1. Airline tickets

Airline tickets are documents used to gain access to an airplane as a passenger. Without purchasing an airline ticket, you won't be able to board your flight. These tickets are usually bought and issued from the airline carrier or a third-party agency. Airline tickets include identification information such as your name, address and phone number, along with the date and time of departure, flight number and airline.

History of

• The history of airline tickets coincides with the history of the airline industry. Airline tickets were introduced when the very first passenger flights were available. The first airlines offering flights was DELAG airlines in Germany in 1910. The first United States commercial flights were available about five years later. Many airline companies were formed soon after including American Airlines, Trans World Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Each of these companies issued airline tickets, which were usually typed with a typewriter. However, sometimes airline tickets at the time were actually handwritten.

Function

• The basic function of an airline ticket is to verify that the passenger has the authority to board the flight and has paid her fare. Before the Internet was widely used, passengers would need to call the airline or a travel agency to purchase tickets. After booking and paying for their trips, a ticket would be mailed to the passengers. However, with advancements in recent years, most airlines, travel agencies and travel companies, such as Orbitz, Travelocity and Kayak, can issue electronic tickets. This means you choose and pay for your flight online, then a confirmation receipt is sent to your email address or available on the website. You can print this as an e-ticket and bring it to the airport. If you forget your e-ticket, the airline can normally look up your reservation on the computer by your name and/or confirmation number. Once at the airport, the airline ticket is often used to obtain a boarding pass. Then with the boarding pass and the attached ticket, the passenger is allowed to board the aircraft. With advancements in technology, many airline tickets have information that can be read by a computer. For that reason, it is common for your ticket to pass through a specially designed computer before you board your flight. Once passed through, the airline can instantly get all your information and will be able to confirm that you indeed boarded the flight.

Type

• Several types of airline tickets are used today. One distinction is the class of your seat in the flight. Typically, flights can consist of up to four different types of classes: first class, business class, premium economy and economy. The most expensive is first class, while economy class is the least expensive. The different types of classes offer varying degrees of luxuries such as legroom and on-flight service. Additionally, tickets can be classified by whether or not the ticket is refundable. It's suggested by most airlines that you purchase airline tickets 21 days in advance to get the best rates.