Short answer. Most of an e-ticket receipt is presentation. Four fields carry the weight: the 13-digit ticket number, the booking reference, the per-segment status, and the fare basis. If the 13-digit number is missing, no ticket has been issued.
Key points
- The ticket number is 13 digits; the first three identify the airline.
- The status field is per segment, not per booking.
- The fare basis determines what you may change or refund.
- Layout, logos and colours are not standardised and are not what an airline checks.
What is an e-ticket receipt?
The ticket is an electronic record held by the airline. What you receive is the receipt: a printable summary of that record, produced at the moment of ticketing. It is the document people mean when they say they have their ticket, though strictly the ticket is the record and the receipt is the copy.
Which fields actually matter?
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Ticket number | 13 digits. Shows a ticket was issued. First three digits are the airline’s IATA code. |
| Booking reference | Six characters. Points to the reservation record; used to retrieve the booking. |
| Status | Per segment. Whether that specific leg is confirmed. |
| Fare basis | The exact fare and its rules, including change and refund conditions. |
| Endorsements and restrictions | Any limits on changing, rerouting or refunding. |
| Form of payment | How the ticket was paid for, which matters for refunds. |
What is decoration?
Almost everything else. There is no standard visual format for an e-ticket receipt. Airlines and agents lay them out differently, and a receipt from one system looks nothing like a receipt from another. That variation is precisely why appearance carries so little weight: there is no canonical look to compare against.
It follows that a document looking convincing tells you nothing on its own. The check that counts is retrieving the booking from the operating airline, or confirming the ticket number with the issuing airline.
How does this relate to a sample itinerary?
A sample itinerary has no ticket number, because no ticket has been issued. The documents this site produces state that directly: the ticket number field reads NOT ISSUED, and the document is marked SAMPLE and NOT VALID FOR TRAVEL. There is no field on them that could be mistaken for a 13-digit ticket number, and that is deliberate.
See what a PNR actually is for the reservation side, and itinerary, reservation or ticket for how the stages fit together.