Reason for no e-tickets
Mar 27, 2000 | 9:54 pm
#16
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: UA 1K 3MM, UA 1P/1K since mid '80s; CO Bronze/Silver since mid 80's, Austin, Texas
Posts: 1,279
I rarely use E-tickets. I regard them as a ploy by airlines to keep customers from moving to other airlines and to hasten the demise of travel agents. They have marketed them pretty heavily as a relief to users, but they actually diminish consumer choice in the long run. But, yes, the handwriting is on the wall. Not much time left to use paper tickets. But heres the main reason I use paper tickets every time I can:
A paper ticket can often be accepted by an agent of another airline. I can think of a few times that I simply brought my paper ticket from a canceled, delayed, or even overbooked flight (after I had taken the voluntary denied boarding compensation) to another airline of my choice. Bad weather is not a rare occurrence. Why would anyone want to limit their options in these kind of situations?
It helps, as we all realize, to have gold card with the airline that I hope will accept my paper ticket. I have had agents accept my ticket a few times without being endorsed by the original airline. So I no longer believe that getting a ticket endorsed is such a crucial matter. But actually, its not that hard to get it endorsed after all (Especially if you are one of their frequent customers, AND you come off like a real swell guy). The point is: If you have a paper ticket, you have something to endorse!
How many times have you been told that there are no seats on another carrier? Just take your paper ticket over there and see what they will do for you. Or call the second airlines reservations, as I have sometimes done. More than once Ive obtained a seat over the phone that my original carrier couldnt, or wouldnt offer me. With a paper ticket in hand, I at least have a shot at availing myself of the vast discretionary powers of gate agents. If the customer seems to be the kind of person that they like to help, and if the circumstances are drastic enough, they can do just about anything.
A paper ticket has more than a few times been what has put me on another carrier, getting home about the same time, or sometimes earlier, earning miles on two airlines (If the original flight was canceled, delayed or overbooked). If I was bumped, or volunteered to give up my seat, I have a few hundred bucks in vouchers. Such vouchers are funny money only good on the issuing airline, but they are always on paper. I have yet to lose one.
A paper ticket can often be accepted by an agent of another airline. I can think of a few times that I simply brought my paper ticket from a canceled, delayed, or even overbooked flight (after I had taken the voluntary denied boarding compensation) to another airline of my choice. Bad weather is not a rare occurrence. Why would anyone want to limit their options in these kind of situations?
It helps, as we all realize, to have gold card with the airline that I hope will accept my paper ticket. I have had agents accept my ticket a few times without being endorsed by the original airline. So I no longer believe that getting a ticket endorsed is such a crucial matter. But actually, its not that hard to get it endorsed after all (Especially if you are one of their frequent customers, AND you come off like a real swell guy). The point is: If you have a paper ticket, you have something to endorse!
How many times have you been told that there are no seats on another carrier? Just take your paper ticket over there and see what they will do for you. Or call the second airlines reservations, as I have sometimes done. More than once Ive obtained a seat over the phone that my original carrier couldnt, or wouldnt offer me. With a paper ticket in hand, I at least have a shot at availing myself of the vast discretionary powers of gate agents. If the customer seems to be the kind of person that they like to help, and if the circumstances are drastic enough, they can do just about anything.
A paper ticket has more than a few times been what has put me on another carrier, getting home about the same time, or sometimes earlier, earning miles on two airlines (If the original flight was canceled, delayed or overbooked). If I was bumped, or volunteered to give up my seat, I have a few hundred bucks in vouchers. Such vouchers are funny money only good on the issuing airline, but they are always on paper. I have yet to lose one.
