It’s unfortunate that this happened, but it’s an important reminder for people that you should never, ever do this…
In this post:
Never share airline ticket or boarding pass details online!
You should never post identifying details about your travels online, especially when it comes to airline tickets, and especially prior to travel. This includes posting anything that shows your airline confirmation code, your frequent flyer number, a boarding pass barcode, etc.
Why? Well, keep in mind that if someone has your airline confirmation code and last name, that’s typically enough to make changes or cancel your ticket. As much as we’d like to think that most people are decent humans, unfortunately that’s not always the case.
As the latest example of that, a TikTok user is expressing frustration after she shared her Qantas ticket details online, only to find her ticket canceled a short while later.
As she explained in a viral video, she shared details about her upcoming trip from Cairns (CNS) to Singapore (SIN) on her TikTok, a trip she had been “looking forward to” for her “whole life.” However, after posting the video online, she received an email from Qantas stating that her ticket had been canceled. While the ticket initially cost $1,200, the refund was for $800, subtracting a $400 change fee (these amounts are in AUD).
Someone apparently changed her ticket online, and following the whole saga, Qantas agreed to refund her the change fee as well, given the circumstances.
As you’d expect, this traveler is devastated, and goes on quite the rant (some of which contains bad language). She calls the person who did this “a very sad individual,” and “the lowest of the low,” and asks “how jealous can you be?” She explains that she’s “sick” to her stomach over this, and that she feels like she’s “going to vomit at any given moment.”
Of course in retrospect, she acknowledges she shouldn’t have posted that information online, but “I feel like a lot of people would do the same thing, I was excited, I just posted it, I didn’t think anything of it.”
I’m sympathetic, but c’mon folks, don’t post this stuff!
I’m sympathetic toward this TikToker. No one should have their ticket canceled by a stranger — it’s highly unethical, and it also feels incredibly violating to have someone do that. I can relate to this — I’ve had people cancel my tickets without me even posting confirmation codes online.
I feel worst for people who just genuinely don’t know better, and don’t realize that your confirmation code is the equivalent to your airline ticket social security number, in terms of what travelers can do with it. However, this traveler seemingly did know the risk, but justified it by thinking that “a lot of other people would do the same thing,” and that the TikTok was “very innocent.”
The reality is that when we prioritize sharing our lives on social media, we have to assume certain risks, especially when we’re not strategic about what we share. So hopefully this is a lesson that the TikToker can learn in terms of what she posts online in the future, and hopefully other people can learn as well.
And I think it’s also important to understand that the risk of someone canceling our travels is higher than we assume. Many people think that only evil people with some sort of vendetta against you would do this.
But the truth is that we live in a lonely yet very online world, and a lot of people like to get attention in any form, if they can. While canceling someone else’s ticket might not get them “name recognition,” many people still like being talked about.
It’s no different than people who try to call in bomb threats for flights without actually having any connection to a flight. That doesn’t stop them from getting a thrill out of it!
Bottom line
A TikToker who booked a dream trip on Qantas to Singapore learned her lesson, after she shared her ticket details online, only to then have the trip canceled a short while later. You don’t need to be some super high profile and hated person to be the target of mischievous people online, especially when they can act anonymously.
Let this traveler’s frustration be a lesson for the rest of us. Just don’t post these things online, folks!!
What do you make of this canceled Qantas ticket saga?
Should add to this PSA that QR codes and bar codes also contain this information. Even if you scrub the PNR, ticket number or similar, they could still get the info from the QR/barcode. Best not to post anything before a flight.
Another thing to lookout for is posting screenshots of uber rides or map directions. People often self-dox their home address in these.
That's the beautiful of the internet. You can display to the entire world just how dumb you really are. A couple of cheeseburgers and she'll be fine.
A couple of dozen by the look of her.
A friend of mine is a travel influencer. His posts are about 1-2 weeks behind where he is - in part to avoid exactly this.
Is Ben your friend? Ben, are you an 'influencer'?
Stupid fat white trash female is no way to live life, son.
Tell us how you really feel...
Side note, on the recent 'hot towels' post, there's a IAD_And_DCA_Are_My_Second_Homes who admits he "decided to rip (you) off." Niccce.
1990 …. please do not get the ORD started …. ORD will soon show you the true ORD character.
Oh pish posh, perhaps we'll all learn something together... ORD, go ahead, tell us!
First of all, my post was a reference to Animal House. Guess that's too old for most of you. Second, my feelings are summarized by the Arbiter from the musical Chess: "Don't try to tempt me, you've no hope. I don't like women, I don't take dope." And British Timbits, I will not forget what you said, and your death will be by my hands.
Ooooo! Two published death threats ORD, I haven’t had this much fun since Op Granby. One predicted that your true character would be revealed soon and boy, Oh boy, you do not disappoint a chap ORD.
