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Reflections on paperlessness, in the spirit of Ogden Nash

As several airlines prepare to phase out paper boarding passes in 2024, our obituarist laments the decline of paper tickets of all kinds

Illustration: Mel Haasch

By Ann Wroe

A mantelpiece doth furnish a room,
but of late mine has been looking decidedly bare,
For lack of invitations there. 
Proper ones I mean, stiff and shiny, with gilt edges and copperplate font,
The sort we all want
To impress the Armstrong-Baxters when they call, or the Finkelstein-Ferrers,
And make them wildly jealous.

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This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2024 under the headline “Lines on paperlessness”

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