My brother was travelling back from LAS to MKE and had purchased a package deal from Southwest Vacations, which sent him paper tickets in the mail. He had no incidents when travelling from MKE to LAS, but upon check-in in LAS a couple of days later, he tried checking-in, but had left the paper ticket that he received in the mail in his hotel room in Vegas. At check-in in LAS, the agent told him that the paper ticket was required, and claimed that he had a purchase a brand new ticket in order to get a seat on the airplane because he didn't have the paper ticket. Since he needed to get back home, he paid $200 for a new ticket, but contacted Southwest once he got back and they said that they can't reimburse him for the new $200 ticket that he had to purchase, but might be able to refund him some of the ticket from the original package.

I've flown Southwest frequently for years, and have never needed a paper ticket, always just printing out my boarding pass online or at one of the kiosks at the airport. This whole situation seems a little weird to me, as it is 2010, and I've haven't needed to show any confirmation from my booking as they've always had it in their computer. I know the difference between e-tickets and paper tickets, but I thought that paper tickets would still have some sort of evidence of a booking in the computer.

Has anyone had any experience with anything like this, or has any recommendation on getting a refund, or if it is even possible? It just seems a little strange to me that he'd have to buy a completely new ticket simply because he didn't have the piece of paper. Any advice on recourse for my brother? Thanks for any input.