ZDNet previously reported that federal authorities in the US have implemented new regulations of electronic airline tickets as part of the bigger picture of tighter airport security in light of last week's terrorist attacks on the US.
Australian airlines, quick to cite the convenience and cost-effectiveness of ticketless travel, say they are happy with the level of security surrounding e-tickets.
"From the company's point of view e-tickets have certainly made us competitive, cut down on fraud and have certainly saved the company money," Air New Zealand representative Lucy Powell told ZDNet Australia.
From the customer's point of view, they don't risk losing paper tickets in the post and fast-lane e-ticket lines allow travellers to bypass longer airport queues.
Eighty-five percent of Air New Zealand's domestic travel is done using e-tickets and domestic travellers don't have to show any photo ID, according to Powell. -One telephone call and a credit card and all the booking is completed," she said.
Trans-Tasman ticketless travellers, which represent 28 percent of those travelling to New Zealand, also don't have to show photograph ID, according to Powell.
Whilst the airline says it has looked at security issues since the terrorist attacks on the US -we haven't had to address it from an e-ticketing point of view," Powell said. -Domestically we haven't had to make any changes to how it [e-ticketing] currently works. It's business as usual with them," she said.
Paul Chamberlain, media advisor to minister for the department of transport, John Anderson, said: -I haven't heard any suggestion that there's a change in the offing in the e-ticket process. There's no change to that situation at all."
Chamberlain said the e-ticketing process was sufficiently secure, pointing out that -you still have to prove who you are" and that there are -only e-tickets for domestic travel".
However, this isn't the case at Air New Zealand, which introduced e-tickets to their long-haul flights to Honolulu and Los Angeles in October 1999 and to London in July of this year.
International Air New Zealand e-ticket travellers do have to show passport ID before being issued with a boarding pass, the airline's Powell said. However, there is no move to implement tougher regulations as in the US, where passengers holding e-tickets also have to show a printed receipt of their e-ticket purchase as well as photo identification, before receiving a boarding pass. The new restrictions in the US also require passengers to show proof of a valid ticket to get past security checkpoints.
Virgin Blue, which sells e-tickets to 100 percent of its customers, said it was looking at its options. -We don't want to inconvenience the public," the airline's head of IT, Nick Brant, told ZDNet Australia.
As part of the company's terms and conditions of ticket purchase, the customer has to show proof of ID at the airport when they check in. -Our preference is photo ID," Brant said, -but I believe they can use a credit card as form of proof," he added.
Brant said Virgin Blue was -comfortable" with the use and security of e-tickets, adding that there was no real difference with paper tickets.
"I'm not sure if any regulatory stuff will come out of this, I don't suspect so," Brant said.
Qantas had not returned calls by press time.
