Paper Airline Tickets Finished: Airlines To Go All Electronic June 1st

Major U.S. airlines recently announced that they were raising their prices. Now the the whole industry is throwing a curveball at travelers: as of June 1st, all airline tickets will be electronic. The era of the paper airline ticket has come to an end:

The paper airline ticket comes to the end of its life on Sunday when 240 carriers belonging to the world association IATA switch to all electronic ticketing, much of it through Internet booking.

IATA members account for 94 percent of world airline traffic and by the end of February, 94 percent of them had already abandoned the rectangle of stiff paper in favour of digital technology...

...The last paper tickets will be sold on Saturday, and the International Air Transport Association estimates that its member airlines will save three billion dollars (1.9 billion euros) a year, a much needed economy in the face of a huge rise in fuel costs.

Comments

[BobSF94117]

So how will security know who to let in?

[Mike169]

Boeing has capitalized on this new development by building the first fleet of paper airplanes.

[PennLawyer]

The only paper ticket I've used in years is the printout of my boarding pass. I always carry a printout of my receipt/total itinerary from my airline, since I can't print out a boarding pass until 24 hours before flight time. So this change won't affect me.

However, shocking as this may be to some, there are a lot of people - particularly in their 60's and older, who do not have access to a computer and printer. And yet they still have the temerity & courage to fly on commercial airlines. I wonder how the airlines will handle ticketing this segment of the population.

[Blurp]

Ah yes... back in the day when everyone held paper tickets if your flight got cancelled you could take that ticket to another carrier and they HAD to accomodate you... it was the law. Now I wonder why they don't issue them anymore. Huh?

[focher]

You think the service quality is connected to a paper ticket?

[Blurp]

Can you read? Where did I say that?

[Manuel]

And presumably the aggregators and wholesaler's of tickets -- the so-called bucket shops -- and their role in international money laundering will likewise come to an end.

It is a brave step by a revenue-stretched industry.

Manuel

[dadw5boys]

No paper reciept?

Your who? no you don't have a resveration. No he or she was not on that flight that crashed.

[swift goat pet for truth]

Wonder how often "the computers are down" at the airport?

Re-regulation just sounds better all the time.

[Mike169]

They ought to stop issuing tickets, paper or otherwise, and just park the planes. Start up Amtrak again and let people enjoy themselves as they travel.

[EdTracey]

This is fine, on one condition. One reason why this didn't happen a long time ago is that there were supposedly major problems with transferring someone to another airline, in an emergency situation at the airport. Are we to assume this has now been taken care of? No words to that effect here.

[focher]

Absolutely! Thank god we have the "Equator Bridge" so the train can still get you there if you are traveling to a different continent.

Oooh! And all those houses are so passe. Caves are the new today.