It might seem like a fun way to announce your epic travel plans but travel safety specialist Steve Hui says posting photos of your airplane boarding passes online could ruin your trip – and your life, for that matter.
Why It’s Such A Bad Idea
Hui sees tons of boarding pass photos online every day. One day, he decided to grab one of those images (below) and see what he could deduce based on the information it presented.
Image: News.com.au
That image, as you can see, shows a ticket supplied by Delta Airlines. Delta – and many other airlines – post an incredible amount of information online for each passenger.
With just the passenger’s name and booking reference number – both of which are on the boarding pass – Hui was able to log into Delta’s website and access that information.
Image: News.com.au
Destination, arrival time, seat number, frequent flyer details and even how many bags the passenger checked in – Hui could see all of that.
By digging a little deeper on the booking page, Hui was able to see a full payment breakdown – including the last four digits of the credit card used for the transaction.
Image: News.com.au
But Wait – There’s More!
“Ha! I know how to get around all this,” you might be thinking. “I’ll just cover up all the numbers on the boarding pass!”
According to Hui, that actually won’t be much help; even if the barcode is the only visible part of your image, scammers can get a hold of your flight and financial info. That’s because there are several websites that actually analyze barcodes in images.
Image: News.com.au
The Solution
You could blur the important parts of your boarding pass, as Steve Hui has for the images in this article. Truth be told, though, you shouldn’t post about your travel plans online at all – at least not while you’re actually traveling.
Andy O’Donnell – About.com’s security expert – says, do that and you could just come home to an empty house.
“A thief trolling social media or perhaps a friend with a delinquent brother who happens to see your vacation post, will be able to put two and two together and infer that you are not home.” O’Donnell says.
“They will realize that, given the fact above, they have ample time to rob your house since you aren’t going to be back anytime soon.”
O’Donnell goes on to say that even setting your post to ‘friends only’ doesn’t mean you’re safe. A friend could have left their computer logged in at a library, for example, exposing your information to any number of strangers who stumble upon it.
So – what’s the solution? Well, as much as it might hurt, just keep those boarding passes – and travel plans – to yourself and have a truly worry-free trip.
Want to learn more about the dangers of posting boarding pass photos? Check out this video!
Sources:
About.com
News.com.au
Andy’s Travel Blog
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