Do tell everyone, how much time I have before you attempt to carry out your threat? Should I be quaking in my boots or laughing my socks off?
Well now, please be advised ORD my socks are...
Ooooo! Two published death threats ORD, I haven’t had this much fun since Op Granby. One predicted that your true character would be revealed soon and boy, Oh boy, you do not disappoint a chap ORD.
Do tell everyone, how much time I have before you attempt to carry out your threat? Should I be quaking in my boots or laughing my socks off?
Well now, please be advised ORD my socks are well and truly off my tootsies and my sides are splitting with laughing at you. So, get back in your pram and rearrange your toys before mummy finds out that you have been a very silly baby.
lol what?
discoherence, 9C, you might well be best advised to refrain from addressing ORD, at the moment. You see he is really upset with me and might be tempted to take out his frustrations on you.
No, but stating about lack of knowledge of my parentage when I was, in fact, adopted at birth hit a very sensitive nerve, sensitive enough to want your death for saying it, you stupid b1tch.
Yes ORD, you certainly appear to possess all of the characteristics attributed to a person who is suffering from such a condition. One trusts that you are able to obtain the necessary assistance to overcome your unfortunate condition?
Regardless of whatever has upset one, making gratuitous public death threats is hardly acceptable. Prior to my thoughtless quip which upset you so, you had been most obnoxious towards me. As such, I simply responded in kind....
Yes ORD, you certainly appear to possess all of the characteristics attributed to a person who is suffering from such a condition. One trusts that you are able to obtain the necessary assistance to overcome your unfortunate condition?
Regardless of whatever has upset one, making gratuitous public death threats is hardly acceptable. Prior to my thoughtless quip which upset you so, you had been most obnoxious towards me. As such, I simply responded in kind. As I have explained previously, had I been aware of your childhood history, then I never would have been so thoughtless. Again, I apologise for my remark. Truce?
Why are liberals always the most intolerant of others? The constant projections are so tiresome.
Also swing and a miss with the Animal House reference.
I'm intolerant toward everyone. It's part of being a misanthrope. I'm not projecting. I'm saying that you're an a-hole because you are one.
Why are right wingers always the most intolerant of others? The constant projections are so tiresome.
Also don't litter your boarding pass in a public place! I've seen people do that.
I had a serious conversation with an acquaintance, a teacher who was a chaperone for an international school trip. They posted a pic on instagram of their boarding pass, and i sent them screenshots of the booking which included 9 of the students (and their full names).
I was happy to see a story from them a few months later, traveling solo, where they redacted their boarding pass!
I don't 100% get why people...
I had a serious conversation with an acquaintance, a teacher who was a chaperone for an international school trip. They posted a pic on instagram of their boarding pass, and i sent them screenshots of the booking which included 9 of the students (and their full names).
I was happy to see a story from them a few months later, traveling solo, where they redacted their boarding pass!
I don't 100% get why people share as much as they do in the first place, but I'm glad I talked one person into being more careful
Yet people still give their biometric data AND extra money to private companies like CLEAR or 23andMe.
Even Snowden and Trump proved that governments can and will misuse your personal data. Thank you PATRIOT act. There goes Global Entry.
If you use any of the above service ask your hypocritical self again;
"I don't 100% get why people share as much as they do in the first place,"
Oh brother... (Big Brother).
Esk, some pretend to “Share as much as they do in the first place” so that trolls take the bait. Ben’s clĩćķ bãïť …. :-)
"As much as we’d like to think that most people are decent humans, unfortunately that’s not always the case."
I'm sure you are limiting the universe of decent humans as non-maga.
Hey..."They're bringing crime. They're ra(c)ists. And some, I assume, are good people."
I know Gary Leff's AAdvantage number because he posted a QR code of his boarding pass and I extracted all the data.
While Gary is obnoxious and terrible, it's more obnoxious and terrible to be keeping the private information of someone you don't like. Grow up.
@PENILE, you're not fooling anyone; your new alias basically means 'cringy nouveau riche' in Mandarin. And, please, no need to get into the nuances of Zhongwen, Hanyu, and Putonghua.
1990, my name is 跟阴茎有关 which means "of or relating to the yinjing (jiba) (xiaoniao)" - you remember from Doctor of Credit.
Another decade of reading OMAAT and VFTW comments and you'll be fluent in Chinese which bodes well for your next visit to the Taiwan province of China which you like.
Remember, I don't read LALF because the author is a demonstrable loser - just look at which law school he went to.
Oh, how could I forget! 3x the fun!
And, so true, ...it is indeed the (Republic of) China! *wink*
On Matt, hey now, an active California bar license is an accomplishment to anyone that can pass their three-day exam. Not to mention, a free ride for law school is still a free ride. Besides, Drexel is #79 (tie) out of 195 in 2025!
