Mobile ticket authentication

The method and system provide convenient and efficient authentication of mobile tickets (46). A ticket purchaser provides a photo image (40) of himself or herself that is stored with the purchaser's phone number and a ticket identifier in a database (32). A mobile ticket (46) is generated comprising the ticket identifier as a barcode and the photo. The ticket is transmitted to the purchaser's mobile phone (38). The ticket is authenticated by reading the ticket identifier from the phone (38) into a terminal (54), for example by barcode scanning (52) of the phone's screen (50). The identifier is used to look up (56) the stored image (58) which is displayed on the screen of the terminal (60). The operator of the terminal can then compare the photo on the terminal (60) with the actual purchaser and the photo on the display of the phone (50) in order to authenticate the ticket (46) as belonging to the purchaser.