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Have you stopped taking paper backup with you?

At some point later rather than sooner, we're going to realize that we have become too dependent on our mobile phones and the networks that they require, but in the meanwhile nobody at the airport wants you to do anything other than hold your phone near a sensor or to look at a camera.

Do you still carry paper printouts of your flight tickets or payment receipts? Why or why not?

How about your lodging reservations or prepaid attraction tickets? Is this distinction important to you?

TBH, the last couple of times I went through an airport, I not only did not have paper printouts of the tickets, I didn't really have flight info either. The app on my phone told me what gate to go to. I was momentarily fazed by wanting to figure out what the local time was and how long until boarding, but the overhead monitors at the gate area already displayed that info.

My old habit was to keep a few plastic sheet protectors in the laptop sleeve of my carryon with printouts in them, and as I accrued paper receipts I would add them to the sheet protectors in roughly chronological order for later accounting. Nowadays at the point of payment they ask you if you want a printout, or just send it as a text or email message, yes?

Posted by
9361 posts

No, I gave up paper copies a number of years ago. There just was no need, no instance where I needed to reach for some back-up copy. Between emails and electronic documents, all reachable from my wife and my phones, a laptop we carry, and sometimes a tablet, paper was just a redundancy of a redundancy, of a redundancy.

Hotels are almost always through Booking.com or my IHG app, tickets are loaded into my Google Wallet or retained email. Receipts I log the expense in a spending app and eventually toss the paper.

As for air travel, yep, the app, we just arrived back in the US, that ensued a cancelled flight, rebooking for two days later, gate changes on two of the flights...making a paper copy of my trip obsolete.

Posted by
6413 posts

prepaid attraction tickets?

On my last trip with prepaid attractions, I brought printed copies of my 3 most expensive tickets - the 3 events thai I would have been most disappointed about if anything happened.

Everything else was on my phone, and accessible to be printed from any computer as backup, but otherwise, oh well.

Posted by
12255 posts

I gave up on paper copies starting with our 2021 travels. All I had for that trip was a paper AMTRAK ticket to get us to SEA for our outbound flight to FRA. It seems the pandemic caused much higher acceptance of electronic verifications and as there is so much app-driven in travel, paper became unnecessary. It is a joy to have all the train tickets and passes in apps or PDFs on my phone.

I do keep all trip-related email confirmations handy in my phone in case an app fails, and for two years now I have used virtual credit cards as much as possible so I tap and pay and fore go receipts except for lodging. I like to have a copy of that bill to peruse, even if it simply a PDF in an email.

My planning tool is an extensive Excel workbook against which I check and double-check all arrangements. With trips of 4 to 8 weeks, there are a lot of tickets and reservations to keep track of, but I no longer feel the need to print out the plan either. My accountant husband takes and retains whatever paper receipts that are offered, but even he is more flexible with electronic versions now.

Posted by
6413 posts

all reachable from my wife

If I were traveling with someone who had a copy of everything on their phone, I would feel less inclined to bring even my top 3 tickets in paper backup. I used to bring my own older phone as a backup. And I do often have my tablet with me, so I could always drag that along to a prepaid event.

Posted by
18929 posts

Virtually no paper anymore.

However, I do take a screen shot of every ticket I might need just in case there is an issue bringing it to the screen.

This has happened a couple of times on trains recently when the conductor wanted to see my ticket. I couldn't access the ticket through the app so I pulled up the screenshot. No problems.

I also have a small tablet that has everything if necessary. My screenshots from my phone are backed up to Google Photos.

Posted by
78 posts

Eaxh of us has print copies of everything. We don't travel burdened with laptops or ipads, and having everything redundantly on each of our phones wouldn't be much help if someone's goes wrong whilst we're separated. We've had it happen.

Posted by
11709 posts

I'm travelling by train in the UK for the next two weeks with a rail ticket which only exists in a paper version- there is no electronic version of it.
It's our domestic version of Britrail.

I also have a number of seat reservations, which I have printed from the machines in case of difficulty. While issues are unlikely, it is easier to wave a piece of paper round in the event of a dispute. I was counting last night and I have 58 reservation coupons.
I don't actually even expect to be on a good 50% of those trains, but on substitutes.
And wouldn't you know it, first booked train of the week cancelled, so am on a train now which I wasn't reserved on.

But I haven't printed my 4 hotel reservations, including last night's, which was Day 0 of the 14.

And because I'm going from Euston to near Chelmsford I've downloaded the paper timetables for the Lioness line and the Mildmay line (and for Greater Anglia), rather than relying on being online. In the forecast rain and with luggage that route is the easiest and as fast as via Farringdon.
Not exactly paper, but not being constantly on line either.

