TAP issues 100 percent Electronic Tickets

TAP has issued 100 percent electronic tickets from June 1, totally compliant with the IAT decision to totally eliminate paper tickets after this date. At a time when airline companies are generalizing the issue of electronic tickets it is worth mentioning that TAP Portugal was one of the pioneering companies in the implementation and development of e-Tickets (ET) on a world scale.

In fact in was back in 1997 on February 15 that TAP passengers en route from Lisbon to Funchal (Madeira) began traveling using ET’s. After introducing ET’s on all its domestic routes, TAP was the first worldwide airline company to work with the GDS Galileo system in order to adopt e-Ticket issue.

From 1998 within the scope of the Qualiflyer Group, TAP opened up European routes to e-Ticketing and also to something one could call Intraline Electronic Ticketing (the issue of electronic tickets valid between Group companies) a novelty in global terms.
Subsequently, TAP continued to extend ET’s to new routes in Europe and the South Atlantic and also assume a totally pioneering role by allowing electronic tickets to be issued on routes where the Departure Control System was not the company’s own.

After joining Star Alliance in 2005, while other alliance companies presented very satisfactory volumes of 40 percent electronic ticket use, TAP surprised partners by informing it had already reached 70 percent. Shortly afterwards, TAP managed to implement its Interline Electronic Ticket (IET) with United Airlines in less than 6 months – record time.

At the current time, TAP has already implemented IET issue with another 73 airline companies. Guinea Bissau and S.Tome & Principe were the last two destinations where the TAP ET was implemented. On June 1 these two will also join the company’s online system and TAP will achieve its goal of issuing 100 percent electronic tickets.