Even when the ticket is paper, why does the physical ticket matter?
 

This puzzles me, as I lost one of my tickets a few months ago, and had to go through the trouble of replacing it, etc. Even when you're issued a paper ticket nowadays, why does the physical ticket matter anymore -- it's not like it's transferable? Isn't it just a printout of a record that is electronic? What makes it different?

Also, curious: does anyone still use the duplicate red carbon ticket stock in this day? I don't think I've seen that for years now!

If the ticket was not issued by the airline that you are flying on, they will need that paper to collect payment through the ARC.

An airline ticket is a negotiable instrument - transferable, endorseable, refundable (of course, subject to restrictions), and payable upon presentation to the escrow fundsholder (in the US, that's the ARC). They are almost like cash in their blank form.

Unless things have changed recently, I believe you also need a paper ticket if you need to change flights between different airlines. For example, you reach a hub late and your connection has left, but there is another flight leaving soon on a different airline to the same destination. You need a paper ticket from the first airline to get a seat on the second airline.

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Michael Steinberg
Editor
BizTrip
http://www.biztrip.com

Wait a second. If every one of these possibilities is restricted so much to make it impossible, what's the difference between that and a non-paper ticket? Most tickets I've ever seen are not transferable, not endorsable, and not refundable!

I missed a flight Biz clas from BRS -DXB one day due to an accident on the Motorway.
I cancelled the ticket for a small fee and sent it back for refund. It got lost in the post !! I was told I'd have to wait 6 months for my refund to make sure the ticket wasn't used. Luckily 5 weeks later it was returned to sender and I managed to get my refund within 10 weeks .
Paper tickets are a pain in the butt, e tickets can be refunded faster than paper.

Nigel

Remember, there are still full F C and Y tickets out there. When I said transferable, I didn't mean between people but to another airline, etc. And any airlines with agreements can choose to endorse/accept to/from another despite the restriction (such as in the case of a flight cancellation). If you "wrote yourself" a ticket on blank ticket stock, say, an LAX/LHR in F, you'd have a $12K cash equivilent, subject to the ticket # being reported stolen.

I guess you haven't been to Vietnam lately. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif And as an added bonus, upon handing in your red carbon tissue-paper ticket to check in for a VN flight, you receive a handwritten boarding pass, on which they sometimes don't even bother to write your name. Fortunately, Vietnam is currently one of the safest countries in the world, so I suppose it's no problem. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

I don't know if i'm talking about the same thing, but EVERY ONE of my paper tickets on Air Canada has been on red carbon stock. Is this stuff you are referring to the stuff that is red and shiny on the back and leaves a red ink printed receipt on the last page?

Paper tickets don't have electronic records equivalent to those created for electronic tickets. As I understand it, an e-ticket will have information about each "coupon" comprised within the ticket, the information stored on it, the changes that have been made to it and (most importantly) the date on which it is used.

If you have a paper ticket, all that information is on the paper itself. That's why the airline needs it.

The computer record for paper and electronic is the same. The only difference is in the ticket number. A TE is put in front of the ticket number to state that it is electronic.

Not if the two airlines have interline ticketing agreements, allowing each access to the other e-ticket database.

I just got issued a KLM ticket to fly transatlantic back to the States and they sent it to me on the red carbon ticket stock. Whenever I book a KLM flight directly from KLM, they've always sent me my ticket on the carbon stock.

Not, in my experience, when I've been travelling on a QF ticket issued by a travel agent, with BA sectors. I'm lucky if BA even has the ticket number in its computer when I check in for the first sector, let alone any details like fare paid, fare basis on each sector, blah blah blah ...

They're still used in Brazil, even for e-ticket receipts. During 2002 I had several red carbon tickets issued to me by a US internet travel agent. So ... red carbon is still in.