I remember something similar when as a travel agent.
In the beginning only certain routes had the option to be e-tickets. We had all the bumpf to tell us how to account for an e-ticket which was an extremely convoluted process. I seem to remember having to write out a manual MPD which gave the ticket number and me thinking what's the point in this, they might as well just go and collect a paper ticket at the airport for all the admin it caused.
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