[London, ENGLAND] European online travel company
ebookers.com
said Thursday it has introduced an e-ticketing
service for air flights booked via its site.
Initially, the service will be available for
British Airways flights but ebookers said it will
extend e-ticketing to United Airlines and other
major carriers over the next three months.
The move to e-ticketing is expected to result in
substantial cost-savings to ebookers by cutting
out the cost of handling, postage, and other
fulfillment costs.
It works like this: customers book a flight on
the ebookers.com Web site, then wait for confirmation
by e-mail — which is deemed to be an “e-ticket” not
only by ebookers but also by the airline. Customers
simply report to the airline check-in desk, with
their passport and credit-card.
But is this really “e-ticketing,” we wonder?
Dinesh Dhamija, chief executive office at ebookers.com
says it is — and claims his company is one of the
first in Europe to use it.
“With e-ticketing, ebookers.com is using its IT expertise
to reduce costs, and maximize business efficiency.
E-ticketing also enhances the ebookers.com customer experience,
by giving them an instant ticket without the worry or
inconvenience of waiting for a postal delivery,” said
Dhamija.
Operating in eleven European countries, ebookers.com
will need to negotiate with the 119 other airlines
with which it does business if it expects to make
e-ticketing ubiquitous for all its discount airfares.