Please do not get angry when flight attendants ask for your boarding pass

Quite a number of flight attendants have shared to me that passengers would scold them for carrying a certain required task. I am talking about flight attendants asking passengers to present their boarding pass. I mean, why? Will presenting our boarding pass affect our bank accounts? Will it make us less of a person?

Yes your cabin crew are required to check your boarding pass, whether you like it or not. They are mandated to do so, by the airline! Hence, we have no right to scold them for it.

The reasons why flight attendants check your boarding pass

What is the use of presenting boarding passes when you are already inside the aircraft? There are vital reasons why your flight attendant asks you to present your boarding pass, and this standard operating procedure is one of their tasks. Here are the three vital reasons why your cabin crew will check your boarding pass, whether you like it or not.

1. ​​To make sure you are on the right aircraft, on the right flight, and traveling on the right date. Believe me or not but there are plenty of cases of passengers boarding the wrong aircraft or even flying on the wrong date. This does not only happen in the Philippines but around the world too. Sometimes, we tend to say “yes I know I am on the right aircraft” but just to find out that we boarded the wrong one. 
2. To guide you to your seat faster. It will take longer if flight attendants will ask you “Is this your first time flying?” and “do you know where your seat is?” It will consume too much time and may lengthen boarding time. Instead, flight attendants right away check your seat and directly guides you as to which side and which are in the aircraft. Not everyone is a frequent flyer, some are first-timers.
3. Final security check that you are part of that flight. This is self-explanatory already. Same reason why the ground crew and airport security check your boarding pass.

At the end of the day, it is part of the cabin crew’s duty to check your boarding pass as instructed by their airline, the same as when they tell you to fasten your seatbelts, put your window shades up, and chairs in an upright position, and to keep your tray tables stowed. 

All protocols, rules, and regulations must be followed.

When you got your ticket and boarding pass, you subjected yourself to airline rules and regulations, hence, presenting your boarding pass to the cabin crew when they ask for it is one of them. This is precisely now why you have no right to get mad at them when they ask for your boarding pass because it is one of the airlines’ SOP for passengers and you subject yourself to it by agreeing with all the terms and conditions when you bought your ticket.

Just a reminder too that in some airlines around the world, the captain of the aircraft can have you offloaded from the flight if you do not follow standard procedures which include presenting your boarding pass when required. The cabin crew may also tag you as a potential unruly passenger should you even get mad at them for asking you to present your boarding pass, which may result in you being offloaded from the flight. Unruly passengers in all airlines are considered a security hazard, especially after the 9/11 incident.

Last but not least, it will not make you much less of a person when you present your boarding pass to your flight attendant. 

So when a flight attendant asks for your boarding pass for checking, just present it. Don’t worry, I guarantee you that you will not be demoted in your job nor would other people make fun of you if you present it.