The knowledgeable folks on this board always seem to prefer being issued with a RTW eticket, even when a paper ticket is offered. Could someone kindly spell out the pros and cons.

Here are a few threads with some view you might find informative:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ket+electronic
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ket+electronic
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ket+electronic
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ket+electronic

Thank you for the information. The fourth, and latest thread is most interesting.

I side with JohnAx when he says:

Not minding the wad of paper I have to stuff into a myriad of hotel safes (well, no more than 19 of them) I still see no benefit to the traveler of the electronic non-ticket.

A few months ago there was a thread here about the perils of e-ONE's in that there was quite a serious problem with one airline's computer not knowing you'd flown the previous segment, so what the heck were you doing trying to check in *here* (or something like that???).

I've had so many problems with the BA and AA computer systems not being able to "see" each other that I feel much safer with a paper ticket. It's also much easier to claim missing miles and q/tier points when you can provide physical evidence rather than relying on the vagaries of their computers, particularly BA's.

I'm willing to take the (small) risk in return for not having to spend hours of my life in airports or CTOs getting the ticket reissued.

I'm fortunate in that I do most of my rerouting at HKG ATO, which is probably the most efficient place in the world to get a reroute done, and I can normally go and sit in The Wing while they do it. So in general I still prefer paper - particularly when issuing open-dated, which I often do.

.....until you lose the paper ticket

I've never lost a ticket yet, and even then, provided that I have the ticket number recorded (e.g. even if there is at least one reservation made with the ticket number in the PNR) then I can get the ticket reissued for a small fee. Sure this would be a hassle, but its do-able, and given that I have never lost a paper ticket in my life I reckon the risk is a small one.

But I do see pros and cons - I'm just old-fashioned enough to like something in my hand. It's also much easier to, for example, point to the list of airlines that the ticket is explicitly valid on when doing a last minute switch of airlines on a route than it is to try to debate with someone about something on a screen which only they can see. As an example, a few months back I was at LAX waiting for the AA flight to London. About 4 hours before departure they switched to coffins; I therefore wanted to switch to BA, which went in 3 hours. It seems to me that rolling up to the BA desk with a paper ticket saying "VALID ON ... BA..." was far less hassle than trying to get them to look at a (CX-issued) e-ticket would have been.