There was a spate fraudulent ticket purchases using stolen cards some time ago. So the airlines started (impractically) requiring a physical copy of the CC while traveling. While they've eased up for Indian travelers, they still do it to some extent for international travelers.
And I'm sure as people started photocopying credit cards to show at check-in that led to a increase in credit card fraud as you had people photocopying (generally in an unsecured way) and then not shredding them when they were done with it.