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E-ticket revolution
With e-ticketing widely put forward as the panacea for various concerns affecting the airline and worldwide travel industry, including becoming environmentally friendly and reaping huge cost savings by doing away with paper tickets, electronic global distribution services provider Galileo has been at the forefront of this revolution – aiding 227 airlines to convert to e-tickets by the IATA-set deadline of 31 May 2008.
Brad Holman
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The e-ticketing revolution has proved to be both a boon and curse for many; but the paradigm shift is inexorably drawing to its logical conclusion as global airline trade grouping International Air Transport Association (IATA) pushes for all its members to go fully electronic by 31 May next year after grudgingly allowing one final postponement from December 2007.
For passengers, the experiences have been mixed. While there were a number of teething problems from the outset, this worldwide shift to electronic booking of airline seats has nevertheless given individuals far more control over their orders when compared to the older system of relying on travel agents and airline staff for bookings.
With the Internet services and self-service kiosks at airports factored into the equation, it is theoretically possible for a passenger to personally handle almost every aspect of the process from checking seat availability to confirming orders to seat allocation and even check-ins without having to deal with another human being.
This transfer of selected control to passengers has proved to be a major timesaver for airlines, who are looking forward to redeployment of staff to other duties or right-sizing its employment base to optimize resources.
With such clear benefits to be gained all-round, despite the initial hiccups, Galileo Asia Pacific MD Brad Holman told AA&A magazine in a recent interview that the environment too is gaining as the e-ticketing system the firm has implemented is already saving a minimum of 14 acres of forest every month in reduction of paper production.
Asian experience
With extensive experience in implementing e-ticketing systems worldwide, Galileo has covered almost all the Asian airlines and Holman has only praise for the progress todate.
“What’s interesting for us is that the Asian carriers have been more thorough than others in their approach in their implementation in e-ticketing than other markets.”
“One could say that for some it had been a matter of watching other markets or carriers take the initial action and see what problems they had experience and apply that lesson learnt in their subsequent implementation in their Asian markets. Asian carriers implementing e-ticketing have been far more thorough than other carriers in other parts of the world.”
E-ticket revolution
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The overall process of implementation had been well planned out with Galileo committed to delivery dates, “…and our carrier partners have found the process of e-implementation to be as pain-free as possible.’
“They have been very diligent in making sure they learn from others’ experience and I think the biggest challenge they found is not implementation e-ticketing with Galileo but implementation of e-ticketing in markets that were previously so used to paper tickets.”
For many passengers worldwide, this changeover has been a huge psychological barrier because paper tickets have become widely perceived as the “gold standard” by which the licence to travel is granted. Many immigration and customs authorities (including the US) also often insist on the production of return tickets to ensure there is no unwanted immigration attempts.
Plain paper printouts, despite the extensive clauses and confirmations contained within, hardly inspire the same confidence in passengers and many an airline frontline staff have had to literally leap through hoops many a time to assure passengers that their e-tickets are fully valid for travel purposes.
Travel agents too have had to develop a mantra explaining to passengers just how the e-ticket system works and the benefits to be gained, although many passengers still remain bewildered and are fully assured the system actually works only once they arrive at their destinations. But once the first experience has proved painless, there is usually less resistance the next time round.
E-ticket revolution
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Even so, a healthy skepticism still remains and many airlines and travel agencies are prepared to issue paper tickets if the customer insists – at an additional price of usually US$25 each. And this financial deterrent seems enough to dissuade the less efficient demands.
Former diehards are also being converted when they realize there are other benefits to be gained. It takes time and wastes resources to have someone pick up a paper ticket from an airline’s or travel agent’s office and deliver it to the customer – a service that’s usually provided gratis within Asia currently, but that’s changing rapidly.
There’s also the possibility that a paper ticket can be forgotten, misplaced or lost – real bummer that can lead to a lot of unnecessary hassles. While it can be replaced, there are many countries where it will be extremely difficult and time consuming to do so.
But lose the e-ticket, you've simply lost a piece of paper because all the booking information can be easily found on the check-in computer system simply by giving your name, ID or credit card number if one cannot remember the often cryptic confirmation code.
System integration
Passenger psychological discomfort aside, the biggest constraint right now is throwing enough resources to ensure rapid integration of the various airline systems worldwide to ensure everyone is aboard the e-ticket train.
E-ticket revolution
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“In order to activate e-ticketing, we have to make a number of upgrades to some of our customers’ functions in the area of interactive cell,” explained Holman. “We may activate the same functions with multiple customers but each one is slightly different from the last and e- ticketing causes multiple applications, in that it’s always complex and time consuming.”
“Additionally we have to work with 40 different e-ticket services, each requiring slightly different processing in each circumstance. At the end of the day the complexities have been complicated in real time environment and quite complex. But really no significant or main issues are impeding our progress.”
This last understatement belies the immense complexity of implementing the e-ticketing applications on “live” airline seat booking systems worldwide, which is almost akin to changing the spark plugs on a car cruising down a highway.
