Airline ticket

The departure and destination cities are represented by International Air Transport Association airport codes.

In order for a ticket to be issued, there are two distinct processes; both of these are required: A reservation for an itinerary is made in the airline system, either directly by the passenger or by an agent.

[3] With modern booking systems, it has become more common to require immediate payment before a reservation is made.

For most of the history of commercial aviation, tickets for air travel were printed on paper.

The individual sheets comprising the ticket, one per flight segment, could then be stapled together into a booklet with a cover and often with other documents, such as legal notices to the traveler.

The ticket doubled as the official baggage check under the Warsaw Convention and Hague Protocol (see photo).

IATA announced that as of June 1, 2008,[update] IATA-member airlines would no longer issue any paper tickets.

[7] Airline tickets can be modified or cancelled by the traveler subject to terms, conditions and sometimes fees imposed by the carrier.

[11] If more ticketholders arrive at the airport than the plane can carry the airline will refuse to board some passengers (colloquially known as "bumping" them) and provide them compensation based on the regulations that apply to that flight.

If there are volunteers, the airline will negotiate compensation with those passengers, usually in the form of vouchers good towards future flights.

The passenger needs to check-in[11] and obtain a boarding pass, a ticket-like form but is not called "ticket" in this industry.