How to Read Your Boarding Pass (2026)

Your boarding pass is a dense little document, and almost every code on it is doing a job. Learning how to read a boarding pass takes two minutes.

Six characters open your reservation, one letter sets your upgrade and change rights, and a line of small print decides which airline you actually deal with at the airport.

Here is the field by field version, built on the standard that governs the barcode and each airline's own published rules, as of September 2026.

What is actually printed on a boarding pass?

Airlines do not share one layout. IATA's implementation guide for the Bar Coded Boarding Pass standard says outright that Resolution 792 "does not define a standard layout of the boarding pass".

So the same fields land in different boxes on different carriers. The vocabulary, though, is shared.

The barcode is where the standard is strict. IATA's implementation guide defines PDF417, Aztec, Datamatrix and QR code as the accepted symbologies, with PDF417 the default on printed passes.

Version 7 of the standard, effective June 2018, extended the square matrix codes to printed passes too. They reached phones first, because they "fit more easily on the screens of mobile phones than linear codes".

The three letters at each end of the route line are IATA airport codes, not always intuitive ones. Our guide to airport codes explains why Chicago is ORD.

What is the record locator on your boarding pass?

It is the short code that identifies your reservation, printed near the top and labelled confirmation code, booking reference or record locator depending on the airline.

IATA's glossary defines the record behind it, the Passenger Name Record, as "a record of each passenger's travel requirements", holding everything the booking and participating airlines need to control the reservation.

Alaska states it plainly: "A confirmation code is 6 letters from Alaska Airlines." It separates that from an e-ticket number, which starts with 027.

JetBlue uses a six-letter code too, and says you will find it in your confirmation email, your check-in email and on your boarding pass.

That code is also where Autopilot starts. On cash tickets booked directly with Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue or United, add your trip and Autopilot tracks the fare and reprices the reservation when it drops, with the savings coming back as airline credit or a refund.

What does the class letter on your boarding pass mean?

The single letter near your flight number is your booking class, often called fare class. It is a price bucket, not a seat.

Two people in the same row can hold different letters. The letter is what the airline reads when it works out what your ticket earns and what you may change.

• Miles and elite credit. Earning rates are commonly set by booking class rather than by what you paid.
• Upgrade eligibility. Whether an upgrade is possible at all often turns on the letter.
• Flexibility. Refundability and change rules attach to the fare, and the letter is how the fare is identified.

The letters are not standardised across the industry. NerdWallet's fare class guide notes that airlines "don't always adhere to the IATA standard," so the same letter can mean different things on two carriers.

What do the boarding group and sequence number tell you?

They answer two different questions. The group tells you when you board, and the sequence number records where you landed in the check-in order for that flight.

JetBlue's boarding procedures put the first one simply: "Your boarding group is noted on your boarding pass above or next to your seat number."

Each airline sets its own groups and its own order, so the number means something only against that carrier's ladder. Our guide to airline boarding groups covers how every major US carrier boards.

The sequence number is a mandatory field in the barcode, and IATA says it "should be unique for a given flight." It records check-in order, nothing more.

A blank seat number is not an error, either. IATA's guidance is that when an item is not available as the pass is issued, a seat for a standby passenger being its example, the field is filled with blanks.

What does "operated by" mean on your boarding pass?

It means a different airline is flying the aircraft. The flight number belongs to the airline that sold you the ticket, and the line beneath names the operator.

That line is a federal disclosure requirement rather than a courtesy. Under 14 CFR 257.5, the selling carrier or ticket agent must provide written disclosure at the time of purchase stating "Operated by" followed by the corporate name of the transporting carrier.

• Where you check in. Delta's published check-in requirements state that passengers on Delta-marketed, partner-operated flights must check in with the operating carrier.
• Which airline issues the pass. The carrier you check in with hands you the boarding pass, so its app is usually where the pass lives.
• Which confirmation code you need. The operating airline often holds its own code for the same trip, as The Points Guy has documented, so look for partner confirmation numbers in your carrier's app.
• Which terminal you want. Follow the operating carrier, then confirm against the airport's own displays.

That last one matters most on connections. If the operating carrier sits in another terminal, the walk is part of it, which our minimum connection time guide covers.

What do TSA PreCheck and SSSS mean on a boarding pass?

Both are screening outcomes printed onto the pass, and neither is decided at the gate.

TSA's own guidance is that participating airlines "display a TSA PreCheck indicator directly on your boarding pass if you are eligible for TSA PreCheck based on your provided Known Traveler Number."

The indicator is printed per boarding pass, from the Known Traveler Number sitting in that specific reservation. Without a valid boarding pass carrying it, TSA says you cannot use the PreCheck lane.

Whether the membership is worth buying is a different question, and our honest take on TSA PreCheck works through the math.

What does SSSS mean on a boarding pass?

SSSS stands for Secondary Security Screening Selection. It means additional screening at the checkpoint, so give yourself more time than usual.

The designation comes from TSA's Secure Flight system rather than from the airline or a gate agent, and TSA does not publish the criteria behind any individual selection.

Secure Flight's stated purpose is "to screen individuals before they access airport sterile areas or board aircraft," matching carrier-provided passenger information against federal watch lists.

Reporting from The Points Guy describes what that usually involves: a closer look at carry-on items, swabs for explosive trace detection, and imaging or a pat-down, with private screening available on request.

If it keeps happening, there is a formal route. DHS TRIP assigns a seven-digit Redress Control Number, which you then enter when you book.

Should you post a photo of your boarding pass?

Better not to, and the reason is ordinary rather than dramatic.

The barcode carries the same information as the face of the pass, your record locator included. Security reporting has noted for years that it can hold more than the printed side shows.

Since a trip lookup asks for a last name and a confirmation code, a photo of the whole pass puts both of those into public view at once.

• Skip the boarding pass photo, or crop it so the barcode and the code are out of frame.
• Take paper passes home and shred them rather than leaving them in a bin at the gate.
• Use a mobile pass where you can, which leaves nothing behind in the boarding area.
• Give bag tags the same treatment, since the booking code travels on those too.

None of this calls for paranoia. It is the instinct that stops you leaving a passport face up on a table.

Boarding passes will keep getting shorter as more of the trip moves onto phones, and the codes will go on meaning what they mean today.

The six characters at the top are worth knowing by heart, because they are how you, and anything working on your behalf, reach the reservation after you have paid.