Remember paper? We live in an electronic age, where people own devices that contain entire lives in the palm of a hand. Digital communication networks have evolved to the point where the mythical paperless office is hurtling towards inevitable reality. Paper is history!

The travel industry is no different with virtually all tickets and confirmations being issued electronically. This saves the environment, saves costs, and is much more convenient – apparently. Despite this, probably the most printed documents in an office are travel documents!

Why Do Businesses Print Documents?

When I worked as a personal assistant a few years ago, our travelling executives had entire itineraries printed and bundled up into a pack. Each one contained a summary of the travel, printed boarding passes, printed flight confirmations as backup and a sheet of blank company green paper in between each day to for ease of access. How incredibly wasteful for something so ephemeral!

Fast-forward a few years and the personal assistants at my current place of employment continue to print all the flight itineraries on paper. Why? These are provided as backup to the Finance Department each month for credit card reconciliation. That paperless office might not be so close after all!

Why Do People Print Documents?

My guess is that most people print documents so they have something to point at and shake about on those rare occasions when computer says no. Who wants to be stranded at an airport with no way to get online and show your e-mail confirmation with the clock ticking down before a plane leaves? Nobody.

The other reason is sheer habit. It is comforting for people to have their documents with them that say what flight they are on, what hotel they have to go to and so on. It just makes sense. Some places still insist on you bringing your paper documents with you to show on arrival. Tour companies are especially guilty of this one!

Confessions of a Flight Detective

I am a person who does print the documents. I have twenty separate bookings coming up and I was sick of my personal e-mail account being full of confirmations so I printed them and then deleted them. Cue immediate guilt that I was acting extremely 20th century about things!

There is no reason anyone requires any of the e-mails or the printed items. Airlines have apps to hold all the bookings, electronic boarding passes are provided and all the companies will have your booking in their computer. Despite this, there is still something in me that needs to have a paper copy and it’s a habit I need to break.

Overall Thoughts

Perhaps my 2017 resolution should be to delete the e-mails and not print paper copies of my confirmations. It’s time to embrace the 21st century and trust the technology that permeates my life.

Are you a printer or are you a digital warrior? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue. Thank you for reading and leave your comments or questions below.

Like planes? See my “Does anyone remember” series.
Flight reviews your thing? Mine are all indexed here.
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Featured image from Oneworld Alliance.