hands on a ticket.

Air Canada -- the only carrier offering non-stop service between Canada and Bermuda -- quietly extended its ticketless travel service to Bermuda last week.

And a spokeswoman for the carrier said: "It eliminates so many hassles that have traditionally been associated with air tickets. It doesn't matter now if tickets are lost, stolen, never picked up or even if they go missing in the mail,'' she said.

But she stressed Air Canada would accommodate any passenger who preferred to have their own ticket in hand as they had traditionally.

And she said some old charges that accompanied paper tickets had now been withdrawn like the $35 fee to have a ticket paid for by one party and issued to another person who wanted to pick it up in another country.

"The actual ticket is now displayed in the airline's computer so when someone buys a ticket, a receipt is issued to them. It can be faxed, mailed or issued in person.

"But if they lose their receipt or it is sent to the ticket-buyer rather than the ticket-user then it is simply a matter of presenting to the check-in counter with their passport and the ticket is retrieved electronically.'' A copy of the receipt will be printed out for the passenger for Immigration or Customs purposes.

"Passengers need not worry because, if anything, this is going to make things easier for them. Making a reservation and paying for it are still done in exactly the same way but it's now a one-stop-shop''.