From November 12th Ryanair will no longer accept printed boarding passes as the budget operator moves to become the ‘world’s first paperless airline’. What are the options for passengers?
Budget airline Ryanair is doing away with printed boarding pass.
From Wednesday (November 12th), Europe’s largest direct airline demands that passengers present digital boarding passes at the airport check-ins and to board the plane.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary expects minor initial problems with the changeover. Meanwhile, the initial announcement of the Irish airline’s no paper policy was met with protests in Great Britain and German consumer advocates have suggested there is room for legal challenges.
Ryanair had originally planned to launch its digital only pass policy in May, and then postponed it to November, which is a quieter month for air travel. Around 13 million people are expected to fly with the airline this month, as opposed to around 20 million in May.
Ryanair has said it wants to become the world’s first paperless airline. It says that with only electronic boarding passes, it can save more than 300 tons of waste per year.
Competitors such as Easyjet, British Airways or Lufthansa and Condor, so far continue to give customers the choice between digital and analogue boarding passes.
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It’s all in the app
The budget airline brand’s digital strategy revolves around its “myRyanair” app. Going forward the app will be the only way for customers to create a boarding pass for the electronic check-in process.
Even customers who book tickets though other portals should download the app to save their boarding pass, is the idea.
According to the airline, well over 80 percent of guests already use the app to book flights, purchase extra services and present their boarding passes.
The app is not mandatory for all travellers, however. For example, for group bookings one passenger can keep the boarding passes for their group, or forward them individually to fellow travellers.
Fees at the counter
So what happens if you’ve ignored all warnings and show up without the app or an electronic boarding pass?
The plan for now is that passengers who end up at the airport without an electronic boarding pass can have one printed out at the check-in counter for a fee.
“In this case, you will have to pay the check-in fee at the airport,” notes the Ryanair website.
The price to print a ticket varies depending on the country of departure. The fee per passenger is currently set at €30 in Spain, €40 in Austria or €55 in the rest of the EU and Great Britain per passenger and route.
Previously printing Ryanair boarding passes in the airport cost a fee of €20.
With reporting by DPA.
