I had placed this in an existing thread on fare basis decoding but fealt it was unique and important enough to start a new thread
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As ticket distribution has moved to be 100% electronic, I believe there needs to be standardization of what an e-tkt should look like. Sure, all the big U.S. carriers allow you to check a ticket status , or ticket number on a carriers website. Before e-tkting, we all knew what a paper ticket should look like. A rectangular coupon on card stock document with the ticket number at the bottom center, and whether you bought it through a travel agent or an airline they all looked the same

But now, particularly with international airlines, how does one know if a ticket is real, valid and the underlying rules? Take Cathay as an example. From my experience, their website can only be used to verify e-tkts purchases on the airlines own website. I think the same is true with SAS. You call them and sometimes they just tell you to call the agent even though they may have charged your credit card directly.

While many consolidators and brokers may have special deals, many are extremely sensitive about showing the true fare paid so they create their own documents which do have an e-tkt number and booking reference, but often leave out terms like ticket validity , change fees, refund penalties etc.

With airlines that don't have a presence in North America like TAAG of Africa, how do I know that the ticket is real and when I show up in Africa witha piece of paper printed by a TA they don't laugh at me silly.

I am surprised that has not been a bigger problem, but when I buy baseball tickets I receive them by e-mail as well but there is a standardized bar code which is scanned at check in whether purchased from a broker or the venue directly.

When I buy insurance from an agent, the insurance company takes ownership of the transaction and then e-mails or snail mails me ALL terms of the policy I have purchased, and the premium may be less than $1,000 a year.

An international airline ticket can cost thousands for a single trip , the airline is supposed to hold the money prior to the trip but if a ticket is purchased with a consolidator the airline doesn't want to talk about the transactions and refers you back to the TA/consildator. You cross your fingers with the wholesaler that what they are giving is complete and accurate.

While the industry has already moved for 100% e-tkts without a standardized understanding of what the passenger is to receive in place of old fashioned paper the system is flawed .


Has anyone else had a problem where the receipt they received from the TA/consolidator left off important elements of the fare paid( Like penalties/being non refundable when you didn't know it, maximum stay of 30 days when you were told it was a year)? costing them more money in the end


I am interested to know as I can't believe I am alone with this problem