Travel Policy for Faculty and Staff

E-ticketing Fact Sheet and FAQ

What is Electronic Ticketing?

Electronic ticketing is a recent innovation that is steadily becoming commonplace in the air travel industry. E-ticketing is a much faster, easier and safer way to make air travel reservations by eliminating the need to produce and deliver paper airline tickets. E-ticketing is accepted by all major U.S. airlines and computer reservation systems and by a growing number of international carriers.

How it works

E-ticketing operates similar to the way hotel reservations are made. At the time of booking, instead of being issued a paper ticket, travelers are given a flight confirmation number by their travel agent (and faxed an itinerary in most instances). Travelers simply present the confirmation number and photo identification at the airline check-in counter to receive their boarding pass.
In the meantime, travelers are sent via fax, e-mail or regular mail, a detailed travel itinerary and receipt for backup documentation and expense reporting.

Benefits to the Traveler

• Travelers need not worry about tickets being lost or stolen, as there is no actual ticket issued.
• The time and expense of paper ticket delivery is reduced significantly.
• Short lead time makes electronic ticketing ideal for last-minute travel.
• If a reservation is made at the last minute, there is no fee for a prepaid ticket and no waiting in line at the airport to have it issued.
• If your trip or any portion of it is canceled, there are no flight coupons to be returned for a refund. However, you must notify the travel agency if any refund is due.
• In the event of flight delays, cancellations or a change in plans, the travel agency can issue new electronic tickets and re-send itineraries/receipts.
• Travelers retain airline benefits such as advance seat assign ments, curbside baggage check-in and through-flight boarding pass for all connecting flights.
• Specially-negotiated fares
• Non-refundable fares
• Penalty fares
• Saturday night stay-overs
• Advance purchase fares
• Connecting and one-stop flights
• Off-peak flights
• Alternate airports
• Promotional/bulk fares
• Consolidator tickets
• Lower cost non-preferred carriers