3/21 NWA’s computers were shut down due to a cut in a fiber optic cable from USWest. I was stuck in Minneapolis for more than 4.5 hours because I could not get my e-ticket signed over to another carrier. Could I expect (or hope) NWA to give me any type of compensation since this caused me to miss a theater performance I had tickets for that night? Since Y2K you would think that airlines would have some sort of backup plans for when their computers go down. This obviously was not the case with NWA. I guess this is a good reason NOT to get e-tickets in the future. It may be cheaper for the airlines but my time was definitely not worth it!

I believe that NW did have a back-up plan but unfortunately that failed as well (or it wasn't implemented properly or tested properly in the event of a failure).

You can bet that all backup plans and contigency plans at NW are going to be in place from now on!

(I do see your point on the e-ticket thing, but hopefully this is an isolated event and the benefits of e-tickets outweigh the negatives)

Like it or not e-tickets are here to stay. It is only a matter of time before you will not have a choice, or will have to be extra for paper. The airlines are working on systems to share e-ticket numbers with each other. Lets hope this is in place before they make e-tickets mandatory.

I agree that it should be up to the airlines to have a backup plan for e-tickets.

However, what you could have done is purchased walk-up tickets (at full fare of course) and applied for a refund later. I realize that not everyone has the means to spend $500 - $2000 for last-minute tickets, but at least you can reach your destination on time. On the down side, you can never be certain you will get a refund and it might take awhile, leaving you to loose use of your money until your refund comes.

I got in a jam on an e-ticket once. I booked a flight using the e-ticket option on Travelocity. Due to the itinery, Travelocity mailed me paper tickets which I put in my file cabinet. A month later, not remembering that I had paper tickets, I checked my itinery on the Travelocity website(which is updated when there are itinery changes) and it still said e-ticket. I had no reason to rember my paper tickets since I was seeing an e-ticket in my itinery. When I arrived at the airport, no ticket, no flight. Although Travelociy tried to help, they never accomplished anything and I was at the mercy of the airline to let me leave the next day without a change fee. Does anyone think I should get some sort of refund from Travelocity? Maybe they could at least refund me their commission that they earned on the ticket?

[This message has been edited by Aubie (edited 03-22-2000).]

some reasons I try to avoid e-tickets:[*]identification problems with credit cards (last time I changed my credit card number between booking and flying, because I lost the old one. I had quite a fight at identification time)[*]the ticket of others (company or family members, not travelling with me, might have be paid with my credit-card: identification problems)[*]access-problems in many (mostly international) airports to the secure area without being able to show a ticket (example Zurich), and if I travel with hand-luggage only, I prefer to check-in at the lounge or gate (in the secure area).[*]problems to convince immigration personnel of my booked return trip (out of that country)[*]problems to check-through luggage to final destination on trips with different flight segments on different carriers (rtw), as the check-in agent can't find the e-ticket information of the second airline on his screen[*]problems for indorsing the ticket fast, before check-in (for use on another airline)[*]problems of identification for buying duty free goods in Zurich, if I decided to check.in only at the gate (with handluggage)[*]and yes - I don't 'trust' the airlines computer systems always.

[This message has been edited by Rudi (edited 03-22-2000).]

Rudi: Good recommendations.

Aubie: No offense, but doesn't the fact Travelocity mailed you a paper ticket provide a good reason to remember your paper ticket?

In anycase, if you did purchase a fare ticket, you are entitled to a full refund of that ticket. In the past before e-ticket became prevalent, my wife had left her paper ticket at home at the time of travel. At airport, she has no choice (too late to go home and get the tikcet) to purchase a new ticket with the instruction that once she completes travel, she has to locate the paper ticket, submit that along with all documentations (of her full fare ticket) to get the refund. It was a hassle but eventually she got her refund.

I have never had a problem with E-tickets within the US. I have paid for many tickets with my credit card for family members and friends and there has never been an identifcation problem at check-in. I find E-tickets take one less hassel out of "where did I put the paper tickets?". Alaska gives you a 500 mile bonus everytime you check in using their e/tk check in counters. I would agree with Rudi not to use E tickets on internationl segments. The only time you can get an E-ticket for international flights is if your trip is all on the same airline (AA and CP might be the exception) and only to certain countries. E tickets on international trips have a long way to go before they will become as common as domestic E-ticketing.

