Numi

Morning all,
Apologies if this has been covered already, but I can't for the life of me find anything on this.

I am checked-in to fly tonight, but cannot get a BP on the app which gives me an error message about the e-ticket number missing. Sure enough, the booking details on the app show no e-ticket number. When I e-mail myself the BP, it doesn't have an e-tix number on it (it just says e-ticket: no coupon). The booking confirmation email has an e-ticket number, and the confirmation email for the paid for upgrade does too. Called BA silver line twice, the first time HUACA as the agent didn't understand what I was talking about, the second time I was assured that I could still fly with the boarding pass and that she cannot see anything wrong on her end. Though I have no trust in that as she repeatedly told me both, that I am checked in and that she she sees a prompt for me to check-in which I should try. I vaguely remember that having happened in the past, and at the time I could not fly with the issued boarding pass.

I'd be grateful if someone could let me know whether the second agent was right or whether I have to call BA again. What I would really like to avoid is having to go to the airport early as I am in a total time-crunch today.

Thank you all!

corporate-wage-slave

That statement is totally normal, self printed boarding passes have had that statement for the last 20 or so years. It's a historical relic really. From what I can make out your App isn't working but everything else is? So long as it is not a travel agent booking (Expedia / CWT / Amex etc) for which there is another thread, then you should be OK.

bisonrav

Try the PNR either via the BA app or the Malaysian Airlines site. If no ticket number then you're not ticketed and need to hang on the phone to BA until someone sorts it out.

Anything odd when you placed the booking?

Numi

Great, thank you!
Not a travel agent booking. What gives me pause is that I cannot get the BP on the app. Now the error I get is "check-in status unknown. we could not get your e-ticket number so we are unable to determine your check-in/boarding pass status". Have tried logging out and back in again, but that doesn't help.
Might just be the ultra buggy app, but never had this before, and haven't used a self-printed BP in ages, so obviously noticed the red highlight no e-tix section today for the first time.

Numi

Thanks! Nothing odd when I booked, and the confirmation emails are fine. The PNR doesn't show in the app but it does on the Malaysian Airlines website. Assume that means everything fine then as CWS said and the app is just very buggy this morning.

bisonrav

Messages crossed: did you get a ticket number at Malaysian?

Numi

Yes, thank you! It shows the e-ticket number on the booking. I assume that means everything is fine.

bisonrav

Yes, if you have a ticket number you can relax.

craigthemif

Happened to me recently. No issues boarding...

I think the problem is that many other airlines print the e-ticket number on their BPs. So you get used to seeing a bunch of digits on your BPs.

Then BA comes along and prints "no coupon". And if you've ever arrived to an airport and the airline says your e-ticket hasn't been issued properly... then you're going to freak out seeing "no coupon". But that's just how BA does things...

Numi

Great, huge relief, thank you!

Numi

It had that effect on me this morning. I probably do not need any more coffee after this.

Thanks all for the super quick advice!!

bisonrav

I had a couple of non-ticketed reservations when redating rules changed around covid, and it was a complete PITA to sort out. My tickets went for ticketing under the old rules and arrived from the queue after the rules had changed, so were rejected. And no-one told me, and I found out only a day or two before travel. So I have a pain reflex and a habit of double checking ticket numbers whenever I book, especially if "we'll have to send that off to ticketing, they should issue a ticket within a day or two".

And of course there haven't been any problems since, but it gives you a more comfortable feeling!

corporate-wage-slave

What "no coupon" actually means, in verbose, is "This is an e-ticket, so the coupon is electronic, and therefore don't expect the customer to hand over the physical paper coupon at the gate". When BA introduced self printed boarding passes there were still paper tickets very much around and so gate agents absolutely had to get that paper coupon at the gate or the airline would not be paid for the customer's flight. Hence the statement on the boarding pass that there is no paper coupon needed here, and that's why it is in red. So if you are under about 40 years old this probably was before your time, but that's the logic. Ticket numbers have never been on self printed boarding passes, and only fairly recently on BA issued boarding passes. And that's not directly needed for gate accountancy so it's not relevant to the agent role. You cannot normally get a boarding pass without a ticket number, the only thing that can happen is that a ticket gets cancelled after issue of the boarding pass but that's a rare / exceptional event.

LondonAussie

I've had error appear after doing a free change on the day to a later flight. Was also worried the change didn't ticketed properly as I couldn't get a boarding pass online, so ended up going to the airport early anyway (and not getting much of the extra time I wanted by changing to the later flight...). Anyway, check-in agent printed one off in about 3 seconds and said no idea what the issue with the app was. So just another anxiety inducing BA IT issue.

TTmex

Had this happen on a BA holiday. Just sent a twitter message and 5 mins later they said no issue at all your ticket is good. Boarded without issue. Honestly, when things like this happen, if a call isn't possible flip the twitter team a message. They tend to reply within the hour these days, especially for urgent things. You can type talk to agent in the chat to speed it up and avoid the bot.