Airline Tickets!

I was trying to get the lowest triangle fare from Washington, D.C. to California and was working through the possibilities with a ticket agent for a major airline.

At one point she explained, "Well, of course, the nonstop LA to Washington fare is higher than the nonstop Washington to LA fare, since the trip is longer."

Stunned, I managed to ask, "Do you mean to say it's further from Los Angeles to Washington than it is from Washington to Los Angeles?"

She replied brightly, "Oh, much further! According to all the schedules, nonstop LA to Washington takes about six hours more than nonstop Washington to LA."

Airline ticket

A flight coupon (Thai Airways International)An Airline ticket generally refers to a document created by an airline or a travel agent to confirm that an individual has purchased a seat on an airplane. This document is then used to obtain a boarding pass at the airport. Then with the boarding pass and the attached ticket, the passenger is allowed to board the aircraft.

A paper ticket is generally only good on the airline for which it was purchased. However, an airline can endorse the ticket so that it may be accepted by other airlines, sometimes on standby basis or with a confirmed seat.

Usually the paper ticket is for a specific flight. It is also possible to purchase an 'open' ticket which allows travel on any flight between the destinations listed on the ticket. The cost for doing this is greater than a ticket for a specific flight.

Some tickets are refundable. However the lower cost tickets are usually not refundable and may carry many additional restrictions

It is now common for a traveler to pay a surcharge for a paper ticket. Many airlines no longer issue paper tickets.

A ticket is made up of one or more flight coupons. These flight coupons are the actual tickets that are used for travel. One flight coupon is used for each leg of the flight.

The carrier is represented by a standardized 2-letter code. In the example above Thai Airways is TG. The departure and destination cities are represented by International Air Transport Association airport codes. In the example above, Munich is MUC and Bangkok is BKK. The International Air Transport Association is the standard setting organization.

Only one person can use a ticket. If multiple people are traveling together, the tickets are linked together by the same record locator or reservation number which are assigned if the tickets were purchased at the same time. If not, most airlines can connect the tickets together in their reservation system. This allows all members in a party to be processed in a group allowing seat assignments to be together (if available at the time of the assignment).