This Is Why You Shouldn't Post A Picture Of Your Boarding Pass Online

If you didn't put it on social media, did it even happen?

Some people would say no, it didn't happen. Or it was pointless, as no one knew that you were there, wherever that may be.

Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter get updated, laced with selfies, sunsets, gigs, passports, drinks and boarding passes. It's all par for the course.

It turns out though, that you have to be very careful with what you're posting. Boarding passes, for example, can lead to a big shit storm if even just an image of them fall into the wrong hands.

According to Steve Hui, who did an experiment to see how easy it is to obtain personal details from boarding passes, things like credit card credentials are at risk.

Someone get Rich's deats. Credit: PA

It seems scary, but also blatantly obvious. The whiz found a picture online of a flyer who was travelling with Delta Airlines. Steve simply used the information on the pass to log into the 'manage my booking' section of Delta's website.

"I could view the passenger's entire itinerary, and see when and where they were going to travel," he told news.com.au. "Details also included their seat numbers, frequent flyer details and ticket numbers."

It makes a lot of sense. All that stuff is exactly what we use to do exactly the same thing - it's like posting a picture of the front and back of your bank card on Facebook.

As for the rest of the info Steve gained access to, it's everything you don't want.

"It was easy to see a full breakdown of the fare paid, including the date of purchase and the last four digits of the credit card used," he said. "People could use that information to potentially cancel or change your flights, change your seat or cause other issues."

Credit: PA

It doesn't end there either. If you're quickly scurrying through your Instagram account now and think you're okay because you put your thumb over some of the details on your flight ticket, you're still at risk.

The Australian Airmiles employee said it was was fairly easy to use a barcode scanner that's free to use online.

"I was able to retrieve all the passenger's details without seeing the rest of the boarding card," Steve said. "The text provided full name, flight number, route, booking reference, ticket number, frequent flyer number and more."

Making you think twice about what you put online, isn't it?

Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.