While sorting through my 2024 travel souvenirs today, I gathered these boarding passes from most of my flights from last year. These are tiny and powerful reminders of my incredible adventures built around the 99 flights with 29 airlines I took last year to 28 countries. Some people collect postcards, others fridge magnets—I seem to collect boarding passes! I probably have a thousand of them now! Sign of a true nerd? Most likely.

These small slips of paper are mementos of my journeys, reminding me of smooth and chaotic flights. They trigger memories, for example, of my Best and Worst Airlines of 2024!

While I rely increasingly on electronic boarding passes, I still like to keep the paper ones. There’s something about holding a tangible piece of my journey that digital versions can’t entirely replace. Flights like my milestone 100th Boeing 747 flight with Lufthansa, the unique challenges of planning my repositioning flights through Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, or my marvellous around-the-world adventure, where I used 230,950 points to visit multiple continents. Whether it was Jaunting through Japan or climbing in Colombia, Railing in Wales, Grieving over Guatemala or Paddling in Panama, each Boarding pass reminds me of the smells, tastes, sights, sounds, and people of that place.

Boarding passes originally were handwritten slips or stamps that granted passengers access to the aircraft. Airlines like Pan Am and BOAC introduced pre-printed boarding cards with carbon copies to track passengers.

With the rise of global travel, airlines and airports worked towards standardising boarding passes to create a seamless experience for passengers and process us more efficiently!. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) began setting global standards for airline operations, including boarding passes, in the 1950s to ensure consistency across airlines worldwide. Over the decades, IATA introduced guidelines for standardised ticket formats, magnetic stripe boarding passes in the 1980s, and barcoded boarding passes (BCBP) in the late 1990s, which became mandatory by 2010.

My collecting days may be over as I increasingly add them to my Apple Wallet! Facial recognition technology is starting to revolutionise how we check in, navigate airports and board flights. Many airports and airlines have adopted biometric systems that scan passengers’ faces to verify their identity, eliminating the need for paper or mobile boarding passes. I have used these systems in Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Shanghai, and Singapore.

British Airways and Delta have been playing with these systems. With the rise of digital technology, IATA has established standards for mobile boarding passes and is now promoting biometric-based systems like One ID, aiming for a seamless, paperless travel experience. It won’t be too much longer before this paper is obsolete. I have mixed feelings about this-torn between nostalgia and efficiency!

Whether digital or paper, boarding passes symbolise a journey taken. What do they mean to you? I’d love to know if you collect boarding passes. Do you prefer electronic or paper boarding passes? Please let me know in the comments below, and check out more of my travel experiences from 2024 below.

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