Columnist Muriel Stevens: E-tickets not always e-fficient

Wednesday, June 20, 2001 | 8:20 a.m.

When airlines started to issue e-tickets instead of the normal hard ticket, I balked. Based on nothing but my own instinct, I continued to request the "old-fashioned" paper ticket. Friends scoffed, my kids laughed, but I didn't trust e-tickets. Thanks to Peter Greenberg, travel editor of NBC's "Today" show, I've learned my instinct was right.

Greenberg, aka the Travel Detective, has written a book based on insider info gathered during his many trips. "The Travel Detective" (Villard, $15.95, paperback) is an invaluable tool for travelers. Greenberg (and his mother) hate e-tickets as much as I do, and he devotes plenty of copy making his case.

Here is a brief synopsis of what Greenberg learned: United Airlines was the first to offer e-tickets, saying that the airlines were giving us the opportunity for "seamless travel." In theory it sounded simple. Just make a reservation, go to the airport on travel day, show up at the departure gate with a photo ID and away you go.

For the airlines, e-tickets are a good deal. It costs about 22 cents to process an e-ticket, Greenberg says, compared with $4-$5 for a paper ticket.

Airlines want us to use e-tickets and reduce their costs even more. But has customer service improved? Not by my experiences. Greenberg cites many occasions when he benefited from having a paper ticket. Once, when he was traveling with friends from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles he had his usual paper ticket; his friends, e-tickets.

The group arrived at the airport to learn there would be a four-hour delay. Greenberg walked over to United Airlines, where an L.A. flight would be departing in a few minutes. With his paper ticket he got a seat without any delay. How did he do it? As soon as he learned his American Airlines flight was late he called their toll-free number and asked to be put on the next available flight to L.A. His friends, who had just minutes before called him a dinosaur, were still in line "waiting to turn their e-ticket into the paper ticket they should have had in the first place."

Greenberg has a lot more to say about e-tickets, Rule 240 (read the book) and how to get the best service and deals from the travel industry. An invaluable travel guide.

More travel: Catherine Comer and Lavon Swaim, co-authors of "The Traveling Woman"(Impact, $14.95), list the pros and cons of e-tickets. They agree that paper tickets are easier to use if there are delays, but don't mind using them. Should you? Their suggestion is to ask the airline agent who makes the reservation what type of ticket would be best for your itinerary. Just hope the advice given is the best for you.

Greenberg is much more forthright, mincing no words. Comer and Swaim's book is not as colorful, but it does supply good practical information for women who travel alone or with children. The chapter about packing with safety in mind would benefit any traveler.

For the adventurous: "Traveler's Tool Kit" (Menasha Ridge Press, $16.95) by free spirited entrepreneur Rob Sangster. With Sangster as your guide, "travel with confidence anywhere on the planet." Good read for armchair travelers, too.