For Hawaii travelers, some mementos still hold a special kind of magic—small, tangible reminders of trips to paradise. Among these, one that quietly earned its place as a keepsake, tucked away alongside leis, photos, and locally made treasures, has been Hawaii airline boarding passes.
However, as airlines move to eliminate these in favor of convenient digital alternatives, this once-familiar tradition, too, is starting to disappear.
Like souvenirs that symbolize a Hawaii trip, boarding passes offered a physical connection to the journey. BOH editors saved many boarding passes for years and some for decades. Jeff still has a boarding pass for Thai Airways Flight 311. He didn’t make it on that flight, and tragically, the plane crashed on approach to Nepal, killing all passengers and crew.
For many, boarding passes’ fading presence feels like losing a piece of the nostalgia and simplicity that made travel to the islands so memorable.
Nostalgia is still tied to Hawaii travel.
Hawaii is uniquely positioned as a destination where nostalgia plays a more significant role than most. Visitors have cherished these tactile aspects of trips, including locally-made souvenirs (not cheap imported ones). Paper boarding passes have quietly been part of this experience, often tucked away in albums as mementos of special trips.
One long-time visitor, Diane, shared: “Having visited five Hawaiian Islands numerous times, our most valued souvenir is a hand-carved whale tail from a local Maui artist. But I always buy Kona and Kauai coffee!” For travelers like Diane, keepsakes still represent an emotional connection to Hawaii, and boarding passes have quietly added to that sense of continuity.
The digital shift in Hawaii air travel.
Airlines flying to Hawaii are increasingly phasing out paper boarding passes in favor of digital options. Ryanair recently announced that it will eliminate paper passes by May 2025, and Alaska Airlines has already removed them from kiosks. United Airlines also no longer encourages paper boarding passes. Predictions from industry leaders suggest that paper passes could disappear altogether by 2030 as biometric and app-based technologies take their place. This signals an even broader industry trend toward digital-only solutions.
While this shift aligns with sustainability goals and airline operational efficiency, it raises practical concerns. For example, travelers to Hawaii often face long-haul flights and multi-leg itineraries, making backup documentation essential. As one social media user noted: “I’ll never fly without a printed boarding pass. My app crashed at TSA, and I was left scrambling. Paper boarding passes are reliable in a way phones just aren’t.”
Balancing sustainability and sentimentality in Hawaii.
Hawaii’s focus on sustainability makes the move to digital boarding passes consistent with its values. Travelers are increasingly mindful of their environmental impact, choosing reusable bags over single-use items and opting for meaningful souvenirs rather than foreign and mass-produced ones.
This same mindset can apply to boarding passes. While paper passes may be disappearing, travelers can embrace digital solutions that preserve the memories of Hawaii trips. Saving a prior digital boarding pass still offers new ways to hold onto those connections.
What makes a Hawaii keepsake timeless.
As paper boarding passes fade into aviation history, it’s worth reflecting on what makes Hawaii travel memories so special. Is it the item itself or the story it tells? For many island visitors, the answer lies in the experience itself. Whether it’s a treasured island nature photo, a lei, or hand-made art, these keepsakes carry the aloha spirit that still defines Hawaii.
What’s your favorite Hawaii travel keepsake? Do you still hold onto your old island boarding passes as reminders of your trips to paradise? Please let us know!
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I think in the moving completely away from the paper leaves our seniors out and we still have seniors who will be around for a while. Not everyone has computer/ printer to print off their boarding pass before leaving home and many wait until they get to the airport to print it off (feels secure) & this is what they’re familiar with…:) please don’t ignore our seniors-they still enjoy travel :)🙏🏿
I miss the award winning magazine Hana Hou. It was a well written magazine featuring stories about Hawaiian people and culture and made travelling to and from Hawai’i enjoyable and educational. I wish Hawaiian/Alaska airlines bring it back
In 1981, I flew United to Hawaii and they had a contest on the plane of when we would hit exact midpoint, time-wise. My guess was exactly that, a guess, but I won a pretty tray that I have to this day.
