You’re at the airport and you’re about to leave on a trip of a lifetime. You’re so happy that you want to share it with the world and with all your followers. So you post a picture of your boarding pass on Instagram or on Facebook for the world to see. And some of your friends start commenting… They’re all happy for you to go and discover the world.
But there’s a problem.
One month later you arrive the airport ready to fly back home and the airline agent tells you that your ticket has been canceled and refunded. You lost the money you spent for that ticket and you will have to buy a new last minute ticket.
How did this happen?
If you look at your boarding pass there are some very sensitive information. First there’s your name. Then there’s usually your booking reference. Some airline might call it PNR or booking number. It’s usually 5 or 6 characters. You can also usually find your e-ticket number. Its 13 numbers. Sometime the first 3 are separated from the rest. And last but not least there’s a code. It looks like a complex barcode. It’s the code that gets scanned when you board the plane. Even though you can’t read it with your eyes, doesn’t mean it’s not sensitive. It’s actually VERY sensitive as it contains all the above information (and even more).
In the image below, I removed the sensitive information.
Let’s now look at what someone could do with that information. How did you check in for your flight? Yes, you probably went to the airline’s website and entered your booking reference and your last name. It means that anyone who has that information can have access to your booking and change it.
Did you select a nice window seat? They might change it for a middle seat.
Did you choose a vegetarian menu? They might change it to a baby meal.
But worse, they could actually cancel your next flight. In case of cancelation, some airlines can refund the amount as voucher to use on any other booking. And it’s not linked to your name anymore. So they could actually cancel your ticket, get the voucher and fly… with your money.
They could also have access to your frequent flyer account and steal your miles.
How can you prevent that?
It’s actually very easy to prevent getting your flight tickets from being stolen. Next time you’re traveling, make sure to hide all the sensitive information on your boarding pass and you’ll be a happy traveler.
A brilliant and useful article as always Miles addict. Thanks