Originally Posted by Skillet
Why is it with a paper ticket, they issue you a boarding pass but you still must give your paper ticket to the GA? Why don't they take it at check-in? A boarding pass should be just that - your pass to board the airplane.
You don't want them taking your ticket at check-in.
If something goes wrong - e.g. the flight is canceled, you want to change to a different flight, etc. - then you want to have the ticket in hand for that. If they take your ticket at check-in but then you need to make a change, you'll have to go all the way back to ticketing, wait in line, then hope that they can find your ticket again. Better to have them take it at the absolute last minute.
Also, paper tickets are equivalent to cash. Boarding passes for electronic tickets automatically move the money to pay for your travel in the computer system. On flights where you have paper tickets, the boarding pass is worthless. Gate agents want to collect the ticket from you directly so that they can ensure that the airline gets paid for your travel. Eventually the airline actually has to present that paper ticket to the clearinghouse to get paid.