Biggest Stories of the Decade 2000 - 2009 - Electronic Tickets

I remember when electronic tickets started making their way into air travel in the mid-1990s. All of a sudden, it seemed like they were everywhere - but they really weren't. It wasn't until May 2008 that paper tickets were officially gone.

There still are times when you might get a paper ticket from an airline - a FIM (flight interruption manifest), sometimes for infants traveling internationally and not occupying a seat, but you won't be issued one for your Boston to Bangkok roundtrip.

Electronic tickets are faxed, mailed or e-mailed to you. The next evolution of this seems to be check-in you can either have a paper boarding pass, or an electronic one on your PDA - check in online or in person, with check in online growing more popular as it can lead to better seats and lower luggage and other miscellaneous fees.

More on the evolution from paper to electronic ticket and the changes in check in and boarding passes...