When our corporate travel agency switched from paper to e-tickets,
I was stricken with insecurity, even more so than usual. I liked
the reassuring feeling of having a paper ticket in my jacket pocket
when I traveled. I never lost a ticket so having a paper one never
worried me.
The idea that I had a ticket but I didn't have anything to show
for it troubled me for a while. But it's been quite some time now
and I'm getting used to traveling to an airport with my photo
driver's license as the only thing I need.
My name always has turned up in the airline computer and so far
I haven't had to try to negotiate a different flight because my
flights have been OK.
The moment of truth may come when I need to change airlines
without a paper ticket in hand.
In April, nearly half the tickets written by travel agents were
of the e-variety, compared to only 30% a year ago, so we're moving
inexorably to the e-generation of ticketing.
The airlines even have thought about charging more to people who
insist on paper tickets as a way of discouraging all but the
e-type.
About the only thing I miss about not having a paper ticket is
the additional reading matter it provided. Sometimes I'd find
myself in a cab or on a flight without anything else to read. I
could always turn to my airline ticket.
I particularly miss the Warsaw Convention notice. It was so
heartwarming to read "if the passenger's journey involves an
ultimate destination or stop in a country other than the country of
departure, the Warsaw Convention may be applicable and the
Convention governs and in most cases limits the liability of
carriers for death or personal injury and for loss of or damage of
baggage."
That's almost as much fun to read as the instructions in the
exit row about what you have to do if your services are required in
flight.
I don't know if you've read the exit-row notice but try it
sometime. After you've read it, let me know if you still want to
sit in an exit row.