According to Oneworld, electronic tickets cannot yet be used at a small number of airports where the appropriate technology has yet to be installed.

Does anyone has a list of these airports?

To view the list of non-e-ticket routes of British Airways click this link:

http://www.batraveltrade.com/trade/e...e/public/en_gb

The most noteworthy and shocking one is HEL -- a hub for AY!!!!!! I did have to get a paper ticket last month due to routing via HEL so this restriction appears to be still true (despite AY claiming to support e-tickets; I suppose they do, everywhere except at their main hub).

I needed a paper tix for a DONE4 that included HEL las year. Tried using AY metal and BA metal and each other's codeshares and could not get it issued as e-ticket. The TA was surprised and it caused some grief since she left the ticket issue until Friday afteroon for a Sunday morning departure and she was in Sydney and me in Brisbane. Had to pay extra to collect the paper tix from BNE airport on Sunday morning.

This certainly has nothing to do with HEL as I fly out of here all the time with AY e-tickets. There might be some problem with HEL-LHR leg with BA/AY not getting the systems working together as I too remeber having a paper ticket for this leg not so long ago, I would actually point the question back to BA, why weren't they able to issue an e-ticket for this route? The real reason might be quite close...

Dunno who to blame here but this definately is not an issue for the whole of HEL airport or AY as an airline. AY is using automated SMS check-in etc so I would rate them atleast in the middle class what comes to adopting eServices...

Then the limitation is that the e-ticket must be AY only; every ticket that I have used at HEL has been forced to be paper, but it also always has some other airline (all of which support e-tickets otherwise). This has been true for tickets with no BA sector, so it isn't just a BA/AY compatibility problem.

The conclusion I have reached is that the AY e-ticket system is incompatible with the e-ticket system of other OneWorld airlines. And since AY do the ground handling for BA in HEL, the AY system cannone "see" the e-ticket issued by BA/QF etc. Possibly the same problem for LHR checkin on an AY e-ticket, in that the BA agents cannot see the AY system e-ticket.

But don't AA claim to be able to e-ticket AY flights (in fact all OneWorld flights)? So perhaps there is a link between AA's Sabre and whatever AY use, but BA and QF do not yet have that link established?

I've had AA issued tickets (thus booked in Sabre) which could not be e-ticketed. They had sectors on AA, BA and AY. No idea if AA/AY only would have been allowed as an e-ticket. And yes, AA do claim to be able to e-ticket all 8 OW airlines now. Just not on the same ticket, apparently. I do have an e-ticket for AA/BA/CX/IB so there is some truth to e-ticketing on OW. The fly in the ointment seems to be AY (used to be IB, that was fixed quite recently, maybe 2 months ago).

Forgot to say that the corollary to the OP's original question: -- list of airports that cannot process e-ticket -- would be a different list for each OW airline. What a mess! And with major cities like HEL on the list, you cannot really know. I wonder if the e-ticket issuing software can be relied upon to have the correct list, and not issue you an e-ticket for a flight sector which can never use it! I presume it can, but something to worry over. In any case, when traveling with an e-ticket, always have your ticket number with you (not just the PNR). Twice I have been refused passage on an e-ticket until I could product the ticket number (for some reason the e-ticket was lost in the system but could be located using the ticket number; if I did not have that info I would have been denied boarding or required to purchase another ticket). Needless to say there is no provision in the CofC for denied boarding due to airline error in processing the e-ticket; apparently the airlines have succeeded in shifting all the risk to the passenger.

number_6 is so right for the ticket # and PNR. I bought an AY e-ticket over the AY web site (SIN-BKK) for a flight nearly a year ago. I didn't know enough at that stage to question why I had not been charged for the ticket on my cc - inspite of buying it 3 months prior. I took PNR to SIN with the cc used to pay for the ticket and got the blank look. It turned out that the AY system had not issued the ticket but given me a confirmed reservation and seat number. The check-in staff spent half an hour phoning around (including up to HEL they said) and eventually issued the ticket number and gave me a boarding pass. Glad I checked in early.

Moral: get the PNR and ticket number (cc is debited when ticket number is issued).

Edited to say: even checking in at SYD International last week on an e-ticket, I was told in no uncertain terms by the check-in lady not just to rely on my QF FF card for check-ins - but to always carry a printed itinerary with the ticket number when on an international e-ticket. I bet she knew the system was good but not perfect.

The first time I used an e-ticket for international travel (a DCIR22), I did not have a print out of the itinerary with me when I checked in for the initial flight. The check-in agent suggested I should carry it and informed me that the airport ticket counter could print one out for me. The agent at the ticket counter was very happy to do that. Even though I did not need to use it along the trip, it was probably good advice and I will always carry a printed copy now.

They can, and they do, but I think maybe there's a problem with it nevertheless. A few days ago, at DFW, I had an e-ticket (issued in MAD) reprinted, but what I got is *different* from the actual receipt originally sent to my address in MAD. Whereas the receipt shows an actual ticket number, and all of the itinerary is printed on just one page, the 'copy', printed by DFW, is merely an itinerary, similar to the one you get from aa.com, and simply prints on ticket-like stock, so in the end I received 5 pages, none of them showing a ticket number, just a simple itinerary with flight details.

Maybe the agent gave me the wrong doc? maybe I should have insisted on a copy of the *receipt*? I feel reasonably safe with this 'itinerary', but I'd feel better with a copy of the original receipt, ticket number included, as per number_6's comments.

I do not mean this the wrong way but isn't that just basic common sence to have your ITN/e-ticket printed out?

I had the itinerary in a different format, not an e-ticket receipt. My corp TA did not provide an e-ticket receipt that actually included the ticket number, just an MS Word document of the itinerary.

I guess I learned a lesson in common sence . Luckily it was not learned the hard way.

The difference was probably due to the different reservations systems in use. At DFW you would have been dealing with a AA agent who was using Sabre to view and print the information reflected in Sabre. But if the original itinerary was booked in MAD, it was probably not originally booked in Sabre, but most likely in Amedeus, with only the information necessary for AA to process their part of the reservation being pushed to AA's Sabre system (such as connecting flights etc).

In my example, the e-ticket was issued by Qantas (using Amedeus) and printed by a Qantas ticket sales agent at BNE, so all the information was available. If I waited until I got to LAX and asked at the AA Ticket counter at T4, I would have only been able to get the AA/Sabre portion of the details printed.