Ryanair’s chief executive has sought to ease passenger concerns about the airline’s plan to make smartphone boarding passes mandatory.
Europe’s biggest budget airline plans to stop accepting paper print-outs of boarding passes from 3 November. Instead, passengers will be expected to present their boarding pass from the Ryanair app.
The carrier says the move will “eliminate almost all airport check-in fees” and allow “direct updates from Ryanair’s operations centre during disruption”. It will also save 300 tonnes in paper each year, the airline estimates.
Speaking to The Independent’s daily travel podcast, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said: “Between 85 and 90 per cent of passengers show up with smartphones. Almost 100 per cent of passengers have smartphones, and we want to move everybody onto that the smartphone technology.
“The big concern that people have is: “What happens if I lose my battery or whatever I lose my phone?”
“If you lose your phone, no issue. As long as you've checked in before you got to the airport, we'll reissue a paper boarding pass at the airport free of charge. But you have to have checked in before you got to the airport.
“Also, if your battery dies or something happens, once you've checked in, we'll have your sequence number anyway at the boarding gate, we'll take you you'll get on. So nobody should worry about it.
“Just make sure you check in online before you get to the airport and then all will be fine.”
The Ryanair website shows that the current boarding pass re-issue fee is £20 – but from 3 November it will be zero.
Some nations will continue to insist that passengers are carrying print-outs of boarding passes. This applies in Morocco and Albania.
“We've reached agreement with the Albanian authorities now that from next March, they're going digital as well. The Moroccans still insist on paper and in those cases, we'll accept paper boarding passes.”
Mr O’Leary acknowledged “there'll be some teething problems”.
The carrier was the first to insist that passengers should check in online in advance or face a penalty. Ryanair passengers who check in at the airport, rather than online, must pay a fee of £55 – though only £30 for flights from Spain.
Concerns have been raised about older passengers who may not own or be comfortable with smartphones.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “Passengers who don’t have a smartphone can ask a friend or family member to download the boarding pass for them.
”Once a passenger is checked in, they will be provided assistance at the airport, where staff can see they have checked in.“
Rival airlines easyJet, Jet2 and British Airways allow passengers to check in at the airport without penalty.
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