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Jet Airways is printing Aadhaar numbers on boarding passes when passengers are a checking into flights. The issue was flagged on Twitter earlier this week when Suvodeep Das posted a picture of his boarding pass for a flight from Hyderabad to Mumbai.
Here's the @jetairways boarding card with my #Aadhar on it (bar code blacked out) - I was forced to enter it during mobile check-in last eve
Publishing of an Aadhaar number is a punishable offense in the Aadhaar Act with jail term up to three years and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh. From the Aadhaar Act.
No Aadhaar number or core biometric information collected or created under this Act in respect of an Aadhaar number holder shall be published, displayed or posted publicly, except for the purposes as may be specified by regulations.
Das, who works as vice-president of marketing at Sodexo India, told MediaNama that he was trying to check in while trying to get into the airport on the Jet Airways app. “However, it did say entering the number was optional but the app did not allow me to proceed. It kept giving me an error. So I finally entered the number and it printed the Aadhaar on the pass,” he added.
A spokesperson for Jet Airways did confirm that the adding Aadhaar number while checking in is optional and added that the company does not take any biometric information for authentication. However, he did not give information on when Jet Airways started adding Aadhaar as a field for checking into a flight. But it looks like the airline enabled this earlier this year in January from, as indicated by this post from BoardingArea.
Write to us if an airline prints your Aadhaar number on a boarding pass while entry or know if anyone else who experienced the same.
Aadhaar for air travel?
In June this year, the ministry of civil aviation was looking at having a digital unique ID such as Aadhaar, PAN, and passport number among others, at the time of booking tickets. At present, air travelers are required to furnish a physical copy of their unique ID at the time of entering the airport and during check-in, but don’t need it while booking tickets. Note that as per this proposal, sharing Aadhaar number will not be mandatory, but one of the options.
This system would have faster check-in for Aadhaar-linked flyers who would have to authenticate themselves using the biometric credentials.
Meanwhile, Bangalore and Hyderabad airports are pushing for Aadhaar-enabled entry and have implemented pilots for the same. The airport system in Hyderabad has an Adhaar verification system at the terminal entrance but if airlines are able to provide Aadhaar number and ticketing information, it will use the Aadhaar as the single document for entry and replace the boarding pass.