Originally Posted by
AlanB
A hotel doesn't have to wait 2 days for the ticket to reach it's destination, such that it can be processed. They know you're there when you show up. Board a train in Chicago and get off a little over 3 hours later in Wisconsin Dells and your ticket remains on that train until it reaches Seattle two days later.
And on top of that, not every terminal is equipped to scan tickets. Aren't they FedExed or couriered or something to one of a very small number of regional processing centers? That would add a couple of days to the process.
Someday, electronic ticketing will be implemented and these kinds of delays will be greatly reduced, but for now, there are valid logistical reasons for the delays.
Originally Posted by
Explore
A hotel chain or airline couldn't stay in business with such a delay in their own product posting.
Oh, I highly doubt that. Many people regularly have delays with their airline miles or hotel points posting, but I don't know that I've ever heard anyone actually threaten to leave a program over such a problem, much less boycott the airline entirely. The minuscule number of people who do find this that big of an issue are not even of a large enough number to be on an airline's radar.