Most boarding passes look like a jumble of letters, numbers, barcodes, and airport codes that nobody pays much attention to.
And that’s exactly why problems happen.
A tiny mistake on a boarding pass—or failing to notice a change to your flight—can turn an otherwise smooth travel day into a stressful scramble at the airport. Fortunately, most of these issues are easy to spot before they become a problem.
Here are three things passengers most often overlook on their boarding passes and travel itineraries.
Double-Check Your Boarding Pass Details
Boarding passes have a bajillion letters and numbers on them – here’s how to make sense of them. But there’s also information on your boarding pass that should make perfect sense to even the least frequent flyer – your flight information and your name (among other things). These are also the little things that can quickly become huge hassles at the airport, if something is wrong.
- Your flight information – Before you click the “Yes, I want to buy this ticket,” double and triple check the flight information. Some cities, like NYC, Tokyo and London, among others, have more than one airport; are you going to the right one? (we almost didn’t, once). Some states, and even countries, have cities with the same name; are you going to the right Portland (OR vs ME), or San Juan (PR vs Argentina)? (don’t laugh; it happens – this guy wound up 4,000 miles from home) Is the flight scheduled for the right date? Is the flight time the one you wanted? Double check these things before you click the button (or if someone made the reservation for you, check it ASAP; you can usually still make certain changes within 24 hours of making the reservation)
- Your name – When making a flight reservation, make sure your name is correct. It needs to match what’s on your I.D. And if you’re traveling internationally, your name on your boarding pass needs to be exactly how it’s written on your passport.
Most people are pretty competent at typing their own name. Which isn’t to say that typos won’t happen. I mean, I’ve had my name, Sharon, for…well, a long time ;-). And yet every once in a while I’ll type it as Shaorn. No idea why; it’s just how my fingers wind up moving. Make sure you’re not a Shaorn. Or a Sbrtu (that’s “Avery” with your fingers spaced 1 letter to the right)
Or – did someone make your reservation for you? Make sure your employer didn’t use your preferred nickname (i.e. “Mike” for “Michael”) for that cross-country business trip. Or your mom’s friend neglected to include your middle name, which is on your passport, on your flight to Italy. Again, check these things immediately; fix them as needed, ASAP. Otherwise you may get stuck doing what this guy did.
Have a Backup for Your Boarding Pass
Over the years, airlines have made more and more things electronically-based. Most people buy their tickets online. When they check in, they typically get their baggage tag from a machine. And, in the utmost in convenience (and saving themselves millions of dollars in cardboard and printer cartridges), you can access your boarding pass via an app.
I don’t have the statistics on how many people still print their boarding passes vs. using a mobile boarding pass. But what happens if you’re in the queue and your phone suddenly stops working? Like, your phone just dies and won’t even turn back on?
If you have a paper copy, you just show that and go on your merry way.
But if you only have an electronic copy and your phone is dead as a doornail, you’re going to have to get out of line, go back to the gate agent, possibly stand in that queue, and finally get a boarding pass printed. By the time you board, your seat will still be there, but will there still be overhead space for your carry-on?
Sure, printing out your boarding pass may be inconvenient. But in the event of an electronics emergency, that piece of paper can suddenly feel worth its weight in gold.
Stay on Top of Flight Changes
Even if people don’t travel much, they undoubtedly know that flights can be cancelled or delayed. Their flight times can change, too…sometimes by hours, sometimes by just a few minutes. There are a couple of issues that can happen with this:
- The airline takes their time in letting you know about these changes. We’ve experienced flight times changing by hours, months ahead of time, and whoopsie…they never told us about it. We just happened to check the flight status and what do you know…we’re departing 4 hours later than anticipated. Awesomesauce.
So, besides counting on the airlines to notify you on their app or via an email, it might be a good idea to have apps that can independently let you know when your flight has had a change. These are some excellent apps to have, to help you with that or other problems during your travels. - Flights can become “undelayed.” Even if the airline DOES inform you, via email or app, that your flight is delayed, they rarely, if ever tell you WHY it’s delayed. Maybe there’s weather. Maybe they have a staff shortage. Maybe there’s something wrong with the plane mechanically. The thing is, planes that are delayed can sometimes become “undelayed.” That happened to us…twice (here are the gory details)…don’t let it happen to you!
Most boarding pass problems aren’t caused by airlines, airports, or TSA. They’re caused by small details that passengers either don’t notice or assume aren’t important.
The good news is that nearly all of these issues can be caught before you leave for the airport—and often before you leave home.
Taking a few minutes to verify your information, save a backup copy of your boarding pass, and keep an eye on your flight status won’t guarantee a perfect travel day. But it can help you avoid the kinds of problems that have travelers frantically searching for help while everyone else is lining up to board.
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