check in to find your name or fare missing from the airline's computer. While airlines admit a few disasters in which travelers had to buy full-fare tickets in order to board, they insist that such glitches are rare compared to the more traditional problem of lost or forgotten paper tickets. A printed confirmation minimizes the risks.
     In a twist on paper ticketing machines, a few airlines now provide paper boarding passes for E-ticket holders who use automated E-ticket check-in machines. Other airlines, including United, greet E-ticket passengers with gate personnel using hand-held computers or else provide separate lines which often offer ticketless passengers shorter waits.
     Having worked out most of the domestic kinks, major carriers are widening the appeal of E-tickets by extending them to selected international destinations and easing transfers to flights on other airlines.
     Financial disincentives to paper tickets might also multiply. Some travel agents speculate that airlines may soon charge a small fee for that endangered species, the old paper ticket. Back to top

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.