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the airline wants to force passengers to use their app so they can sell customer data and sell ads

That's a bingo

In China the digital boarding pass QR code changes every 30 seconds preventing screenshots or photos of it from being used. But as they're currently implemented in the US it's no different than paper.

The bigger issue is how bad airline apps handle anything even slightly out of the ordinary like itineraries including codeshare segments or just randomly have server problems. I fly 50+ times a year and am able to actually use the digital boarding pass only ~95% of the time.

I recently traveled abroad. Flying back to the US I was one of about 10 passengers on my flight that was randomly selected for an extra search that I guess the TSA requires of flights coming into the USA. I couldn’t create my boarding pass in the airlines app ahead of time. I had to check in at the airport, and the airline employed explained that it was because of this random search. He had to print a physical boarding pass, and pointed out it had the code AAAA printed in big letters across the top. This lets everybody know I was one of the lucky random winners.

At the gate, prior to boarding, they called up the names of all of us who had been chosen. They had a list, so they knew who we were. They confirmed our ID again & the boarding pass, then swabbed us down along with our carry-ons and put the swabs in an explosives detector.

No idea why all that required a physical boarding pass, but it did. Until the TSA moves into the modern age they’re likely going to continue demanding paper boarding passes. And we all know how quickly government organizations upgrade the technology they use…

Always good advice when traveling. Redundant power packs are now as important for travel as a toothbrush.

Burner smartphone. Buy a cheap ass used phone on Craigslist. Only ever connect it to wifi. Load it with all the garbage apps companies demand you use. Use your real smart or dumb phone for your actual personal purposes.

TBF, if you can't afford a phone, you probably can't afford to fly either.

I prefer a paper pass.

Maybe I'm old school and I keep printed maps, tickets, all in a folder on my suitcase.

My phone has all that info too. But then it's a single point of failure. And I've absolutely had the paper ticket save my ass because my phone could freeze or restart at critical moments.

I had a connection through Geneva and while my international mobile phone coverage covered the UK and Germany, but Switzerland wasn't included. The gate for the connecting flight was through an unsecured area, so I had to show a boarding pass again, except the United app which had the digital boarding pass couldn't connect (because of no internet access) and I almost missed my connecting flight.

Luckily I had printed out the boarding passes, but they were buried in my carry on. So I had to unload the whole thing to find it, but I did. If I had only a digital boarding pass I would have been out-of-luck.

Hey, you're missing all the opportunities to be charged a service fee for looking at your ticket!