The £55 airport fee that Ryanair is scrapping this year
RYANAIR passengers soon won’t get caught out with a strict £55 when getting to the airport.
The budget airline announced last year that they planned to phase out printed boarding passes.
Currently, passengers who fail to check in online and have to get their boarding pass at the desk has to pay a £55 fee.
Some families have been left hundreds of pounds out of pocket when forgetting to do this.
However, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said last year that he was wanted to scrap all printed passes in favour of mobile boarding passes by May.
He said: “Our goal is to eliminate check-in desks at the airport, just like we’ve done with luggage counters.
“Everything will be managed through the app, making the process fully digital and eliminating paper entirely.”
“I’m one of the last remaining people still showing up with my piece of paper.
“It also means, once we get everybody onto the app, nobody will ever again pay for a boarding pass at an airport – the airport check in fee will be gone.
“So, I think it will be a smoother, easier journey for everybody.”
While this means no more £55 fees, passengers will need to make sure their phone has enough battery.
Anyone with a dead battery may find themselves struggling to get through security.
Despite this, O’Leary said passengers will still be able to board if their phone dies when they get to the gate.
He told the Telegraph: “If your battery dies, we have your seat and your passport and we can do that at the boarding gates at the moment.”
There are a number of destinations that Brits will still need to print their boarding pass for, however.
Airports in Morocco require a physical copy, due to additional checks at security, as do ones in Turkey, excluding Dalaman.
And Tirana Airport in Albania also cannot accept mobile boarding passes.
Sun Travel has contacted Ryanair for clarification regarding mobile passes for these destinations.
Some travel experts have said that other airlines could ditch boarding passes altogether.
Start-up airline Riyadh Air’s chief executive Tony Douglas said mobile boarding passes could even be a thing of the past by 2030.
This would be replaced with biometric checks such as fingerprint and iris scans.
Advice for flying with Ryanair
- All Ryanair passengers can bring a small personal bag on board but this must fit under the seat in front of you, but it must be no bigger than 40cm x 20cm x 25cm
- Any over-sized cabin bags will be refused at the boarding gate and put in the hold for a fee
- Ryanair also charges passengers up to £55 check-in at the airport
- Anyone who loses their card at the airport will have to pay a £20 reissue fee
- Book to sit in the front five rows if you want to head off the plane first
- Extra legroom seats can be found in rows 1 A, B, C or 2 D, E, F as well as row 16 and 17 near the emergency exit
- The worst seat on Ryanair’s Boeing 737-800 aircraft is also 11A because of its lack of window.
Here’s the seat number you never want to see on your boarding pass.
And why having SSSS on your pass might delay you at security.