Although I have travelled many times from Dulles Airport to CDG Paris Aeroport, I have always followed the Old? advice of seasoned visitors and purchased a PAPER ticket in the past. I am considering the jump to the twenty-first century finally, and may purchase an e ticket online...I know the benefits, especially if the paper ticket is lost or needs to be changed. However, I am seeking out advice, criticism or any stories that may address this issue.

There's no downside. Everybody's doing it, airlines are charging extra for paper tickets, and some airlines are going totally paperless soon.

So, there's really no "issue" to address. Like it or not, paper's going away.

The only "downside" I have ever heard of happened in the event of an airline strike or bankruptcy interruption AND when someone holding an e-ticket on the particular airline was attempting to have that ticket honored by another company.

Since that is unlikely to happen without warning you may as well discard the paper tickets along with the dixie cups and pieces of string (even though they DO work!!!) and make it easier on yourself.

Hi Orval,

When you book your flights, you will get an email confirmation showing your itinerary and your reservation number.

Print this out.

It is your ticket.

Also if you go to the ticket counter of the airline you are flying with at the airport, they can usually print out your ticket and reservation details for you.

Thanks to all. I think I just wanted to put the question out there and see if anyone has had any problems. I do remember an American Airlines "sickout" when I was in the caribbean back in the late nineties, and it was a problem for others trying to change carriers using an e ticket. Has that changed? And if it hasn't, don't the airlines now have to have coop rules in order to accommodate this, since e tickets will be all one can get soon?

orval - No one can say for sure what will happen when a major airline closed its doors, but when Independence Air shut down early this year, other airlines accommodated its customers with a $50 fee - and I would think almost all of Indepedence's customers are using e-ticket.

Program your phone with your airlines 800 number. If there are problems, call immediately. This works on your outward bound flight. If you get stuck in Paris, oh, well.

orval, times change. I use e-tickets all the time and have even moved over to my airline's "flight pass"--10 pre-paid one-way trips; book them online any time and upgrade to business class on a space available basis 24-hours before the flight. Very handy.

Anselm

I haven't used a paper ticket in years and wouldn't even want one. I've used them on Air France quite a few times for many years. There is nothing special about AF that makes it any different on etickets.

I tried to buy our tickets from Air France web site this weekend and I couldn't get to final step so I called their reservation number and booked over the phone. The agent said they would mail paper tickets for no extra charge; she didn't explain why but said I'd have them in about a week.