Never, ever upload a photo of your boarding pass to Facebook

It’s become a well-known rule for social media: do not post your address, your passport, and, more recently, an image of your boarding pass online.

The reason for this is because the two-dimensional barcodes and QR codes located on your passport can be used for a variety of nefarious reasons.

Steve Hu from iflyflat.com.au went a step further, and decided to see exactly how much information he could gather about a person using just the details on a boarding pass.

And it’s frightening. It’s very frightening.

After logging on to Delta Airlines using the information on the example boarding pass, he was easily able to gain access to the person’s account. This meant he had access to:

• The passenger’s personal details, including name
• The passenger’s itinerary; where they were going to be travelling and when
• Seat number
• Frequent flier detals
• Break down of the fare paid
• The date the ticket was purchased
• Last four digits of the bank card used

Okay, but what about if you really want to brag about your holiday; can you post a partial image of your boarding pass?

The short answer is; no.

Hu used an image from social media, in which a passenger (much like the image below) had inadvertantly posted the barcode, despite trying to hide some of it with their thumb.

Not only can he get all the above information just from the barcode, but there are computers and other devices which can easily read the information.

So if you insist on inciting holiday envy, take a picture of your legs dangling in the resort’s pool, not your boarding pass.

More: The one thing you should never do with your boarding pass (that you're probably doing anyway)

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