First there was e-mail. Then came e-commerce. Now, says Amit Tyagi there are e-tickets-electronic tickets, which are fast replacing regular paper tickets for air travel. Welcome to the pain-free world of e-tickets. Imagine the ease and convenience of walking straight on to your flight. This is becoming common place for travelers using e-tickets instead of conventional paper tickets. All you need is to make a phone call to your travel agent and take down the number he has given to you. That’s it. The sheer simplicity of it makes it a bit unnerving. Is it possible that something this can work? Apparently, yes. And a growing number of people are beginning to switch over. An e-ticket is a confirmation number in a computer, which you get when you make a booking and pay for it. After that you only need a photograph or photo ID check-in at the airport. According to a report in USA Today, airlines expect that more than half of all fliers in USA will dispense with paper tickets by the end of the year, as the demand for e-tickets soars. Nearly 30 per cent of
airline passengers already use e-tickets. Major airlines first began issuing e-tickets in 1995. Since then, using e-tickets for booking flights has gained in popularity, especially with business people.
Most business travelers use a combination of regular tickets and e-tickets these days. When they are in hurry and have a straightforward business trip to make with new flight changes, they opt for the plain speed and convenience of ane-ticket. But when it’s trip that involves itinerary and flights on partner airlines, they’re more likely to stick to the traditional method of booking a flight.
E-tickets have other advantages. You can purchase tickets just as easily for people in different locations; call or fax them with a confirmation number, and they are on the airplane. For late purchases, there’re minimum hassles, with no scurry to the local ticket office. With e-tickets, on-line bookings via the Internet are not easy and convenient to handle but entitle you to discount fares
on many airlines’websites as well as last-minute specials. Another advantage is that there’s no possibility of ‘forgetting’ your ticket. If
you leave your regular tickets behind, there is a $60 to 70 service fee for the lost ticket, and you might have to pay for a completely new ticket. With an e-ticket there are no extra costs to replace the receipt or get on the airplane.
Despite the numerous advantages of e-ticket, problems can occur because you are once again trusting yourself to computers and agents, and to long strings of numbers and letters scribbled down over the phone. Imagine a scenario where you arrive at the airport a little later than usual without a paper ticket and someone has botched your reservation. You could be in
for a rough time. Further, if you are forced to change airlines, or there is some extraordinary event such as an airlines strike or closure, how do competing carriers confirm that you do indeed have a ticket?
During the 1997 strike in USA, e-ticket holders were required to get a printed copy of their reservation before they could book on other airlines.
Despite being a convert to the new system, Chahil uses regular tickets for international travel because, as he says: “In countries where credit cards are not very common and where people generally don’t carry ID cards, e-ticketing is difficult to implement.”
International security regulations can also cause problems if you don’t have a ticket. “I travel regularly with only carry-on luggage, which means I can go straight to the gate and checkin,” says a frequent traveler. “However, I need either a paper ticket or have to stop at a check-in counter for a boarding pass for certain kinds of security because they don’t always have the facilities to check an ID to confirm an e-ticket.”
It’s not yet a perfect system, and convience sometimes comes with a price. An e-ticket can also create problems if you miss a flight, or if you don’t take the first or second part of the trip. As one filer said: “You then have no ticket and if the airline loses the reservation, you could be in for a royal battle.”
But there are many travelers for whom this is the only way to go. Ed Hewitt, features editor, The Independent Traveler, says: “These are quibbles for a busy and admittedly somewhat disorganized traveler like me. The prospect of it being absolutely impossible to forget my tickets cancels out any potential downside.If know my itinerary, and have a confirmation number in case there’s a snafu, I’m content.”
Airlines are all for e-ticketing. First of all, it facilitates the trend towards direct customer sales. Handling costs are $1 for an e-ticket compared to $8 for a paper ticket. Airlines save in the $6 to 7 range for every ticket they don’t have to print and post to customers. According to USA Today, e-ticket use is likely to surge this year as airlines offers it on more international flights and makes transfers easier. United Airlines is already offering e-tickets on flights to Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Northwest Airlines offers e-tickets to Asia this summer. Continental will offer e-tickets to Latin America and Europe by December 31. American and United Airlines now offer e-tickets to Europe. The trend is catching on with Europe airlines too.
E-tickets are becoming so popular that industry watchers claim that soon a paper ticket may cost extra. Airlines expect that more than half of all fillers in USA will dispense with paper tickets by the end of the year. An American Express survey of 700 business fliers found 75 per cent liked them because there was nothing to misplace and it streamlined the check-in process. Business houses and companies are also encouraging the use of e-tickets, and courier services are not of replacing lost tickets, and courier services are not needed to send tickets to employees in remote locations. “The fact is, e-ticket are here to stay.” Says Hewitt. “The airlines love them, the majority of travelers loves them, the digital economy thrives on them. You’ll love them too.”
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