Thread: e-ticket ZEDs

Odd indeed.
I was under the impression that ZED's were implemented :
A. Uniform fare calculation
B. Eliminate the necessity for multiple back ups

In prohibiting the use of ' co terminals ', it defeats 'B' which will lead to multiple back ups again, thus increasing the work of ticket agents
and at the back end, refund agents.

At UA we have very few interline E ticket agreements & none of these contain such a restriction.

Hi Nick,

I doubt very much that CX is moving to 100% eTicketing for ZED right now since the majority of ZED carriers are not yet prepared to support this. In fact, I'm fairly certain CX is not yet prepared to support interline eTicketing for ZED. They may, however, be readying for eTicketing CX employee travel on CX (ZED or other) and that may be what they're referring to if you say they've only given you a 4 day warning.

Note that interchangeability between co-terms is really up to the transporting airline, if they're system supports it for eTicketed commercial passegners they'll likely support it for eTicketed staff as well.

Even if eTicketing means we do lose interchangeability, by the way, I'm confident employees will gain even more flexibility if their airlines support automated (on-line) ticketing, which can be done for eTickets but not for paper. In otherwords, if I can't use my PAR-BOS ticket but now need a PAR-MIA, and my airline has IET for ZED with other airlines, I could request the new ticket through the web and, at the same time, refund the original. There is development underway to support that. This type of automation could also allow employees to purchase ZED tickets at locations where their airline does not have a presence. Again, a huge benefit.

Don't see this as two steps back, in fact, I think we'll be taking giant leaps forward.

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.