Miscellaneous Forum

Or has this ticketless world gone bloody crackers?

I have just booked online, a 4 night, 5 day mini break to the Isle of Wight.

Hotel in Southampton = 5 sheets of A4. (Ticketless)
Red Funnel ferry crossing = 5 sheets of A4. (Ticketless)
Caravan holiday for 4 nights = 4 sheets of A4. (Ticketless)
And on my return.
Hotel in Swindon = 5 sheets of A4. (Ticketless)

So what should have been 4 bits of a paper ticket in the good ‘ole days have cost this World a small forest!

The world has gone crackers...I agree

Why do you need to print them? Keep it in your laptop/smartphone and show it when requested.....voilà - paperless

Sorry to say that I don't have either :o(

LOL, OK, the BC Forest industry appreciates your help!

 Yes, paper does grow on trees, Please consider the B.C. Economy and print this e-mail

What will you paste into your scrapbook ;-)

It makes sense to eliminate paper tickets in a very high-tech world where bits of paper can easily be forged (ref-the bogus US Treasury bonds that are currently creating financial havoc in Italy). Sorry for the serious answer to your light-hearted querie, Rick.

cheers!

Ah but yes Dave, good old wood still makes the best furniture, boat docks, patios, etc..

When all the companies went "paper ticketless" they were talking of themselves not having to print - and the expensive part post - the tickets to you. You have to do their job and did the price of the tickets fall because of the quantum shift, not likely.

You could probably have just printed out the first couple of pages Ricky....not the conditions which are usually the last 3 pages. Then you would have saved half a tree.

When we went on our Europe holiday I had an envelope filled with A4 pages :o) ...and that was just 2 for each hotel, plane tickets, train tickets, pre tour bookings etc.

Actually I had a good laugh at the - pull your iphone or whatever out and show the tickets.... but then I thought about it....and well...I guess that's the way society is going now hey :o)

Yep, not everyone has iPhones or laptops nor do they want them or wish to travel with them. And unless you pay for wifi, I don't think you can access your email documents (where you may have stored those paperless tickets) in most airports with a laptop or itouch.

Sorry Ricky - didn't mean to go all serious on you either but it drives me nuts to be forced into technology that many people either can't afford or don't wish to.

I gree with you Ricky it is a whole new world now
I print way too many pages when going on a trip and I never really need them
All the info is right there in front of the Airlines employees we fly with
Lori & I are in Torremolinos and we are the youngsters here at age 66
These folks out here cannot believe what kind of a world we now live in
Talking to each other and looking at each other on a computer sceen while sitting in a lobby
TOTALLY WEIRD hahaha

Hansi

Like Ann I usually just print the first and if necessary the second page of the lot. The whole thing is rather unnerving and such a waste.

@hundwalder
"It makes sense to eliminate paper tickets in a very high-tech world where bits of paper can easily be forged......"

I must admit I have once photoshopped a hard copy of an airline e-ticket to show

a) a different destination....
and
b) that it's possible

Useful though for sending to scammers when they want to visit you

I just take note of the booking ref thought for the last few years even that is rarely asked for as my name is sufficient to retrieve the booking at the desk and my credit card or passport confirms my identity. The only paper sheets I print are those with pre-authorised boarding barcodes (or those square checkerboard things) or vouchers where car hire is booked through a third party agent. Even then the just the first page is usually all that is required, the following four are usually terms and conditions. If I do need the second page I just turn the paper over and print on the back.

Ricky, it is definitely NOT just you!!

personally, I always print out the first page of air and hotel res; otherwise, I would have to make a note anyway of the flight numbers, etc. and then remember where I wrote it!! (I also don't indulge in any of the smaller tech items) This is especially important when on a long and varied trip.

and for hotels, quite often these days, there can be problems with a reservation, so you may need to use a printed res when challenged; better than just having a confirmation number.

Then, I often use these bits of info later when I want to refer for some reason or other; as well as mementos.

you can print them on A6 format and use also the other side of page
1 shift = 8 pages
if you do not have a printer which does it, you could do with pdf-creator (it's free) just 'print' a new pdf in A5 or A6 format and put more pages for shift.
it works and you don't loose in quality.
I use to do so and then I send all these pdf to a my hotmail account, if during the travel I loose one or more reservations, I could reprint it using less shifts.

Ricki, totally agree with you.

I have to say I travel with a laptop, and do save any tickets/reservations etc to it, BUT, I have never had to use them. The only time I print the applicable pages is it says had to your driver or what ever.

For flights I simply hand over my passport at the check in and perhaps my frequent flyer card, thats all.

The other reason I do this is that paper very quickly adds up with the weight, especially with some airlines being less elastic than others in the weight area.

With Amtrak (rail system here in the USA) you just print a page and it has everything on it you need, including a bar code you pass under a reader at most stations, and it prints the ticket stub with which you need to board the train. Has the summary of your payment and all that, all on one single sheet of paper.

Washington State Ferries is similar: it prints a piece of paper that could be little larger than a credit card if your printer accepted such stock (though A4 or US Letter will work) and slide the ticket through the reader at the turnstile before boarding the boat.

Airlines? Well, they operate on their own little world. Somehow, there are companies that seem to be able to do paperless ticketing just fine - National Airlines in South Africa is one of them. Everything is stored by passport number. Present the passport, and essentially you are granted permission to board the plane.

US air carriers I think are partial owners of paper mills. Once in a while paperless ticketing seems to work, but half the time I wind up with so much paper I need another suitcase just to carry it all, which of course requires payment of a checked baggage fee for the luggage that holds the ticket.