Compulsory e-tickets....
 

..... found the following on the Qantas GDS training website (for the UK, of course, but the wording is similar for Australia):

Reading this, Qantas are saying that if a passenger wants a paper ticket, they do not have this choice. Regardless of this, if a travel agent decides to give the passenger a paper ticket, it will cost the agent a fee of GBP25,.

Reading this, particularly where it says "the ADM is not intended to be a fee for paper ticket issuance for passengers", it seems that passengers will be able to insist on paper tickets ("or I will take my busniess elsewhere to someone who will") and the agent will have to wear the ADM with the consequent charge (since they will be unable to pass it on).

Anyone read this differently to me?

Dave

I don't expect that it'll happen very much. How many pax will really go as far as blackmailing their TA just to have a lousy paper ticket over an e-ticket? The number of times that one might even conceivably be useful is pretty small, and most pax have taken the benefits of e-tix in their stride. And most TAs will just tell their pax that e-tix are now compulsory - you'd have to be pretty knowledgeable about the industry (and QF's policies) to be able to say to your TA "No, I don't believe what you've just told me about e-tix being compulsory; they're not, QF says they're not, and I demand a paper ticket."

BA have been charging a GBP 25 fee for a paper ticket on e-ticket routes since April, and even BA's "harshest critics" (according to BA themselves) have been pretty much silent on the issue. And before long BA intends to go over to "no paper tix at all".

Whilst I agree with what you are saying, QF seems to be laying the cost of a paper ticket onto the travel agent, whoa ccording to QF cannot pass it on to the SLC.

Or am I reading it the wrong way?

Dave

No, I don't see any reason why the TA can't pass it on to the pax, nor do I see anything in the memo which says not.

It seems that the wording they have chosen is intended to underline the fact that the GBP 25 is not intended to be an optional fee for a pax who continues to prefer paper to e-tix. Rather, it's punishment for breaking the rule that e-tix are mandatory. Who pays the punishment is up to the TA and the client to sort out.

That's how I read it, anyway.

Let's see here.....

"If customers prefer paper tickets, can they still choose to have a paper ticket?

No. Qantas is eliminating the use of paper tickets following the introduction of E-ticket capabilities and enforcing mandatory E-ticket for all E-Ticket eligible Qantas service and interline itineraries.

Travel Agents who do not adhere to this policy will incur an Agency Debit Memo (ADM) for GBP25.00 (plus VAT if applicable) from 16 August 2004."

This places the charge squarely on the travel agent. It is a debt between the travel agent and Qantas.

Now, as to whether the travel agent can recover the charge from the client.....

"Please note that E-ticketing where applicable is mandatory and the ADM is not intended to be a fee for paper ticket issuance for passengers"

As far as I read this, nothing the passenger does incurs an additional fee. It is more a fee levied by Qantas on the agent for failing to make the passenger use an e-ticket rather than a paper ticket.

Looking at what has been posted, QF passengers opting for a papr ticket would be able to force their agents to wear the charge, and this is just plain wrong.

Dave

Not if the agent said I will only issue a paper ticket if you pay the charge. It's then part of the agreement between the TA and the client, and nothing in the QF instructions prevents that.

I love e-tickets. I guess I am the opposite, I hassle my TA not to give me a paper ticket. Then again, I am used to doing trans tasman runs sans paper and even managed to do a trans pac run on a multi-sector interlined e-ticket.

Without meaning to seem rude, I think it's an academic argument as the vast majority of PAX will just accept that it's an e-ticket and indeed some PAX would have never seen a paper ticket anyway.

Personally I don't see an issue. I've been waiting for QF UK to get up to date and finally start issuing etickets. I have come to hate paper tickets compared to the ease of electronic ticketing, especially with the charges that QF ticket offices now make for reissuing those yuchy paper things

Dave

Well, I am about to have my first experience of international e-tickets. We have all been using them for QF domestic flights for years. Its quick and easy. Just hand over the WP card, it gets swipted and you get handed a boarding pass.

But I am little less confident leaving the country with nothing by an e-ticket receipt for a 15 segment DONE4. But my TA assures me it is soon to be the only option, so I assume she has seen the Australian version of the same memo. I wonder what the A$ "fine" is going to be?

My last trip SYD-MEL-BNE-AKL-LAX-ORD...JFK-LHR was done on an eticket. Had no problems at all. You will need to hand over more than ya WP card. They'll want to see a passport too. Poodle Howard hasn't yet managed to get Oz to be accepted as the 51st state of th US :)

As far as the fine goes, if it's £25 in the UK, prob around $75. I assume that the fining will be temporary and that QF will soon refuse to allow paper tickets where e-tickets are allowed.

Dave