Tickets from Olympic

[JeanW]

Before I ring Olympic and make a fuss, has anyone who is travelling to Symi on 21st September with Olympic received tickets either online or by post?

[Gemma1]

Hi Jean

Mine arrived via email yesterday. However they're not tickets as such as it's a ticketless flight. It's another copy of the confirmation but says at the top "This is your travel document ... Further down in red it says it's a ticketless flight. I don't know many airlines that give you proper tickets anymore.

[Andy W]

I'd go further, Gemma. The paper airline ticket simply doesn't exist any more. Most airlines have what is called an e-ticket, which exists only in the reservation computers.
There's no paper copy, anywhere. Some provide the ability to print out an "e-ticket receipt" which includes the flight numbers, times, and the e-ticket numbers. This has no useful purpose except to reassure nervous people that they do have a booking, so other airlines don't bother. Where on-line check-in is offered or required you need the booking reference or "PNR" so you can access the on-line system. If you can't check-in on-line, or have decided not to, all you need is your passport or other valid form of ID for the journey you're making. The only exception is where extra security is in place so you need to prove you have a flight before you can get into the terminal to check in, and the itinerary works fine for that - this doesn't currently apply at any UK or Greek airports anyway.

Now there's still a bit of the old system left when you take a package holiday with a tour operator that isn't using flights on its own in-house airline, but is using charter flights.
Traditionally you paid the balance of the holiday cost to your High Street travel agent a month before departure, they had to remit the money to the tour operator, and the tour operator then sent the airline they'd chartered (or block booked seats with) a passenger list. This took two weeks or so, so tickets were only sent out 14 days or less before travel. Despite the decline of the High Street travel agents, this timetable is still followed. So even though you may have booked directly with the tour operator on line or by phone, and they've had your money for ages, you still don't get the final flight details sent out until a couple of weeks beforehand. Thomson and Thomas Cook avoid this when they're using their own planes as the information can flow directly within the company at each step. If the tour operator is using scheduled flights rather than charters (such as Olympic providing seats on easyJet) they have to tell the airline who you are when you book, so the whole rigmarole is avoided.

[Colette]

Hi Jean,

I'm travelling to Symi on 17th September and received my "travel document" by e mail on Sept 3rd, so you should get yours any time now .

[Gemma1]

Hope you've received something by now Jean.

I appreciate what you're saying Andy, though personally I would never turn up at the airport without some kind of print out of my flight details. I'm sure we were asked for it when we flew with Small Planet to Kefalonia in June - and apart from anything else it confirms that I've paid for an extra 5kg of luggage - plus it has confirmation of where I'm staying and that transfers are included if there are any problems at the other end. As you mentioned, some airports - Goa is one of them - won't let you into the airport without you showing your flight confirmation.

Hope to see you on Symi Colette, though I won't be your 'neighbour' this year as I'm staying at Taxiarchis this year for a change

[JeanW]

Thank you for your replies, I now have my travel documents which arrived this morning by post and by e-mail, so panic over. I will add, the docs that came in the post were accompanied by a smart wallet and luggage label!!!
Look forward to seeing Symi friends old and new.

[JeanW]

PS. 12 sleeps!!

[Gemma1]

Thank you for your replies, I now have my travel documents which arrived this morning by post and by e-mail, so panic over. I will add, the docs that came in the post were accompanied by a smart wallet and luggage label!!!
Look forward to seeing Symi friends old and new.

Wow you are very privileged getting a luggage label!!

Have a great time on Symi. I don't think we've ever met but I think you're the lady who has been to Plakias several times, which is another place I really like - though that goes for an awful lot of Greece