Okay then. All EU passports (and most ID-cards), as well as many non-EU passports are machine-readable documents, aren't they? Why not use them as boarding passes without any prints at all? So big investment that FR couldn't afford?
Given that UK Border Agency struggle with some of the forgeries and availability and lets face it they have a Govt pumping hundreds of millions into IT.
BBC News - British passports lost abroad number 60,000
60,000 lost or stolen UK passports abroad and 279,000 lost or stolen in UK.
Replacing a lost or stolen passport £100 approx
Funny nobody asking Govt to do it for free.