What must be done to boarding passes to prevent unauthorized access to the aircraft?

To prevent unauthorized access to the aircraft, it is essential to check boarding passes as part of the boarding process. This procedure allows security personnel or airline staff to verify that each individual boarding the aircraft is indeed a ticket holder for that particular flight, ensuring that no one without a valid boarding pass gains access to the aircraft. Checking boarding passes helps maintain the integrity of the boarding process, contributing significantly to overall airport security.

While issuing boarding passes is a preliminary step in the travel process, simply issuing them does not prevent unauthorized access. Scanning boarding passes provides a means of quick verification but, without the accompanying action of checking, it could lead to oversights if not properly supervised. Collecting boarding passes can serve a purpose in managing the boarding process but does not inherently prevent someone from accessing the aircraft without authorization before that point. Checking them, on the other hand, is a direct measure to confirm that each passenger is permitted to board.