Airlines Save Big Bucks Electronic Ticketing Popular With Most Air Travelers

Paul Klaassen, president of Sunrise Assisted Living Inc., doesn’t think “love” is too strong a word to describe his feelings about electronic airline tickets.

Electronic reservation systems have simplified his travel and put an end to embarrassing conversations with his secretary about accidentally throwing out valuable unused paper tickets. Given his attachment to the “E-ticket,” Klaassen was annoyed recently when he couldn’t get one from a major U.S. carrier. “I hope it catches on and becomes automatic,” Klaassen said.

Such requests are coming through crystal-clear to U.S. airlines as they reap millions of dollars in savings from the system’s efficiency. Next year airlines could double savings as E-tickets are more available and attractive, particularly for international and business travelers.

“It’s going to be as big as 1995 when the airline industry launched E-tickets and everybody said, ‘Wow, what is all this about,’ ” said Steve Cossette, a Continental Airlines Inc. vice president.

After Southwest Airlines Co. pioneered ticketless travel in 1994, all major U.S. airlines eventually followed suit. Now, customers can buy the tickets through toll-free telephone numbers, over the Internet or through travel agents; get paper confirmations by mail or fax; and pick up their boarding passes at the airport.

Airlines only offer electronic ticketing for some of their flights, making the option available to about 40 percent to 50 percent of customers. Of those customers, about half choose E-tickets. As many as 30 percent of passengers wind up being E-ticket holders, depending on the airline.

Continental expects to offer international travelers E-tickets by the second quarter of next year. Northwest Airlines Inc. will sell the tickets for trips to London, Paris, and Frankfurt by February and to the Japanese cities of Osaka and Tokyo by April.

At United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp., customers already can buy E-tickets for travel to the U.K., as can American Airlines customers flying to Frankfurt. Both airlines plan to add more European destinations soon and American, an AMR Corp. unit, plans to include Canada and Mexico.

In the past, international airport security concerns as well as customer credit and corporate banking difficulties have presented barriers to international E-ticketing. Now, airlines are cooperating internationally to solve those problems.

Like Klaassen, 75 percent of 900 corporate E-ticket users surveyed by American Express Travel Services said they like using the tickets. And some airlines report that half of their E-tickets are being bought by the high-fare corporate fliers.

“They’re much better than paper tickets you don’t lose them,” said TeleCommunications Inc. Executive Vice President Steve Brett, who misplaced his tickets on Labor Day weekend.

The biggest complaint, according to the American Express survey, is that customers can’t automatically use the E-tickets on another airline if they miss a flight or want an earlier departure.

“The last key obstacle to getting the business customer to use E-ticketing is allowing them to go over to another carrier without getting a paper ticket generated,” said Sue Fullman, United’s director of distribution planning.

This snag should be solved soon as airlines carry out plans to link up electronically for the first time, allowing them to exchange E-ticket information and revenue credits.