Ticket to Ride
Nearly a week had passed, and still no tickets in the mail. I was mildly concerned: I knew significant OneWorld fare changes went into effect June 1 and I didn’t want any snafus.
When I called the OneWorld round-the-world desk the ticket agent assured me all was in order: “These tickets take time,” she said. “They have to be handwritten.”
Made sense to me. Certainly no two are alike. Still I assumed she meant they had to be individually assembled.
But no, she meant they needed to be handwritten. I hadn’t seen an airline ticket like this in 25 years!
In addition to changing fare rules, as of June 1 OneWorld is moving to e-tickets for its round-the-world tickets. More convenient to be sure, but somehow not quite as romantic.
5 comments
They will make nice souvenirs of this once in a lifetime trip 🙂
Takes me back to the days when I had to walk out onto the tarmac and climb up rickety metal stairs to get on a plane. Or before that, when I had to find a way to get the dinosaur to stand still while I took a running leap onto its back. YabbaDabbaDoo!
And you know what the beautiful thing about these tickets is? We (we have the same type of ticket) get to carry them for a year. A nice big stack of handwritten tickets that must be kept safe and dry as not to smear the ink, lose them, etc. I think to myself how can I be trusted with these for a whole year? They don’t really fit in the money belt without looking like you swallowed them. But such a good deal it is hard to complain….they live very happily in a waterproof sack in my backpack, each waiting for its own adventure to begin.
I wonder if the change to e-tickets means less fees when changing dates/flights? Although I haven’t traveled on a paper ticket within the US in a long time all of my international flights purchased through STA were paper and handwritten. It goes without saying that most of the tickets bought in developing countries are handwritten as well.
And Marjory, I had to carry my own checked luggage onto the plane recently. A few of the larger passengers helped put the bags into the netting at the back of the plane. It’s funny what we take for granted in the West.
woah! paper tickets. how old school.