[Quarondeau]

Airlines have hugely benefited from moving travelers from paper tickets to the use of their phones, where everything is done in the airline's app. Even if a few flights get turned around now and then, that seems trivial compared to the benefits:

- No need to print/distribute physical tickets

- Check-ins via the app reduces the need for ground personnel

- They can push inflight menus, shopping items, promotions etc.

- Flight updates and other notifications can get pushed to your device

- Integration of loyalty systems like airmiles

- They get to track various user behaviors

[ghaff]

Passengers have benefited as well. Traditional tickets weren’t quite like cash but they were a big hassle to replace if lost.

[Zak]

Paper tickets, yes. Paper boarding passes, no. Replacing a paper boarding pass has been easy since airlines switched to an electronic ticketing system where the actual ticket is an entry in the airline's database.