If they can get the paper a few microns thicker to have better sturdiness than TP, I'm all for the thermal.

BTW (apologies if it hasn't been discussed...did not read the post plethora) are not the cardstock BP's also thermally printed? So is it not just a question of how thick the paper is?

I get more annoyed by the sad state of the magnetic card readers (seems near half the time they are either inop or malfunctioning...which holds up the whole boarding process). I'm all for going solely with the optical scanners at all the gates. They can keep the readers to serve as the boarding agents 'cage' as it seems to be there 'primarily for our safety'.