Significant amount of confusion surrounding e-tickets

By Cheapflights.co.uk general manager Francesca Ecsery

The world of travel has had a lot to deal with in the last few months: the tax increases as a result of the UK budget, the PR debacle surrounding the launch of T5, the impact of the Euro on the pound, and soon the potential eradication of paper ticketing as proposed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). 

E-ticketing is the next logical step in an increasingly virtual world and is certain to take effect over time, but enforcing it by setting a deadline at this stage might pose some difficulty.   

Recent surveys have shown a favourable reaction to the move.  According to the 9th annual Business IT survey, 89% of airlines expect to offer online check-in within the next two years with an anticipated increase of 35% passenger usage of it by the end of 2008. 

The push towards the world of electronic ticketing has been underway for a number of years where surcharges for requesting paper tickets on e-ticketing routes were imposed by several airlines as a means of discouraging the practice.  According to a poll conducted by the Daily Telegraph, charges for paper ticket requests can run all the way up to £25. 

Further to this, the IATA reports that it has successfully converted 80% of its global targets to e-ticketing.  The organisation continues to support the remaining 20% into completion using tools such as the ET Buddy programme, Regional Workshops and various other processes.

However, debate still lingers over whether a complete global conversion can realistically be achieved by the proposed deadline. Despite IATA's best efforts, many of the smaller carriers remain unequipped to comply with the new regulation and whether they will be able to change their systems in time to do so remains to be seen. 

From a consumer standpoint, Cheapflights supports the move towards e-ticketing as it will enhance the customer experience in several ways, namely by eliminating the hassle of airport check-in queues for those carrying hand luggage as well as facilitating the tracking and retention of passenger booking histories in the event of ticket problems.  It will also enable airlines to maintain their records more thoroughly while serving the environment at the same time by reducing the amount of wasted paper.      

Cheapflights can also report that there is a significant amount of confusion surrounding e-tickets among its users.  Requests for assistance on how to get hold of tickets are received on a regular basis from customers who are unaware that they were actually issued an e-ticket, which has been sitting in their inbox. 

Finally, adding to the difficulty faced by some of the airlines are the various airports with computer systems that currently don't have the capacity to support e-ticketing.  Until they are able to do so, it would be difficult to place such an imminent deadline on it. The date for completion has already been extended once so there is a good possibility that it may be pushed back yet again.