Is there any good reason to prefer a paper ticket over an e-ticket?
 

I'll be going to Europe this fall, probably on British Airways. Should I ask for a paper ticket? I've heard that this is better in case of strikes or serious delays.

This got renewed attention during the recent USAir strike threat. It seems like a true advantage. <BR> <BR>But I lost a ticket once. What a pain, and it cost me $75 to replace.

I thought e-tickets were a fabulous idea (as opposed to having to remember paper tickets or replacing them if lost) until I arrived two hours early at the San Francisco airport and barely caught my plane! The lines were ridiculous and moved very slowly. By the time I checked through, I was relieved to have just enough time to dash to the rest room and grab a coffee to take with me on the plane. Never again.

Paper preferable: <BR>1) In the even of a cancelled or seriously delayed flight you'll need to have a paper ticket to get on another airline; <BR> <BR>2) As noted above you may find a long wait in line to get your boarding passes ... get them, with the ticket, ahead of time. <BR> <BR>Ed

We just returned from Amsterdam on Continental using an E-ticket and would definitely require a regular ticket for the future. When we checked in the e-tickets "weren't available in the computer"--whatever that was supposed to mean. They were able to give us boarding passes and check our luggage but we had to wait at the gate for acutal tickets to be issued. In the grand scheme of things, a small aggravation, but if e-tickets are supposed to make life easier and faster, they failed us. We'll go back to paper for the next trip.

<BR>I definitely prefer paper tickets for many of the same reasons given. But Ed mentioned above we should get our boarding passes with our tickets. We were told on Continental, that for international flights. we must wait to get boarding passes for all segments of the flight until we get to the ticket counter on the day of departure. Do other airlines give them ahead of time for international flights? Thanks.

for security reasons, any plane I've ever been on, wants to see photo ID BEFORE they hand you over a boarding pass. They're not going to mail you a boarding pass. Obviously, though, you can often get assignments months in advance, with either e-ticket or paper ticket. <BR> <BR>E-tickets for domestic travel have never been a problem for me, maybe there's more beauracratic ways for things to go wrong on Int'l travel.

Took the same flights on TWA from Phoenix to London via St Louis twice this past year - once with paper ticket and once with e-ticket. Absolutely no difference. I would prefer e-ticket because there is nothing to steal. <BR> <BR>You couldn't get boarding passes in advance on the flights I took. Since you must go thru quite a security check, especially in Gatwick coming back, you need to get there early - they recommend 2 hours for good reason