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A golf vacation may never again involve
paper airline tickets.
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If you're someone who likes the reassurance of a paper ticket for your golf vacation flights, make sure your computer's printer has plenty of ink or toner in it. That's because, by next summer, self-printing your tickets will likely be your only option, even if you'd be willing to pay an extra fee for the physical documents.
The International Air Transport Association, the trade group which handles ticketing for (and settles payments between) most of the major airlines, recently announced that, as of June 1, 2008, it will no longer issue paper tickets. So, unless your golf vacation involves flying with some of the smaller, regional carriers or the more exotic foreign airlines (both of which may continue to offer paper tickets), you may never see the now old-fashioned vouchers again.
According to an article in The New York Times, between 84 and 97 percent of tickets today are issued electronically, so, the announcement hasn't exactly created a sonic boom of controversy. Still, it marks an official and historic shift in air travel, similar to when onboard smoking became a thing of the past.
Even though electronic tickets shift much of the cost and labor of ticketing to consumers, they do offer some clear advantages, particularly if terms of security (paper tickets can be forged) and replace-ability if lost, stolen or forgotten on the kitchen counter.
However, if you're considering a golf vacation overseas, you should check into that country's entry requirements and inform your airline accordingly. Some countries require travelers to show a paper ticket as proof of onward or return travel (and a printed itinerary may not be sufficient) and a customs office is the last place you want to spend any more time than necessary on a golf vacation.
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