More from past on Etickets:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum94/HTML/000219.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum94/HTML/000385.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum94/HTML/001042.html

Comments on Rudi's comments:

1) From my experience, virtually all duty-free shops require a BOARDING PASS (which would indicate that you have already checked in), rather than a ticket...which would make your comment moot.

2) In general, most airlines and TAs (at least from my experience) will not issue e-tickets to a traveller other than the credit card holder, unless the party is traveling on the same itinerary as the credit card holder. I.e. in those cases, e-tickets are generally not even offered as an option.

However, I agree with most of Rudi's other comments. From my experience, I prefer e-tickets domestically, mostly because it takes the pressure off of me with regard to potentially losing the paper ticket. But internationally, it just does not seem to work.

Paulo - regarding your Point #2 about "most airlines and TAs will not issue e-tickets to a traveller other than the credit card holder"...

I've been using www.Expedia.com for a while now and they actually promote this very capability. I have made reservations using my credit card and have gotten E*Tickets for other travelers (when I'm not traveling at all) on many airlines. Take a look - you will see it when you go to purchase a ticket.

When they started doing e-tickets, security at one of my home airports didn't know how to deal with them, with the result that they changed the rule so a ticket/bp was not needed to access the secure area - a rule that persists to this day.

Now ... your e-ticket receipt is supposed to be the equivalent of a ticket for immigration and security purposes; and for international-to-US flights, I think you have to check in outside the secure area and get a bp anyhow.

Curious thing about airport security: I discover that when I travel without my LL Bean hand luggage, I always get a secondary in BOS (and never when I have it); in BWI,
the exact opposite holds. Strikes me that at
one of these airports someone is misapplying the profile?

I agree with the comments above, especially Rudi's, but I would also like to give my reasons for using e-tickets:

(1) I don't have to worry about losing or forgetting my ticket.

(2) I don't have to worry about how the ticket will get to me. As a person who is away from home a lot, this is important to me.

(3) If I am late making a reservation, I don't have to worry about whether the ticket will get to me on time, or whether the delivery service will be leave it for me if I'm not home.

(4) If the itinerary changes, I don't have to get a ticket reissued.

(5) As a CO Platinum, I get a nice 50% mileage bonus for using e-tickets. (Unpublished program benefit.)

(6) I've probably used e-tickets 100 times and never had a problem. Not once.

(7) I don't ever have to worry about my ticket being stolen.

BTW, none of the airlines I fly with the most require me to present a credit card at check in time, which eliminates a few of the issues Rudi mentioned.

Since I agree with all of Rudi's points, the question comes down more to a matter of personal style: convenience vs. caution.

I'm sure that having written this, I've jinxed myself and will have a problem the next time I fly on e-ticket. Which will be Saturday morning, flying my return BOG-IAH-SFO.

Like it or not the hand writing is on the wall. For Domestic travel, E-tickets will become mandatory in a few years. If paper tickets are even offered, you will pay more for them. Due to the nature of it, paper tickets will live a long and prosperous life for international travel. On a sidenote, the big looser will be backdated handwritten tickets travel agents use to get around expired fares/availability.

I fly on e-tickets all the time now, and I don't use my credit card for them. My union has a corporate account with a travel agency, and my tickets are paid for that way. The agency then faxes me my itinerary and receipt.

Somebody else here doesn't even get a fax. The travel agency simply emails him the receipt. He likes it because if he misplaces it before the trip, all he has to do is print off another one.

gacharmin,

having a paper ticket won't have helped you with NW since other passengers are holding e-tickets. Besides, NW probably couldn't even forward the flight plan to the pilots.

my experience with e-tickets in general:
never had a problem domestically or internationally involving one-carrier travel (ie. no interline baggage transfers).

The only incident so far was at LHR. UA at LHR, not Paddington, will not even let you approach the check-in counter without a receipt. That's was a pain.