Starting April, only electronic tickets – etix – will be issued for Lufthansa flights within Germany.
Even now, 96 per cent of tickets issued for intra-German flights with Lufthansa are electronic. „Customers value especially the benefits and convenience of electronic ticketing.“, the airline says.
Passengers opting for an etix instead of a paper ticket appear to enjoy a number of advantages. The electronic ticket is stored in the Lufthansa system, eliminating the need to print out and issue a normal paper ticket or the charge for depositing it at the airport. Flights can be rebooked at short notice, depending on the terms, on which the ticket was bought and availability.
However, this does not mean conditions for paper tickets are worse in general. As in decades before also paper tickets may be rebooked and exchanged if conditions alow it.
When booking an etix, customers just need to a Miles & More card, a credit card or German bank card for personal identification. The boarding card can then be required either online at lufthansa.com, at an automatic Lufthansa check-in kiosk or at a check-in counter at the airport terminal.
Passengers on a German domestic feeder flight, combined with an onward flight to an international destination, can still choose between an electronic or paper ticket, albeit with a higher ticket service charge. Paper tickets issued before 1 April are still valid and will still be accepted.
[GADS_NEWS]The target of the International Air Transport Association IATA is a hundred percent implementation of e-ticketing worldwide by the end of 2007. Lufthansa supports this imitative and is on its way to reach the goal. Other airlines are on the same track. The trend goes along with massive savings for the production of papertickets, transport, distribution and storage of these valuable documents.
On the other hand customers might have more problems with the proove of being entitled to travel. Also they cannot at all times during travel verify the conditions of contract for their trip unless they have printed them out beforehand at their own expense.
Picture: touristikpresse.net/ Conditions for boarding and travel on some airlines can only be read while the holder is on his way from the check-in counter to his gate.
