Thai Airways, as part of its 48th anniversary celebrations, will introduce e-ticketing on all its sectors worldwide starting from June 1, thus replacing the current standard paper tickets.

All passengers travelling on Thai flights across the globe will be issued with an electronic ticket (e-ticket), said an airline official.

An ‘e-ticket’ is a ticket for which no physical travel document is printed. Unlike the old paper tickets, e-tickets have no paper coupons and passengers are issued with only the Passenger Itinerary printout for reference.

This is one of Thai’s ongoing plans to simplify and improve the overall passenger travel experience by reducing the hassle of handling travel documents. 

It is also in keeping with the industry trend and compliance, as well as a continuing ‘green contribution’ in helping to reduce use of paper.

'The system has been initiated and used on a limited scale for the past five years, and will be introduced worldwide from June 1.  E-tickets are issued by all accredited IATA agents and passengers can therefore be assured that once reservations have been completed and ticketed, all travel data will be safely stored on our databases,' he said.

'Payment options remain the same as they were with the old paper ticket. Thai will still accept paper tickets that were issued before June 1, however any changes made to travel arrangements after that date will require that the information be validated and re-issued with the new e-ticket,' the official explained. 

Check-in procedures at the airport have also been simplified as the passenger needs only to present their identification documents such as passport” said the airline representative.
 
Manan Boonyachai, general manager UAE and Middle East Thai Airways International said, 'E-ticketing simplifies the whole travel process, reducing the risk of losing tickets and resulting in a considerable reduction in paper consumption.'

'As well as a convenience for our passengers, it also complies with the corporate policy to reduce waste and keep cost increases to a minimum,' he added.

Thai recently announced two additional flights per week from Dubai to Bangkok starting from June 19 until August 31 to accommodate increased demand from the Middle East during the popular summer vacation period.-TradeArabia News Service