Continental to ban paper tickets by the end of 2004

NEW YORK--Continental Airlines Inc. is serious about cutting down on paper, and the move looks to be a big plus for the self-service kiosk industry.

Continental announced it would eliminate paper tickets by the end of this year in an effort to reduce costs, theft and paperwork, according to Reuters.

The directive includes tickets for international travel and those that involve other carriers. Continental said it has terminated 50 interline ticketing and baggage agreements with carriers that do not employ electronic ticketing systems.

The airline has been considering adopting a paperless system for more than five years and decided to move forward when it realized that 95 percent of its domestic customers and 88 percent systemwide use electronic tickets.

"We now see the point at the end of the road where paper can be eliminated," company spokesman David Messing told Reuters.

Messing did not calculate the airline's savings by banning paper tickets, pointing out that most savings likely would come in the "back office," where tickets are sorted, handled and saved. Records will now be kept as computer files, he said.

Customers will still be able to make reservations through travel agents or on the phone and online, but they will not receive paper tickets. Instead, the reservations will be stored electronically.

However, passengers who check in either via computers at home or at airport kiosks will still receive paper boarding passes.

Under the former system, passengers would exchange paper tickets for boarding passes.