One common way many of us subtly 'show off' is by posting screenshots of flight boarding pass on our social media channels, to tell our friends (and others) that we are travelling.
Do you know that this is a dangerous move that cost you dearly in many ways? Here are the dangers of publicizing your travel plans online:
1) Gives room to burglary
Posting where you will be, when is a clear indication that you will not be home at that specific time. That is akin to leaving the front door not only unlocked, but thrown wide open, experts have cautioned. This may give room to people who know where you live, but harbour ill feelings toward you, to burgle your property.
2) It's all in the QR code
The boarding pass contains important details like your name, flight number, destination, boarding gate, seat number, and most importantly, the QR code. While many people blur out the name, flight and seat numbers when posting the pass on social media, they leave out the QR code, as they are unaware that a skilled hacker can pull out all their personal data with just one scan of the code. This could result in identity theft, duplicate credit cards, or even links to your email and bank accounts linked to the code. By drawing out these information, those with intention toward you can also change or cancel your flight, without you knowing.
3) Reveals all
The boarding pass can also give access to your Passenger Name Record (PNR), which not only includes all your route data, but record on all those travelling with you as well.
You may think that it is safe to leave your boarding pass lying around once your travel is over, but just DON'T! Discard it somewhere safe, or better still, shred it. You would be wrong to think that digital boarding passes are safe, as they too can fall victim to hacking and tracking if used in an airline app or loyalty app. The safest way to handle a digital QR code is to screenshot it and save it to your gallery, without letting any third-party app access to it.
So there you go, THREE main reasons why you should Never, Ever, post your boarding pass online. Hope these tips would help you to not repeat the same mistake in the future, because safety in flying not only applies when you are on air, but before you board the flight itself.
Source: curlytales.com, scoopwhoop.com
Photo source: Unsplash