q

Sorry if this was already asked elsewhere. I would be especially interested
in your opinion if you are a ticket agent... Do you prefer in general to issue electronic tickets instead of paper? How about dealing with eTKT in case of irregular ops? Are there any "objectives" in terms of % of eTKT issued?

The reason I am asking, is because I get the impression that for me (as a PAX) an eTKT is bad in case someting unforeseen happens. In some particular cases the reservations staff cannot deal with an eTKT (e.g. to modify an itinerary), or they have to go through some trouble to do things which for a paper tkt would be straightforward? If the schedule is tight then the eTKT could mean I am not going to make it... Please help me understand if this is generally true or just a wrong impression.

richard

In my past experience, if you have an e-ticket it must be converted to a paper ticket in order to use it on another airline. That was the major problem with e-tickets. Domestically not too many times anymore do I travel on paper tickets though. They are expensive for the airlines.

oklAAhoma

Hmm. I'd be interested to know in what particular cases the staff is unable to handle an e-ticket. I've never run into that and I have been using them for as long as they have been an option.

For me the biggest advantage to an electronic ticket is that I can't lose the d@mn thing. I was always a disaster with paper tickets, so the introduction of eTKTs (as you call them) has saved me countless $$ in lost ticket fees.


Huh? How do you figure that? If the schedule is tight, how will a paper ticket help you make the connection? The agents see exactly the same info no matter which kind of ticket you hold. I have been rebooked/rerouted due to late connections on countless e-tickets. And I have even had the airline hold the plane for me a few times, also with e-tickets.

You definitely have the wrong impression. I would be very interested to learn how/why you came to believe that eTKTs are so problematic.

Cheers.

oklAAhoma

That has been my experience too, although it's been years since I've had that problem. I wonder if it's still the case? If so, IMO, while it is a major inconvenience when it occurs, it happens rarely enough that it is certainly not a reason to avoid eTKTs.

nd_eric_77

I have noticed that within the past few months, the couple of times I have been put on a carrier which has a code share and/or alliance relationship with the original carrier, the change can be done by e-ticket (most recently, when I was put on a CO flight instead of my original DL one, they were able to do so via e-ticket; I assume this is because they are both SkyTeam & Codeshare partners). When I was put on a different carrier which was NOT in an alliance with Delta (FL for HOU-ATL), it had to be done via paper ticket.

Voyager0927

I had the opposite experience a year and a half ago when I tried to switch between a delayed UA flight and a US flight out of DEN. US couldn't get me on their flight until I had gotten my ticket released by UA, then brought the receipt with the ticket number and other pertinent data back to US. I thought that with the Star Alliance their computers would be linked but I guess I was wrong. I was very familiar with the underground train at DEN by the time that episode was over.

oklAAhoma

That makes sense that codeshares are easier to re-ticket than non-alliance transfers. Was it a hassle to get the paper ticket? Or has that process become a bit easier?

USA_flyer

There was a posting on this subject over at airliners.net earlier. Apparently not all the airlines in the same alliance use the same ticketing systems (i.e. sabre vs amadeus for example) so they simply can not see the e-ticket. In which case a paper ticket is easier to deal with for the agent trying to make changes on a ticket issued by another carrier.

oklAAhoma

I'm not at all familiar with airliners.net. Can one rely on the reports that are posted there?

USA_flyer

It's pretty much the same as here with many industry professionals posting so it's fairly reliable. Of course as with any forum based website there's also some hot air passed around.

q

Thanks for your replies. What I have in mind, are a couple of cases with connections on code-share flights, where the fact that I did not have a paper ticket meant that it was not possible to standby for an earlier connecting flight.

oklAAhoma

Yuk! Now that is definitely major trouble in my book. I wasn't aware that stand-by was restricted like that on code-share flights. I learn something new every day on FT.

nd_eric_77

In my case, it was a DL agent who issued the e-ticket for a CO flight... I think its easier for the originating airline to "push" the ticket rather than the receiving airline to "pull" the ticket, but this is pure speculation.
I find that during irrops, the DL agents are pretty willing to work with one and print out a paper ticket / get a confirmed seat on another (non-alliance) carrier. The key seems to be approaching with an entirely friendly attitude and expressing appreciation for their help. Btw, completely OT, but the nice thing about getting put on FL is that the ticket became a full Y-class ticket... which meant I was able to pay the $35 in order to fly in the forward cabin

weblet

Within the US, etkts are pretty much the rule these days. It would be extremely unusual to get a paper tkt anymore. You can have one, but you will pay a fee ($50 at least) to have one issued if an etkt is an option and you decline it.

When etkts first arrived it was not uncommon for problems to arise, especially when you had an itin with different carriers. Due to carriers being on different GDS systems they couldn't 'see' each others etkts. Nowadays that is rare and most carriers have agreements in place so that passengers aren't inconvenienced having to run from pillar to post trying to change tkts across carriers. This is, of course, when dealing with the major carriers. Budget carriers (Southwest, jetBlue, Spirit for example) do not share anything with anybody.

Internationally, if you are flying a major alliance carrier you will usually get an etkt. However, paper tkts are not unusual.

Not knowing the carriers/situation involved, I can't be positive, but saying that you can't standby for a codeshare flight because you don't have a paper tkt would be highly unusual if it happened domestically. Usually it has something to do with the fare you are on. Too, make sure that the flight you are trying to get on has a flight number corresponding to the airline you are flying (DL codeshares flights with NW/CO, make sure the NW/CO metal has a DL flight number). Airlines do not codeshare all flights, only those that (in their twisted minds) make sense, even in the same market.

Best advice is to have the record locator(s) for your itinerary. If it involves multiple airlines, you will have one for each carrier. With those, an airline can pull your etkt records for the flights that involve them. Having the ticket numbers will also help.