Airplane Ticket Question

Good afternoon everyone.

I am set to go to a driving school. I got a CDL already but since I haven't driven in 7 years I pretty much gotta go through everything from square one again. I know the economy sucks right now but the area I live in has been hit HARD. We have been in a full blown depression for 6 months already. no jobs in the paper and yada yada... pretty much this is my only option even if I am only making 10 bucks a week.

Anyway, I am required to get myself to the training facility. I could go greyhound but that is a 4 day trip.... and it is only 3 dollars cheaper than flying so...yeah im flying there.

Once the training is up, I return home for some hometime before I go on the road with my trainer. My question is... How do I get a ticket home? I dont know how airlines work. Could I call my wife and tell her "Hey my training is over in 2 days and ill be ready to go home" so she can call and book me a flight? I don't know if they keep everything in the computer to where I can just show some ID or if I actually need to have some kind of physical ticket in my hand.

I am not sure how quickly training will be over. They say 3 weeks but some graduate early some need a few extra days so I can't go ahead and buy a ticket because of that.

After my home time, my trainer picks me up in the truck from my home. Its just a matter of getting home from the training facility that I am unsure what to do about.