This weekend, the International Air Transport Association(IATA) announced the industry’s conversion to 100% electronic ticketing. It was perhaps a bit idealistic.
In the 1930s, IATA developed the first standardized hand-written paper ticket. In 1972, with increased automation, the IATA neutral paper ticket was developed. Any travel agent could use this to ticket almost any airline. At its peak, 285 million IATA neutral paper tickets were printed in 2005.
The first e-ticket came in in 1995. But even by 2004, only 19% of global tickets were electronic. A paper ticket costs ten times as much to process as an electronic one. Some still speak the praises of paper ticketing for security, but e-tickets can easily be changed and reissued without requiring its return to a travel agent or airline ticket facility, and enable remote check-in options.
IATA will no longer issue paper ticket stock, and airlines can still issue their own tickets. Effective June 1st, 2008, they have declared 100% electronic ticketing. It is not quite true. Most airlines are e-ticket capable, but there is still a delay in some interline e-ticketing…where two airlines occupy the same ticket.
We do not exactly miss the paper ticket. We know the hassles involved, and other than that proof in your hand of something delivered to you by the airline, the benefits outweight the downsides.