The actual implementation is conducted and tested on standalone offline systems until all the bugs are worked out before the switch is made – often during the wee hours of the early morning.
But even so, the switchover is often a nail-biting moment because ticket bookings come from all round the world almost every second and there is usually a downtime prescribed with a follow-on parallel processing network to ensure no essential data is lost during the process which could result in passengers being inconvenienced or worse, lose their confirmed bookings altogether.
Adding complication this e-ticket switchover is the additional complexity of interlining – an industry term used to describe the direct electronic access given to the guts of an airline booking computer network.
E-ticket revolution
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In the paper ticket system, seat bookings could remain distinct as bookings are made separately via each airline’s network with the grunt work being done by the human booking agent to ensure smooth transfers for passengers traveling via connections on different airlines.
With interlining, the booking is made seamless for the ticketing agent as separate airline computer networks will “recognize” the transfer connections as the booking is made via one direct interface that allows separate computer networks “talk” to each other.
It’s somewhat similar to hyperlinks on Internet websites, where the individual can quickly and seamlessly surf from one website to another instead of having to type in the URL every time to get to the next page.
This complication is due to the legacy system which has been around since the 1960s when the airline industry created the first Global Distribution System (GDS) as a way to keep track of flight schedules, availability and prices.
Prior to this, travel agents spent an extravagant amount of time manually entering reservations. The airlines realized that by automating the reservation process for travel agents, they could make the travel agents more productive and essentially turn into an extension of the airline’s sales force.
This GDS system worked well with the paper ticket system but is not as efficient for e-ticketing, especially when it comes to plane transfers between airlines when both are on different ticketing processes – needing airline and airport staff at the frontlines to undergo extra verification procedures resulting in unnecessary hassles and delays for passengers.
Interlining solves this problem, but it also required the over 250 airlines worldwide to have interlining agreements with each other with the follow-on interconnectivity being implemented.
Time constraints and the cost – the cost of each individual link has been estimated to be in the region of US$25,000 each – have resulted in airlines are prioritising their interline agreements.
E-ticket revolution
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According to IATA’s own research, an airline typically generates 80% of its interline volume from just 20% of its interline partners – hence some smaller carriers have tended to lose out in this e-ticketing rush because the returns could not be justified immediately.
Even so, the moving IATA deadlines have had their intended effect.
“We are now offering e- ticketing capabilities to 190 airlines in 94 countries. In line with our commitment to meet the IATA deadline to be paperless by 31 May 2008 we have 12 in progress and another 25 contracted or awaiting to be completed to be electronically enabled,” said Holman.
“Galileo now has 97% of top ticket volume producer’s e-ticket enabled, so if you look at the top carriers and the volume they produce we are really talking at completing only 3% of total volume to be e-ticketing enabled.”
Inherent deficiencies
Despite the many advantages offered by e-ticketing systems, a number of other issues have also caused concerns – sometimes so critical that flights are delayed and passengers bumped off confirmed seats.
The e-ticketing system presupposes a robust computer network with equally reliable communications backbone interconnecting various systems worldwide – a premise that rarely fails but not unheard of.
Just months back, the failure of the communications backbone at United Airlines grounded thousands of passengers in America – though it fortunately did not cause an extensive domino effect on other airline booking systems.
There have also been instances in the past where computer failures have resulted in frontline staff frantically referring to printouts to verify e-ticket bookings, causing immense confusion and inconvenience to passengers used to faster check-ins while those with 'real tickets' could board with no problems.
An even bigger problem currently is the assumption that everyone around the world is in some way connected to the internet, with email addresses and mobile phones available for confirmation messages to be sent to.
This assumption is clearly false now and it isn’t clear if there ever will come the day when it would be safe to assume every individual will have at least one email address and mobile phone each.
The same argument also applies to credit cards, which many wrongly assume to be so ubiquitous around the world when it clearly isn’t the case. In the Middle East, for example, the usual practice is to simply pay by cash.
E-ticket revolution
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But the industry argument is that everyone who can want to and afford to fly would probably have these basic modern day essentials or at least have access to them via someone they can trust – friends, family, colleagues or the travel agent.
Just how true this assumption is has yet to be fully tested but yet another argument has been forward by the industry – you can’t please everyone but at least you can serve the greater good.
Yet another issue is that of environment friendly impact of e-ticketing, where the airline industry is proudly claiming it has actually reduced the amount of paper wasted by not issuing physical tickets.
The truth of the matter is that the guilt has simply been transferred to passengers, who now have to print out their e-tickets as proof of booking confirmations – resulting in even more paper being wasted than before because e-ticket printouts can run into several pages compared to the compared paper ticket.
This argument of being more environment-friendly is also half-baked because boarding passes are still being printed and issued en masse.
In short, the e-ticketing shift comes across more as an industry spin wherein the real gains are in cost reductions for airlines in the medium to long term. On the flip side, these cost reductions have had a positive benefit for airline passengers – with ticket prices staying steady or often dipping downwards.
