ORLANDO, Fla. – Even though you can have airline boarding passes sent right to your cell phone many people still prefer a paper copy.
If you do, be aware of what it could contain.
Many people prefer to print them out including Tara Star who told New 6 investigator Louis Bolden that is what she prefers.
However, Star is not the only one and as New 6 walked through the Orlando International Airport they saw person after person printing boarding passes or as some would say the old fashioned way.
Experts say the bar codes on those boarding passed cannot only contain your flight details but a treasure trove of your personal information.
"Does your boarding pass leave you vulnerable to hackers,” Bolden asked.
"It absolutely leaves you vulnerable, yes,” Andrew Von Ramin Mapp said.
Von Ramin Mapp is with Data Analyzers, a company that specializes in data recovery, digital forensics, and cyber security.
Von Ramin Mapp showed News 6 exactly how barcodes work by using a personal boarding pass and then a barcode reader downloaded to his cell phone to scan the information.
He pulled up his information and said what's most troubling is this:
"Is that your frequent flyer account number, Bolden asked?
“Yes, Von Ramin Mapp said. “That's the account number."
Von Ramin Mapp said that number with the right hacker can unlock the door for someone to drain your frequent flyers miles from your account, alter your travel plans, and worse.
"If a credit card is tied to that they may also be able to access the relevant information for that,” Von Ramin Mapp said.
How "much" of your information is in the bar code varies from airline to airline.
We stopped a few people at Orlando International Airport and to see their boarding passes, which we scanned with an iPhone.
Not only their names, but flight confirmation numbers and sometimes frequent flier account numbers.
"I didn't expect that,” Robert Lee Ayala told News 6.
Which leads to the question:
"What do you do with it after your flight,” Bolden asked passenger Ray Wu.
"Sometimes we take pictures,” Wu said.
“What do you do with the pictures,” Bolden asked Wu.
“We post it online to show that we're traveling,” Wu said.
And here's why "that's" not a good idea.
We watched Von Ramin Mapp take a picture of his boarding pass.
And even from the copy he can still get the information from the bar code.
Someone can do the same thing with that photo you post on social media.
"That's new information very surprising. I'm a little bit worried about that,” passenger Steven Boyer said to Bolden.
"Keeping those bar codes secured and your boarding pass secured is definitely something that people should be consciously aware of and keep in mind, Von Ramin Mapp said.
So how can you keep yourself safe?
Experts said a more secure approach is to have the boarding pass sent to your phone and delete it when you're done.