I had an award ticket on Air China. When I showed up at the airport, the reservation was there but there was no ticketing information (I had ticketed about 33 hours earlier).

Since I was trying to get out of Shanghai before the typhoon hits, it was a little scary to think I would be stuck there.

Luckily I had the UA ticket receipt. The guy told me that this happens "often" (the words "shi chang" in Chinese) and it is no big deal as long as you have the ticket number.

I called UA after the incident and asked them to see if they saw any errors in the PNR - the agent said there was no error - the e-ticket was sent successfully.

Just to share this so others can be prepared.