Posted by
2115 posts

I don’t print anything and haven’t for years, basically since I’ve had a smart phone. It’s literally never been a problem.

Posted by
5834 posts

I stopped with paper a few years ago because my printer broke and I'd given up trying to replace it again and again. It's probably for the best because the paper copies were becoming redundant. Tickets for everything including flights are usually in two spots on my phone; on the site's app and also an email back-up, Google Wallet, or a screenshot. I should be a bit concerned though because if something were to happen to me on a trip, my wife wouldn't be prepared. She is on her phone and tablet waaaay more than me, but the thought of actually using it as a tool to organize her life is a foreign concept. Her desk at home is a quagmire of loose paper and sticky notes with scribbles on them.

Posted by
104 posts

We travel with paper, but have only had to refer to it a few times when local networks were not available. I also keep receipts in a sheet protector.

Posted by
722 posts

Ok, I agree with all of you, and:

However, I do take a screen shot of every ticket I might need just in case there is an issue bringing it to the screen.

Yep, I don't want to depend on one critical app messing up. I either have an email, or a .pdf or even a .jpg picture of anything important.

I also have a small tablet that has everything if necessary. My screenshots from my phone are backed up to Google Photos.

I have a backup phone with all those emails, .pdf's, etc. And a tablet with all that. And most importantly, I have a wife whose phone has all those apps and documents. I think the risk of relying on one cellphone for everything is way too risky. I also do not want to rely on having an internet connection for any of this.

Regarding money, same thing. I have a credit card and a debit card in my passport folder, and a different credit card and debit card in my wallet. I also have both debit cards and one credit card in my phone (Google Wallet), which is what I use most often. But I have had a few cases when I needed to dig out the physical credit card.

Each of us has print copies of everything.

I definitely don't do that anymore, but I do have a paper printout of our flight schedule from American in a front pocket of my checked bag, and in my little carryon backpack. If my luggage or tag gets lost, I want someone to be able to know where the bag should have been.

Posted by
700 posts

I make an itinerary as a Google Doc and it includes confirmation numbers and contact information for all my flights and lodgings, notes on timed tickets and other To Do items, and phone numbers for calling my banks in case anything happens to my cards. I share it online with my daughter, and then just before my trip I print a hard copy and stick it in my carryon. I find myself pulling it out and making pencil notes on it as my trip proceeds. Yes, I use my phone for electronic tickets and directions, but I like having the 2-3 page paper reference. I don't save any receipts and trash any that I receive as I go.

Posted by
186 posts

I think it depends on whether you travel as a couple or solo. For a solo person who is traveling alone, there's no other backup person with a phone to rely on. If I lose my phone, I have nothing. So yes, I bring a folder with paper copies of certain things such as my hotel reservation, paper copies of timed tickets, maps on how to get to my hotel from the train, etc.

I do print my boarding pass at home for the flight out. Why not? It's minimal work. One reason why I print it is that I like to put my phone away prior to boarding. If you rely on having it on the phone, you are draining your battery keeping the phone "open" while waiting to board. The phone keeps locking and I have to open it with a PIN number every few minutes while boarding. In fact, I got up to the flight attendant and the phone locked on me so I had to use the PIN to get back into my wallet. It's too much trouble to do this. So I print the boarding pass for the flight out.

A paper boarding pass is also important in case you miss a connection. One of my flights was late getting into an airport one time and by the time I got to the gate for the next flight, the boarding pass had "disappeared" from my wallet. They usually close the gate 15 minutes ahead of scheduled departure. I had nothing to show the attendant.

Posted by
186 posts

No, not all places can text or email receipts. I ALWAYS get paper receipts. I had a slight problem with a hotel charge once I got my credit card bill but I had the receipt and it was finally settled properly so I was glad I had the paper receipt. I keep all of my receipts because I often refer back to them if I travel to that area again. I returned to a certain city and wanted to go back to a restaurant I had liked but I couldn't remember the name of it so I was able to go back to my receipts and get the name.

Posted by
1741 posts

Great question. Yes & no. I always print out boarding passes at the airport, and after reading about it in multiple places, I print out itinerary with contact info and put it inside checked or carry on bag, just in case. I use TripIt for all travel plans so I don't usually print everything else out. I know how to access my email from a public place & am traveling with iPad & smart phone. I read not long ago about a cyber attack in parts of Europe where only the people who had boarding passes printed out could get onto flights. Though I also take a picture of boarding pass on phone. So there's quite a bit redundancy in my 'system'. I absolutely keep large ticket item printer receipts, such as hotel bills.