There are alot of automated tools being developed, some by individual carrier some by industry providers, each with it's own set of advantages and disadvantages. The key being that airlines have to find a solution to staff travel. Paper tickets are costly to process and require a great deal more human interaction that eTickets. This means that the ticket with the least value (i.e. in dollars and cents) costs an airline the most to process. Automation (particularly through on-line tools) will be used to faciliate eTicketing. That will likely mean we will have to suffer some growing pains (e.g., delayed refund process, less flexibility from a single ticket) but overall I think it will work out for us.

Change is difficult but often times worth while.