R.I.P. the paper airline ticket

(Jun 17, 2008) When booking your summer holiday, you may notice a conspicuous absence of paper. As of June 1, the traditional paper ticket with the smudged red ink has been retired after 75 years of service. The airline industry has gone paperless.

International initiative
All 240 airlines associated with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is now issuing only electronic tickets. Most Canadians won't see that much of a difference since we're been mostly electronic since for several years now.

But for the 70,000 travel agencies in 160 countries, the move represents a big change despite a gradual transition that began back in 2005.

Green to save money
Motivation was financial; it’s $10 to process one paper ticket but only $1 to produce and electronic version. The IATA estimates the switch will save US$3-billion. With rising fuel costs and a bleak outlook for the industry, any cost saving measure is welcomed. Analysts have predicated that if oil prices continue to hover about $130 per barrel, the aviation industry would suffer a $6.1 billion loss in 2008.

Exceptions noted
The IATA set up the new system to accommodate out of the way places in developing countries. The electronic ticket will be issued and picked up at a travel agent who, it’s presumed, will have a computer, printer and email.

The exception to the rule will be those USA travel agents not using the IATA’s billing system. Paper tickets will also be issued under special circumstances such as someone on a round-the-world ticket using several carriers with a few not fully up to speed on the electronic end.

Streamlined service
Travellers are embracing electronic tickets because they are harder to lose or get stolen. E-tickets also promise greater convenience reduced processing time, simplified operations and a faster check-in. More technically advanced airports are starting to allow their terminals to read a passenger’s barcodes off a cell phones or Blackberrys, making the whole process paperless from beginning to end.

Nostalgia
Whether we will miss our paper ticket remains unclear. The final thousand tickets are being given out as mementos to people in the industry and sent to a number of museums across the world to be displayed as yet another outdated item of the past.

The silver lining in the switch is that 50,000 trees will be saved ever year.

Liam McCann is a freelance writer who contributes regularly to Green Living Online. He lusts after a round-the-world ticket for two, paper or electronic.


Tags: e-cards, e-commerce, e-tickets, e-wastetag cloud.