Originally Posted by stimpy
In Europe it's a requirement on pretty much every airline that they check your boarding pass and nowadays they must physically remove it from your hand and inspect it.
In the US they rarely check, but on my last United flight leaving LAX there was a British FA checking boarding passes. She said to me "Sorry, I have to check your boarding pass". I said "Of course you do. Your British!"
I don't know which airlines you mean here, but I can say that on SK and LH it is definetly not a requirement. I can not recall showing my boarding pass even once in the last couple of years.