This is the standard for carriers around the world that participate in an industry-owned company called Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC). It acts as the central clearing house for ticket distribution, so that an airline like UA does not need to make or print its own ticket stock.

Why? For instance, before Deregulation, it was much more common for a domestic itinerary to involve switching carriers enroute. For the travel agent that issued the ticket, and the passenger that used it, it would be a nightmare if they had to deal with every airline's own tickets and different rules for using them.

ARC basically standardizes the ticketing process. Consequently, all the tickets look the same no matter what airline you are on (mostly, at least). If you look closely at those computer-printed tickets, you will find the ARC logo somewhere. WN, when it first started in the 1970s, did not participate in ARC. They issued tickets in the form of a cash register receipt .