MasterChef’s big airport mistake shows travellers what not to do
Reality TV show MasterChef taught travellers a lesson on what not to do on Sunday night.
The episode opened with contestants Tamara and Sarah arriving at Melbourne Airport ahead of their flight to Tokyo for MasterChef’s Japan Week. As they excitedly make their way to the desk, the camera quickly flashes to a close-up of their boarding passes – proof of the travels to Japan.
But MasterChef viewer Steve Hui, who is also the chief executive of rewards points management site iflyflat.com.au, said that travellers should not follow their lead and share images of boarding passes on social media as there’s a lot of personal information on those pieces of paper.
“Boarding passes can reveal your full name and frequent flyer membership numbers, which others can then use to hack into your frequent flyer membership, or at the very least, be a nuisance which results in your account being locked due to too many incorrect password attempts,” Mr Hui told news.com.au.
It’s not just your personal information though, the barcode of your boarding pass can reveal quite a lot, too.
“The barcode can reveal further information, such as passport numbers, full name [and] passenger name record (PNR) which can access flight booking details and ticket number,” Mr Hui said.
“Some people cover up their name and PNR, but don’t cover up the barcode. Barcodes can be read by barcode readers.”
Mr Hui advises that it was never a good idea to share images of your boarding pass.
“The key message to share, is that you think you are sharing very little, but in fact you are sharing a lot more than you want to,” he said.
“Don’t share or leave your boarding pass in public, it is very private.”