Why you must never throw out your boarding pass
Many intrepid travellers love to keep everything they pick up on their holidays, be it train tickets or even advertising brochures. However, if you’re one of the many people who just throw away their boarding passes after arriving at their destination, you might want to change your ways.
The barcode printed on your boarding pass actually contains a lot more information than meets the eye. Of course, it holds flight data such as seat number, name and destination, but that’s not all your ticket can reveal.
While it can be tempting to snap a picture of your boarding pass to share your holiday plans with friends on social media, experts are warning this could be a very bad idea. Not only do tickets contain those essential travel details, thieves may be able to use the barcode to learn more about you, where you’re going and your frequent flyer account details (and, by extension, possibly your credit card details). Hackers can even change your flight reservations in some cases.
Of course, most travellers aren’t likely to have their details hacked in this manner, but it’s certainly something to keep in mind the next time you take off. If you want to be extra safe, maybe hang on to your pass until you can find a shredder – or simply keep it as a souvenir of your fantastic adventures.
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