Index: ../trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/plotmodel.py
===================================================================
--- ../trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/plotmodel.py	(revision 17918)
+++ ../trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/plotmodel.py	(revision 17919)
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
 	#Go through plots
 	if numberofplots:
 		
-		if not hold: # TODO need to also check whether figurenumber is a new plot so that old plots are not mistakenly cleared
+		if plt.fignum_exists(figurenumber): 
 			plt.cla()
 
 		#if figsize specified
Index: ../trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/applyoptions.py
===================================================================
--- ../trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/applyoptions.py	(revision 17918)
+++ ../trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/applyoptions.py	(revision 17919)
@@ -106,6 +106,10 @@
 	#}}}
 
 	#xticklabels,yticklabels,zticklabels {{{
+	if options.getfieldvalue('ticklabels','off')=='off' or options.getfieldvalue('ticklabels',0)==0:
+		options.addfielddefault('xticklabels',[])
+		options.addfielddefault('yticklabels',[])
+		# TODO check if ax has a z-axis (e.g. is 3D)
 	if options.exist('xticklabels'):
 		xticklabels=options.getfieldvalue('xticklabels')
 		ax.set_xticklabels(xticklabels)