Ticket Type
All airline tickets whether bought online or through a travel agents are now electronic and you won't receive anything in the mail. You will receive an email to your computer. This is exactly the same as a travel agent uses, except the only difference is that they might staple it to nice stationery, or put it in a paper wallet, which they justify by adding on their fee.
Your reservation and your ticket are in the airline's computer system. All you need is to know your departure dates and times. This information you can take from our confirmation email.
You also need a picture ID at the airport to prove that the name in the computer reservation system and the name on the ID are the same.
So can you give me a step by step walkthrough?
1. You search for your flights and purchase them with your credit card, for for example, you've booked a flight to New York with American Airlines.
2. You then receive an email with the flight details and a special number. This number is actually your airline ticket! It may look like AANY1234.
3. Print out the email, when you are flying, go to the check in desk, and hand them the email with the number. If you lose the email, it doesn't matter at all, as the check in desk will already have you on their system, and are just looking for your passport to check your name. The practice of printing out the email, is just to make you feel better, and have something to show!

How long has the electronic ticket method been in use?
It's actually ALWAYS been there, except airlines used to only deal with travel agents. Now to cut costs, they deal directly with you. As mentioned before, travel agents will wrap the electronic ticket nicely for you, but thats about it! Travel Agents specialise in Packages. They are actually not interested in flights only. That is why Travel Agents in Ireland have teamed up with TheWeb.ie, so we can link directly to their computers and find you the best deal on their behalf.

ONLINE TRAVEL SHOP

Your Independent DIY Guide to Online Flights - Travel - Holidays