Morris Air officially launched its new "ticket- less" program Tuesday in which passengers who book directly through Morris simply show their confirmation number or identification at the gate.
David Neeleman, president of the Salt Lake-based airline that bills itself as the "low-cost carrier," said his company's latest "challenge to the establishment" allows Morris employees to focus on more productive tasks than "chasing papers."He compared it with the way travelers book a rental car or hotel room at their destination.
Morris is apparently the first airline to adopt a ticketless system, but Neeleman predicted that by 2000 all airlines would be using it. Noting that he received a call Tuesday from the Wall Street Journal, he said, "It's apparently a big deal."
Morris started the program when "We realized how much paper we were pushing around," he said. "One flight, we had our agents handwriting will-call tickets for 30 passengers, only to have those agents collecting back the tickets at boarding."
The new system applies to all Morris flights except those to Mexico, which are still flown as charter service. Morris changed from a charter airline to a regularly scheduled carrier earlier this year.
Neeleman explained that under the new system, all passengers booked through Morris' reservations department receive a confirmation number when their trip itinerary is faxed or mailed to them.
What if they forget the number or lose the paper? No problem. In that event, they simply give their name and some form of ID at the gate. For those who want a receipt or proof of boarding, Morris will provide that separately.
"Other airlines not only demand the presentation of tickets at boarding, but if you've lost yours, they force you to buy another ticket and charge you a fee on top of that," said Neeleman. "Then, after three months, you might get a refund, less the fee, if the ticket remains lost. On Morris, you can't lose your ticket because you don't have one."
Neeleman said Morris is also offering travel agencies the ability to participate in the new procedure. He said 60 percent of Morris' bookings come directly from passengers and 40 percent through agents. The industry average is about 80 percent travel agent bookings and 20 percent direct.
He said their are three ways a travel agency can offer ticketless service on Morris: Book customers direct on Morris using the customer's credit card, use the agency's credit card, or the agency can set up an account with Morris.
Morris is currently involved in what has been called a "fares war" with Delta Air Lines, the predominant air carrier in Utah. Morris also has complained that Delta is using its strong market position to pressure local travel agents to not book their customers on Morris.
Morris says Delta learns how much market share Morris has when travel agents report ticket sales to ARC, the central clearing house for the airlines industry, which makes the information available to all airlines. With that knowledge, says Morris, Delta can bring pressure to bear on agents who depend on Delta's sales commissions and 10 percent "overrides" for the bulk of their revenues.
Morris' complaints have sparked an investigation of Delta's marketing practices by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Is Morris' new no-ticket program a way of allowing travel agents to bypass reporting of Morris bookings to ARC and thus keep Morris' market share confidential? It could be, conceded Neeleman.
"That isn't the reason we did it but it was one more reason to do it. If there is no ticket, it doesn't go to ARC. We just send them (travel agents) their commission."