I think a lot of the tickets are expensive (given the large size fonts and I'm not sure but large blocks of even black ink).
The one with JJ is so, so easy to understand and maintains ink cost.
I think it's because I interact with boarding passes so infrequently that the data alone isn't enough for me to glean information – I need the explanation of what I'm looking at.
E.g., I know (555) 492-2882 (in the U.S.) is a phone number without it being labeled because I use phones enough to learn the format. I don't immediately know that Zone 5 is a seating schedule or a gate, because I don't fly enough.
I could see the design slowing down experienced fliers though (verbose UI tends to do that). It looks like the data is repeated in a just-the-facts style in the right column (maybe for that exact reason), but rather than repeating everything I think it'd be cool if the descriptive section was rearranged so the numbers all line up vertically or something for even easier scanning for those who know what the numbers mean.
I'm really impressed with that design solution though, and how JJ approached it differently from everyone else.
Given the popularity of smartphones and dictionaries, I think I can punch in that text and get back a reasonable understanding of what the ticket means - rather than a non-verbose ticket with English section markings and roman numerals (no - the entire world doesnt use Roman numerals)
For that reason I think any boarding pass that is to be successful needs to have the same information in the same places - the guy at the X-ray machine should not be reading entire paragraphs just to verify which flight you're on, nor should the gate agent you're asking question to.