Ryanair issues 'important update' as certain passengers risk being denied boarding
The summer holidays are quickly approaching and Ryanair have been sending an 'important update' to passengers ahead of their flights.
It's not quite the peak of tourist season yet, with school still in session for another few weeks, but thousands of lucky souls did travel to witness England's remarkable victory over Mexico in the World Cup.
For those looking to fly somewhere a little closer to home, Ryanair is always on hand to offer a cheap getaway.
The budget airline may try and claw back some funds by finding as many bags that don't quite fit under the seat as they can, but you can't knock getting to Genoa and back for less than a taxi home from town, can you?
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For the thousands gearing up for their first flights with Ryanair this year for their summer travels, there's been an important change to their boarding procedure you should know about.
Ryanair has changed to 100% digital boarding passes
Ryanair announced back in November that they were ditching paper tickets and moving to 100 per cent digital boarding passes.
That means passes printed onto paper are no longer accepted to gain entry on to their flights.
Explaining the decision, Ryanair said it would make boarding more efficient, lower the costs of flight and benefit the environment thanks to saving so much paper.
Speaking in November, Ryanair CMO, Dara Brady, said: “So far, day one of Ryanair’s DBP has been a huge success as over 700 flights and more than 100,000 passengers enjoyed the improved service and better experience of paper-free boarding at Ryanair airports.
"We estimate our DBP initiative will save up to €40M annually, and this will help us to lower ticket prices and make air travel more competitive for Ryanair’s customers.”
The airline are still informing people of the crucial change, too, as one customer shared on Facebook that she had received an 'important update for RyanAir passengers' ahead of a flight to Dublin.
It informed the customer that: "We no longer accept printed boarding passes. You need the Ryanair App to access your digital boarding pass."
A Ryanair spokesperson told LADbible: "Our move to digital boarding has been a huge success."
However, some flyers have still raised concerns about what happens for people who don't have a device that the app can be downloaded on, and if they would be denied boarding completely.
"What if you don’t have a phone?," one Facebook user wrote on the post.
There's nothing to worry about, as Ryanair's official FAQs state: "If passengers don’t have a smartphone or tablet, as long as they have already checked-in online before arriving at the airport, they will receive a free of charge boarding pass at the airport.
"However, they will not be able to access real-time flight updates or benefit from enhanced customer service during any flight disruptions."
There are also fears around what happens if a customer was to lose or have their phone stolen during a holiday. Could they still return home?
Thankfully, yes.
The FAQ explains that you are covered in any scenario when you lose your phone, or even when it runs out of charge at the airport.
As long as you have already checked-in online, you can receive a physical boarding pass free of charge at the airport. This used to cost £20.
Even if your device dies after checking in but before boarding, as your information will already be in the system you can get assisted at the gate.
As you will get hit with a hefty charge at the airport for not checking-in before hand, it's always important you do so when flying with Ryanair and now there are even more benefits.
Daniel Murphy