Originally Posted by jsloan

You can't lose your ticket now, because it's electronic. In the old days, if someone had already refunded or used your paper ticket, you could be SOL. It was a lot like a check -- you can issue a stop payment on a check, and the bank won't honor it, but if it's already cleared, it can be a hassle to get it reversed.

But, yes, you could get a lost ticket reinstated: you'd have to pay the appropriate lost ticket fee and get it reissued.


I'm not sure that nonrefundable fares existed in the regulated era. In the 80s, you started to see them; if you missed your flight or cancelled, you'd have to pay the change fee to get the ticket reissued. The fee went from $50 to $75 about 2000. (CO and HP had a falling out because HP failed to match the increase; CO basically kicked HP out of OnePass and stopped codesharing with them).


It's not the words "Electronic Ticket," but rather the ticket number that's printed on it. Paper tickets were literally that: the airline would keep a coupon from the ticket when you got onto the plane. Without the ticket, you couldn't board. (If your boarding pass ever reads "Paper Ticket," you are still expected to have an actual ticket to give them. It's just that these days, 99 times out of 100, that's a mistake and indicates that your e-ticket wasn't processed properly). Electronic tickets are stored in the airlines' reservation system. If two people showed up with the same eticket number, only one would be allowed to board.

Note the distinction between a ticket and a boarding pass. Boarding passes could always be reprinted (assuming they hadn't been stapled to the ticket coupon yet, or, let's say you removed the paper ticket for whatever reason). A boarding pass, presented without a valid ticket (paper or electronic), isn't valid for travel. It's just a record of seat and itinerary information from a reservation. It's the ticket that's attached to the boarding pass that lets you get on the plane.