Boarding pass contains important information about you: That's why you should shred your boarding pass

After a flight, the boarding pass is no longer needed and is often thrown in the trash. In this practical tip, we explain why you should let it go and shred the boarding pass.

Shred your boarding pass and destroy sensitive data

Don't carelessly throw away your boarding pass after your trip. She reveals a lot about you and makes it easy for potential criminals to misuse your data.

• Important flight information is easy to read on the boarding pass: the flight number, departure time, departure and arrival airports, seat number and the name of the passenger.
• In addition, a boarding pass always contains a barcode. This is scanned at the gate before boarding the plane. The airlines use this to compare their passenger lists.
• No special hardware is required to read the barcode. With a suitable app depending on the code type, you can even test it yourself. The PDF417 tool, which is available for Android and iOS, is suitable for boarding passes.
• Once the code has been deciphered, further personal data can be accessed. This can include the booking number, name, email address, telephone number, flight information and possibly a frequent flyer number.
• In many cases, knowing the booking number and your name may be enough to inspect your travel plans. In the worst case, the person can manipulate your travel dates and, for example, cancel or rebook your return flight. He could also check you in for the return flight and thereby get the boarding pass.
• Cases are also known in which the passenger's frequent flyer profile could be accessed via the booking number and the frequent flyer number. All previous flights were visible here and future flights could be edited.
• Make sure that your boarding pass is illegible after your flight. The safest way is through the document shredder.

In our next practical tip, we'll show you what else you can do if you missed your flight.