No such thing as a free lunch; a free ride is penny wise, pound foolish. Universities give free rides because they know they have to buy your attendance; you could matriculate at a better school. The rewards, pecuniary or otherwise, of attending a better school are lifelong and immeasurable.
Always, always, always attend the best school you can. And, realize it's not about the "quality of education" - you can indeed learn the same material...
No such thing as a free lunch; a free ride is penny wise, pound foolish. Universities give free rides because they know they have to buy your attendance; you could matriculate at a better school. The rewards, pecuniary or otherwise, of attending a better school are lifelong and immeasurable.
Always, always, always attend the best school you can. And, realize it's not about the "quality of education" - you can indeed learn the same material anywhere, even for free online (a la MIT OpenCourseWare). You attend for the network, both social and professional. Invaluable.
Eh, to each their own. Can still live a good life without Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, NYU, Princeton, or Columbia. (Yes, I am aware that MIT and Princeton don't have law schools.)
Of course the most important network is the one into which you're born. No academic achievement or annual income can elevate you into the true elite, those people for whom success and security is guaranteed without even lifting a finger. Those folks will be polite to you, 假中国人, and maybe even invite you over for the holidays, but you'll only ever be the help, not a friend.
Airlines should require 2-factor for changes and cancellations. Problem solved.
Agreed. Relatively easy for these companies to do this, yet, they don't, so those companies should be liable when things go awry.
NOOOO! I'm tired to these 2FAs!! You could be outside the country with no access to your local number (quite often this is the case) and you need to change your flights - are you gonna be stuck there trying to add an international plan w/ AT&T or T-mobile (if they even offer in the country you're in)..just to get a 2FA text?
Surely US cellphone companies offer international roaming almost everywhere? I've never understood the burning desire to get a "local SIM" at the airport, just to save a few bucks. The inconvenience isn't worth the small saving.
Stop using the term "social media". There is absolutely nothing "social" on these platforms.
Well, if iflyfar says so, then I guess that's how its gots to be...
This is precisely why I never show my ID at the airport. Instead, I approach the gate agent and confidently boom, "I have gold status, and you should know who I am. Where is your manager?"
“TikToker”, enough said …. I shake my head in disbelief.
"Website", enough said ... I shake my head in disbelief. -- You, in 1995.
…. retired for the first time, goodness, three decades ago ….
One more idea: Would offering the option of two-factor authentication to users/customers on all these airline/program sites at least prevent some of these issues? Just seems like good personal cybersecurity hygiene.
Like, was reading about someone who lost most of their Alaska miles (sorry, Atmos points or whatever), recently because someone hacked-in to that account. Perhaps, after an investigation, it is all resolved, points returned, but that can take a while, and no guarantees....
One more idea: Would offering the option of two-factor authentication to users/customers on all these airline/program sites at least prevent some of these issues? Just seems like good personal cybersecurity hygiene.
Like, was reading about someone who lost most of their Alaska miles (sorry, Atmos points or whatever), recently because someone hacked-in to that account. Perhaps, after an investigation, it is all resolved, points returned, but that can take a while, and no guarantees. Might 2-factor have helped? Maybe.
Then I also read: While SMS-based 2FA is better than using no 2FA at all, it is considered a weaker method because it is vulnerable to social engineering and network-level attacks. Ok, so someone would need to 'social engineer' (trick you into divulging details, some of which you may inadvertently be doing by posting online...)
I think you were reading about Ben! (Or maybe it was Ford).
Alaska reps have indicated they recognize the need for 2FA, but they haven't been able to implement it yet for whatever reason (cough, their awful backend technology, cough)
Sunlight cleanses. More focus on this might get them to actually add it.
One interesting thing I noticed in Australia, at least for domestic flights, they rarely even ask for identification at security... so long as you have a boarding pass, and in some cases, even without one, you can enter the 'secure' area... at least that was the case at SYD Terminal 3 for me.
Very common in most of Europe too. Most of the time no one wants to see my ID unless I'm flying on LCC or from one of the few states where ID checks are compulsory (e.g. France or Spain) - but even then they only happen at the gate.
You gotta be careful even with your boarding pass at the gate. Remember that incident where someone surreptitiously snapped a picture of another passenger’s boarding pass and boarded the flight using it?
how did that go? The passenger will still try to board and find out someone already took his seat? This is too easy to get caught?
I think in that case, the stowaway managed to remain in the lavatory until boarding completed, and took an empty seat. When the real passenger scanned his boarding pass and it came up with an error, the gate agent manually checked the boarding pass and ID, saw it looked good, and waved it away as a system glitch.
Would potentially work well on Southwest, at least for a few more months!
Some social media users are not the brightest bunch out there, but the fault here lies with the airlines, who let anyone knowing the PNR and the name to make changes to someone's ticket.
