<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by christep:
Can those who have done it confirm that they subsequently had no problem using the tickets? (Presumably excluding the first coupon...)</font>
When a distant agent purchases tickets on your behalf and mails them to you before start of travel, you still must eventually travel to the first origination city, and use the first coupon. Your agent's services may be useful if there's an advance purchase requirement, or you'd like to nail down a price for a trip somewhat into the future, or you'd just like to have tix in hand ahead of time.