Effective June 1, 2008, passengers traveling on all Thai Airways International flights will be issued with an “electronic ticket” to replace the current standard paper ticket. 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 01 June 2008. 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. 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, 2008. 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. Check-in procedures at the airport have also been simplified as the passenger needs only to present their identification documents such as passport,” an airline representative said. 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.” Thai added two additional flights per week from Dubai to Bangkok from June 19 until Aug. 31. __