Girl should be happy to have it cancelled well before the trip. Sorting the same mess out on departure, or even worse - on return day would suck a lot more.
Does she come from Porpoise Spit?
Brilliant!
“Goodbye, Porpoise Spit!”
Are you the same 'Jack' as on DoC?
"If I feel you've changed, I'll tell you."
-Tania
AA recently started requiring date of birth to view/change reservations. While that can also sometimes be known or found, I think it’s a worthwhile measure they implemented.
And QR (and some others) require an OTP to access your booking - they will send to the email address or phone number (via SMS) in your PNR. It's a bit of a pain but way safer
It helps but for anyone in the USA, their DOB is just one click away on google. SSNs two clicks. DLs three clicks.
Would two-factor authentication make this better? Or can that be spoof'd too...
Surely a company person like you 1990, would know all about “Two-factor(ing)” …. Oooops! Have I blown your cover?
I'd sure hope our intelligence services aren't wasting their time on travel blogs...
Quite …. far too many Walter Mitty’s hang around them don’t you know!
My son works as a senior engineer/team lead in one of IT companies. While in college, he stopped posting on social media. The only thing one can find about him on line is his LinkedIn page. He does not see reasons for posting details about personal life unless you are a blogger or influencer so your posts are a source of your income.
Sound logic
Kuloko, LinkedIn's a joke; he should delete that, too.
Bad actors are using Linkedin data to create synthetic IDs. I have no SM presence not even a LinkedIn profile. I deleted my LinkedIn profile 2+ years ago. And never had a SM account as I never saw the need for one.
Privacy is one of life's greatest luxuries.
As is relative anonymity.
Saw a similar case in a points forum a few week back. An individual posted a question, but included a screenshot containing the PNR. A few hours later, a new post - "why was my booking cancelled"?
Never ever share details online, not before, not after.
Saw a similar case in a points forum a few week back. An individual posted a question, but included a screenshot containing the PNR. A few hours later, a new post - "why was my booking cancelled"?
Never ever share details online, not before, not after.
That must've been like watching a the movie the Titanic... 'maybe they'll make it this time...'
What you do online can potentially affect your life offline. Good words to live by.
And this is just another example of why I do not have social media. I rather have people guessing about me, I sleep better at night. If someone needs me, get on your knees (pause) and crawl to find me.
Would you consider commenting at OMAAT or other travel blogs as a form of 'social media' that could be traced back to you? There's been a recent stream of political hopefuls old aliases (like on Reddit, or group texts, even) getting exposed (see Ingrassia, Platner, etc.)
Good question. I just did an AI search and OMAAT is NOT a social media platform, so no. "In short, OMAAT is a content creator that uses social media as a tool for distribution and promotion, not a social media platform itself."
The most I would use would be dating apps.
But I'm talking about the likes of Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc. where you post specifically to gain likes and attention and I don't...
Good question. I just did an AI search and OMAAT is NOT a social media platform, so no. "In short, OMAAT is a content creator that uses social media as a tool for distribution and promotion, not a social media platform itself."
The most I would use would be dating apps.
But I'm talking about the likes of Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc. where you post specifically to gain likes and attention and I don't that. Maybe I have in the past, but no longer as I don't need an algorithm to let me know what someone is doing every few seconds of their life or how or what to feel. Social media was created primarily for connections, but morphed into something sinister IMO.
I remember back in the day I had AIM, Friendster and myspace lol now everybody needs to use the likes of snapchat to get noticed.
I'm on the blog as I enjoy planes and travel I feel like my contributions are worth it, but in reality, I like hiding a rock.
I hear ya. I'm not on any of those mega-corp sites. I like how the various Boarding Area sites (OMAAT, VFTW, LALF, FM, etc.) are still *relatively* small-scale (sorry, fellas), and community-based. Like, the difference of tens of thousands of 'visits' per month, verses millions or billions. Ask the average person on the street: "Hey, have you heard of 'One Mile at a Time'...?" They'd look at you like, 'yeah, bud, I'm tryin'... every freakin' day...' (clueless.)
There was the recent incident with the Professor at Rutgers (Bray) who was relocating he and his family from the US to Spain (earlier this month), and, while the full details are not yet apparent, it may have been his public announcement of his departure, and some online sleuths that involuntarily 'canceled' his flight (or it was this admin, seeking vendetta for anyone who speaks out against it.) Fortunately, he was able to rebook for...
There was the recent incident with the Professor at Rutgers (Bray) who was relocating he and his family from the US to Spain (earlier this month), and, while the full details are not yet apparent, it may have been his public announcement of his departure, and some online sleuths that involuntarily 'canceled' his flight (or it was this admin, seeking vendetta for anyone who speaks out against it.) Fortunately, he was able to rebook for the next day. Still, not cool, either way. Protect your details.
Blaming the administration seems like a stretch. What's in it for them?