I won that contest 3 times.
That’s what happens when you are a frequent flyer to Hawaii … I remember those times …now living here full time!
Me too! 1979 747 in F (that’s when they flew those big, nice planes to Hawaii)
Guessed right but it was a bottle of some type of bubbly that I Don’t have to this day. 😉
Glad you enjoyed it ….not something that gets better in time …
I get a paper boarding pass for every flight as a keepsake. Big stack, thanks for confirming I’m not weird!
Houseguests were leaving and I made them print their BPs at my house. They thought it was old-school and dumb. When they got to LAX, TSA couldn’t process electronic BPs due to a big IT failure. My friends’ hardcopies let them fly. There were only about 15 on their 737….thousands missed flights that morning!
I deal with this iss almost every day with an aging parent. There is no question that digital is the way of the future and the way for probably 80% today. I think that banks, airlines, etc have to remember that 25% of people (stat as of 2019) do not have a cellphone never mind a smartphone. That percentage would have dropped by now but there are still people….customers, who cannot go digital today and they are extremely frustrated and feel left out of today’s society. I think we need to accommodate those people for at least a while yet.
I have yet to fly on any airline, where you can’t get a paper boarding pass if you want one.
I am an old school 72 years old person, and always check in at the counter to get a paper ticket and check in my luggage. I like going through security with a paper boarding pass. Holding my phone and my license, while having my purse crossbody and wheeling my carry-on would be too awkward for me. I also would be anxious about dropping my phone, losing connection or someone in line near me stealing my flight information.
I do not keep boarding passes as souvenirs. I use my phone for photos which are the most makana souvenirs I take home.
The best traditions were the Lei greetings in the tarmac..I began reading this and thought, oh my, they’re bringing that back…please do.
I’ve saved my digital boarding passes for special trips. Like my last trip to Hawaii when I got to fly on Hawaiian Airlines up front. 🙂
I was upgraded to Hawaiian first class many years ago, when meals and seats were still good and I kept the menu they gave me. 🙂
I save boarding passes from my earlier Hawaii trips as well as boarding passes from my travels to other countries along with their money. They all go into my scrapbooks. One of my favorite keepsakes is a hand painted picture I purchased from an artist that I met on the Big Island. It’s in a koa wood frame and is quite large. The shipping to Florida set me back a few $$$, but it was so worth it.
Not having to keep track of a paper boarding pass is one less thing to worry about. Like the paper ticket before it, moving to an all-digital environment makes a lot more sense.
There are far more meaningful keepsakes that also help patronize small, locally-owned businesses.
Hi guys. Yes I like the paper boarding passes as I have also lost the connection on my phone with my digital pass. It was very upsetting and I had to leave the line and go to the desk to have the agent pull up my eligibility to board. So I am not happy about the airlines getting rid of them. I am currently evacuated from the fires in Los Angeles and wish I was over there in Kauai. Now I know firsthand what Lahaina went through.
Is there any hope of non-stop flights from the mainland to Hilo returning in the next few years? United used to fly LAX-Hilo pre-pandemic.
Seattle-Hilo flights on Alaska (Hawaiian) would be ideal.
At a security check-point at LAX, the inspector dropped my cell phone and it cracked. Without a paper boarding pass, I would not have been able to board my flight to Kauai.
If they want to eliminate paper, let’s start by eliminating those forms everyone needs to fill out in the plane before landing to Hawaii. Who checks it for accuracy anyways? And why we have to go through the agricultural inspection when we leave and not when we arrive? When I asked those inspectors, they told me that Hawaii has “invasive species” like no other and I said “invasive from where”? But the agricultural inspection is there to protect the “mainland” from those invasive species …I know this is a whole new story, just saying.
And when was the last time you received a ticket jacket with your boarding pass?
I do still request a paper boarding pass whenever I fly and I’ve always received them. I always keep them as proof of where I’ve been if I am ever audited by the IRS.
I always take the magazine on Hawaiian Airlines.