I think some of the “legacy” reasons for boarding passes being separate from tickets was that 1) As already mentioned, back when tickets were typically more flexible they allowed you to fly any flight on that route; they weren’t for one specific flight. 2) I think in the old days you didn’t get your seat assignment until you checked in at the airport, probably at least partly because of #1. So the boarding pass contained information like your seat assignment that wasn’t on the ticket.
Nowadays the “ticket” exists only as a record in the airline’s computer system, but you still need a boarding pass to show at the TSA checkpoint, and to scan at the gate so the airline can confirm you actually boarded the flight. And it wouldn’t surprise me if airlines were running software that at its core was still using code from the old days, and that code expects tickets and boarding passes to be different things.
And to the “belt and suspenders” types who print boarding passes just in case something happens to your phone: You know they can print you another boarding pass at the airport if necessary, right? Even if your phone dies after you get past security, you can ask a gate agent to print a boarding pass for you. So I am confident having my boarding pass only on my phone, knowing that in the unlikely event something should happen to it I can get a replacement boarding pass at the airport.
In May my dad and I found our boarding passes had both vanished after going through security at DFW - they were in the bus tubs and poorer from there. So we found one of those American Airlines help desks and they reprinted them - after fixing our tickets. Apparently the person checking us in hadn’t done so correctly. We had to check in at the airport due to our tickets having been changed so often due to Covid.
Yup, I used them when I absolutely, positively had to pay overnight.
If I have the chance to get one, I still like paper boarding passes. Between roll-aboard, knapsack personal item, & book* drink, & snack that I want in the seatback in front of me, I find it quicker to just have them scan it for me rather than having to unlock my phone again.
.* I like a paperback on a flight because they get pissy if you’re on your phone during safety briefing & rollback, with an actual dead tree in my hand I can read the whole time.
I think there are still a few airports where you must have a paper ticket or boarding pass to even get into the airport. I know they’ve had to in India on The Amazing Race.
I remember those days. You’d check in at the airport, and get some questions: “Window or aisle?”, “Smoking or non-smoking?” Then they’d assign you a seat at the check-in counter, and print the boarding pass with your seat assignment on it.
This was parodied in one of the Airplane films (I think the second, but I’m not sure), where a business executive is checking in for his flight on Krishna Air, and is asked, “Will that be chanting or non-chanting?”
That brings me back. Planning travel and getting the the tickets was one of the things secretaries back then did. We had a secretary for 25 people or so, before I retired there was one per VP, well over 100 people. And she had little to do, and not from being lazy. She really wanted to book our travel, but with on-line travel agencies it was much easier to do it ourselves.
I never lost a ticket for the same reason I always print a boarding pass. But I worried about it.
My phone is on facial recognition for unlock, which is a real pain when you are wearing a mask. I take a Kindle and a real book - reading on a phone would be horrible.
BTW, this reminds me of when you needed neither a boarding pass or a ticket. When I was in college I took the old Eastern shuttle between Logan and LGA. Under $20 student discount, maybe under $10. You got on the plane and paid there. No id, no nothing.
If my battery dies between home and the airport, then I’m a dipshit for leaving home with an almost-dead phone. This is analogous to forgetting your paper boarding pass at home.
A paper boarding pass is one more item to manage. I’d have to take the time at home to print one out, then stash it somewhere handy on my body, then get rid of it after the trip.
In the unlikely event of my phone dying enroute to the airport, I can get a boarding pass from the ticketing area.
In the unlikely event of my phone dying somewhere between the security checkpoint and the gate, I can get a boarding pass from the gate agent.
Also in the first, when a man buying a ticket is asked, “smoking or non-smoking?”. He gets a “smoking” ticket, which is physically belching out clouds of smoke when he gets it.
That’s the other thing - I OWN a printer, but I haven’t USED it in like, 4 years at least. I don’t know if it even still works. Printing a boarding pass is a lot of hoops to jump through when I already have my phone, which I have on me at all times anyways.
And for the return flight, I’m staying at a hotel or at someone’s house, I really don’t want to print out my boarding pass.
If I’m checking luggage at the airport (a rarity these days) I may print my boarding pass from the kiosk if only to have a place to keep my baggage check tag.
Tbf, it’s really easy to print a boarding pass at the airport. They usually have self service kiosks when you walk in where you just put in some basic info about your ticket and it just prints it out.
I always print boarding passes. But then again I haven’t flown since I got a smart phone. I’d still print the passes, you know they’re going to scan right and it gives you something to keep in your hand to find your seat.
You get an award; you are NOT turning into your parents. Or at least mine. My mother called me over to fix her printer*, and I said “Mom, you’re printing a LOT. Do you need to print so much?” “Oh, that’s how I share right-wing inspirational sayings, but mostly cute pet photos off the internet with my friends.” “But you could email a kitty photo to your friends…” “Oh, but it’s so much more fun to show it to them.” Sigh…
No, mine either - my mom still faxes things sometimes. At this point she does so by scanning the file digitally, then sending it using software (that came with the all-in-one printer) that mimics a fax machine. I pointed out to her that she could just send the digital file, but she likes how she still gets to punch the number on the printer’s keypad to send a fax.
