GUWonder
May 18, 06, 5:22 am
Are BMI awards for SAS or Swiss Flights Paper Tickets?
bmi diamond club - Are BMI awards for SAS or Swiss Flights Paper Tickets?
View Full Version : Are BMI awards for SAS or Swiss Flights Paper Tickets?
jim739
May 18, 06, 5:36 am
Not sure if there is a definitive answer to this, but I had an award for LH and SK flights in April which was a paper ticket.
bedasaka
May 18, 06, 5:42 am
I booked a reward trip yesterday LON - PRG (via CPH - SK) and PRG - LON (via ZRH - LX). I am spending a night in CPH and ZRH, and was told the SK tickets would be paper, and the LX e-tickets, not sure why, can anyone shed any light??
House
May 18, 06, 6:44 am
I booked a reward trip yesterday LON - PRG (via CPH - SK) and PRG - LON (via ZRH - LX). I am spending a night in CPH and ZRH, and was told the SK tickets would be paper, and the LX e-tickets, not sure why, can anyone shed any light??
There are no easy answers for this, but bear in mind:
(a) paper tickets are used even by Lufthansa and BMI themselves at certain airports where they use outside companies to provide the check-in service (who lack the necessary access to systems to verify the validity of an eticket) and only have one or two flights per day;
(b) some countries (the main example being Russia) have regulations that force the airlines to issue paper tickets;
(c) mixing airlines on an award itinerary will dramatically increase the chances of receiving an eticket (for example, mixing United and SAS often produces this problem).
LX are moving to the LH ticketing system so should be etickets most of the time. SK are in theory already using this system so, again, should normally be etickets.
There are no easy answers for this, but bear in mind:
(a) paper tickets are used even by Lufthansa and BMI themselves at certain airports where they use outside companies to provide the check-in service (who lack the necessary access to systems to verify the validity of an eticket) and only have one or two flights per day;
(b) some countries (the main example being Russia) have regulations that force the airlines to issue paper tickets;
(c) mixing airlines on an award itinerary will dramatically increase the chances of receiving an eticket (for example, mixing United and SAS often produces this problem).
LX are moving to the LH ticketing system so should be etickets most of the time. SK are in theory already using this system so, again, should normally be etickets.
GUWonder
May 18, 06, 8:10 am
BMI informed an associate that award tickets for SAS flights operated by Swiss are paper tickets too, even if no other carriers are involved. (These same flights purchased via other channels are paper tickets too.)
It would be really nice to have some kind of online resource to figure out which tickets can be paper tickets and which ones can be etickets.
It would be really nice to have some kind of online resource to figure out which tickets can be paper tickets and which ones can be etickets.
House
May 18, 06, 8:39 am
BMI informed an associate that award tickets for SAS flights operated by Swiss are paper tickets too, even if no other carriers are involved. (These same flights purchased via other channels are paper tickets too.)
It would be really nice to have some kind of online resource to figure out which tickets can be paper tickets and which ones can be etickets.
I thought that award tickets have to be booked using the code of the operating carrier???
It would be really nice to have some kind of online resource to figure out which tickets can be paper tickets and which ones can be etickets.
I thought that award tickets have to be booked using the code of the operating carrier???
GUWonder
May 18, 06, 8:53 am
I thought that award tickets have to be booked using the code of the operating carrier???
I thought so too -- at least that's how it works with most carriers' frequent flyer programs -- but apparently the BMI people were about to ticket the SK-coded LX-operated award before realizing a paper ticket would not get there on time and/or the realization that it may be better to just buy the one-way ticket for ZRH-ARN instead of paying the assoicated taxes and fees and have to deal with getting the physical tickets in hand.
I thought so too -- at least that's how it works with most carriers' frequent flyer programs -- but apparently the BMI people were about to ticket the SK-coded LX-operated award before realizing a paper ticket would not get there on time and/or the realization that it may be better to just buy the one-way ticket for ZRH-ARN instead of paying the assoicated taxes and fees and have to deal with getting the physical tickets in hand.