Today I booked a flight, ORD-MAD, in May using Orbitz. Flight operators are LH-JK-LH-UA (ORD-FRA-MAD-MUC-ORD). The price was fine for a vacation. When I got email cofirmation fro Orbitz, I noticed that there was a ~$27 processing fee for a paper ticket that was being sent to me.

Does anybody have any idea why I would need a paper ticket? I have had etickets from LH and UA before. I would think that Spanair (JK) being a partner in Star Alliance would also be capable of issuing an eticket.

I did have a paper ticket from Olympic Air in January. That I could understand, one way IST-ATH.