Hi
I used to be a ticket agent for 3 and a half years so perhaps i can go someway to answering your question here...
first and foremost can i just say that in no way does someone refusing to reissue your lost ticket mean that they are being awkward or unhelpful... these are the rules laid down by the airline involved and is about revenue protection. There is so much fraud that goes on with the issuance of tickets and i dont think people realise exactly how rife this problem is.
If you are unfortunate to have had your ticket stolen or lost then of course tickets can be reissued... a fee is imposed which is normally equivalent of that to raise the documentation and also the manpower used to locate all the relevant information. If you take the time to study an airline ticket you will see that there is alot of information on it and is not just simply a piece of paper showing your name and where you are going to... it is an accountable document, has a serial number on which can be likened to a sterling note...
if you have used a travel agent who has used a special fare, then this is transmitted through the system to the airline.... all that will show to the airline is your name and a routing... this is in no way proof that you have paid for the ticket... unless of course an e ticket has been issued... here the airline can see everything... so you can see that if your paper ticket goes astray it is very difficult for the staff member in question to allow you to board really not knowing whether you have paid or not. a ticket is the only thing that will prove this, as an invoice is still not adequate. in these circumstances i would do everything possible to track down a copy of the ticket but very often due to time zones this wasnt always possible. i would then advise the customer that they had two options. they could either come back when i could locate their ticket details or alternatively pay for a new ticket to get them to their destination, i would continue to try and get the copy of the ticket and once we had retrieved this ticket we could then refund the ticket that been subsequently purchased.
as far as e tickets are concerned, this shows how technology has moved on as we can now see everything that we need to... i think it still has teething problems however but im sure it is a case of each airline manipulating it to a way which suits them. i do think though that it has somewhat disgruntled some of those fraudsters out there as it is much more difficult to cheat the system, you will occasionally have people insist on having paper tickets which kinda of begins to ring alarm bells.. although very often it is a tradition thing!!
i hope this assists in some way.... the world of ticketing and fares is complex in its own right... thank god i dont have to worry about it anymore
