Ryanair to change boarding pass rules: French flights affected
Travellers who 'want the piece of paper are the same demographic that when we first moved over to the internet they wouldn’t move over but were then the first ones to switch to the internet for cheaper airfares' says airline boss Michael O’Leary
60% of passengers use the Ryanair app, but the airline is aiming to get this to 80% by the end of the year
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Low-cost Irish airline Ryanair is soon set to ban the use of paper boarding cards, with French flights among those affected.
From May 1, 2025, all passengers on Ryanair flights will be required to present their boarding cards on their smartphone, CEO Michael O’Leary has confirmed, at a press conference last week.
No paper boarding cards will be accepted, and they will not be available as an alternative to using a digital card on a phone. All passengers will be required to check in online, preferably using the Ryanair app, and receive their boarding pass on their phone.
This is already the system used by the majority of Ryanair passengers, because the airline has long charged €55 extra for passengers to check in at the airport rather than online in advance.
Today, 60% of passengers use the Ryanair app, but the airline is aiming to get this to 80% by the end of the year.
‘No more airport counters’
The change is part of Mr O’Leary’s plans to get rid of all Ryanair check-in desks from airports within six months.
“We will get rid of ticket desks and then there's no reason to charge people for airport check-in,” he explained at a press conference in Dublin last week.
This will save time and money and enable the airline to keep ticket prices low, he said.
Read also: Drunk plane passengers: Ryanair blames airports, French law fines heavily
‘The app works very well’
He admitted that at first he was “terrified” of the idea of “boarding a flight without paper”, but said that the Ryanair app “works very well”, and includes extra features such as telling you the boarding gate, and sending updates if the plane is late.
Mr O’Leary added that if a passenger has a legitimate reason for being unable to show their pass on their smartphone - such as if the phone breaks - they should still be able to board. “If we have the name and passport, it's fine,” he said.
He defended the change, and said that passengers who “value that piece of paper are in the same demographic as those who didn't want to embrace the internet in the first place”.
Yet, he said, these same people were “the first to turn to the internet for cheaper air tickets”.
Ryanair in France
Ryanair currently has French bases in Marseille, Toulouse, and Paris-Beauvais airports.
It lists its current French destinations as:
Bergerac, Beziers Cap d'Agde, Biarritz, Bordeaux (until November 2024), Brive, Carcassonne, Grenoble, La Rochelle, Limoges, Lourdes–Pyrenees, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Nîmes, Paris, Perpignan, Poitiers, Rodez, Toulouse, and Tours Loire Valley.
Some of these are only seasonal routes and do not operate year round. Yet, all flights to and from France will be included in the ‘no paper’ boarding card rule.
Read also: UK-France flights hit as Ryanair announces it is leaving Bordeaux airport
Read also: Bordeaux airport: ‘Ryanair pulling out was our worst-case scenario’
The airline announced the creation of five new bases in Europe and North Africa over summer 2024 - but not in France. They are in Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, Reggio Calabria, Tangier, and Trieste.