Everyone benefits
E-ticketing is also slowly resulting in a more efficient and faster check-in process for passengers, especially when electronic kiosks are placed at airport terminals – a development that is slowly gaining pace around the world.
At these self-check-in kiosks, passengers now have liberty of choosing exactly where they would like to sit onboard the aircraft as well as checking in regular luggage without having to endure interminable queues at the counter.
Better yet, additional options like tour packages, car rentals, hotels and tickets to other events or venues can be incorporated more seamlessly into the e-ticketing platform unlike the current situation which is dependant on how much initiative an internet service or a human travel agent is willing to exercise.
In theory, a passenger traveling light with no check-in luggage can literally breeze through the gates onto an aircraft and obtain everything at the destination with no fuss based on online or internet advanced reservations paid for via credit cards.
This is exactly the scenario that airlines are hoping will become the norm in the near future when everyone has completely adopted the e-ticketing system.
“There’s the change of behavior and consumer practice on a go forward basis,” said Holman. “Galileo have a long history of providing e-ticketing and in fact was the first GES provider of e-ticketing with United Airlines some years ago.”
E-ticket revolution
© - AA&A Magazine |
Global e-ticket penetration is now around 82%, particularly the US where the e-ticketing penetration rate is 93%, but is just 47% in the Middle East & Africa. With e-ticket take-up in the Middle East behind the world average, Galileo is concerned that an extension to the deadline will result in a slowdown in e-ticketing plans in the Middle East & Africa.
“If e-ticketing remains a priority, we will be able to meet the IATA deadline in this region.”
While the Middle East is a worrisome region, it has made progress and IATA anticipates a rate there of 89% by year-end with several airlines in this region having already implemented e-ticketing and are now in operations.
While some carriers, such as Emirates in the UAE, are claiming they will be 100% ready to issue e-tickets, with all interline agreements in place, others have admitted they will not.
Ahmed Al Ghambi, senior manager of systems airport information development at Saudi Arabian Airlines, said it would convert around 70 of its 200 paper interline agreements to electronic. “The problem is the commitment,” he admitted. “Most airlines are committed with the biggest member… it depends on the value between both airlines.”
Some carriers also expect to continue to issue paper tickets — at least for domestic routes because of the low internet take-up in their home states.
Hossein Hosseini, director of marketing at Iranian carrier Mahan Air have stated his company would continue to use paper tickets for its domestic business “at least for a few months” after the deadline is issued because of the low rate of internet penetration in Iran. “We feel that if we go totally electronic, it probably will harm our business,” he said.
He added that he expects other airlines will also continue with manual ticketing. “I think within 2008 and probably the first half of 2009, we will have enterprises who will continue with the paper ticket,” Hosseini said.
Galileo's vice-president for the Middle East and Africa said, “The benefits of e-ticketing are indisputable as e-tickets enable passengers to check in and board their flights without a paper ticket.”
“This not only saves costs by eliminating the need for printing and posting paper documents but also saves agents' time. What's more, e-tickets are far safer and more secure than printed tickets. They are much harder to counterfeit. Also, as they are not posted, the tickets can no longer get lost in the post or be sent to the wrong address.”
E-ticket revolution
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"IATA's target of 96.5 per cent e-ticketing will not only save a significant amount of time for the agent and the customer but will also save the airline industry at least US$3 billion per year."
"Facilitated by the advancements in technology, the process is now very straightforward. When a customer books a flight from any travel agent or via the internet, the details of the reservation are stored in a computer.”
“A confirmation number is assigned to the passenger, along with the flight number(s), date(s), departure location(s), and destination location(s). When checking in at the airport, the passenger simply presents positive identification. Boarding passes are then issued and the passenger can check luggage and proceed through security to the gate area in the usual way."
"All parties benefit from e-tickets. They are more efficient for the customer, the agent and the airline."
In fact, three out of every four tickets issued on a Galileo system are now electronic. Being the first company to bring e-ticketing via a GDS in Pakistan, the company has now 67 airlines within the region which are e-ticket enabled. Galileo operating agents can now transmit ticket information directly to the databases of key airlines in the region.
Electronic ticketing was a mandate issued three years ago by IATA at its annual meeting in Singapore that stipulated all airlines worldwide must go ticketless by the end of 2007. IATA recently extended the deadline to 31 May 2008.
The company has also activated virtually all carriers from the list of Top 100 ticket volume producers and continues to work closely with its subscribers and suppliers to help those who have not yet signed up to e-ticketing to meet the IATA deadline.
On top of that Galileo sees more and more take up of its June 2005 launched e-ticketing solution for agents/airlines that operate in non-Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) markets.
These agents can request via Galileo to have their e-tickets issued in the airline's system which, once authorised by the airline, allows all parties to work more efficiently by preventing manual entries.
Galileo has fine-tuned its process with each e-ticket implementations, resolving various types of technical questions posed to the carrier to identify the exact testing its system requires and easily manages customer’s expectation by gaining insight into which strategies work with each airline system.
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