Ryanair has announced a new boarding rule and it is one that has left many unhappy.
The airline said it will scrap paper boarding tickets and will instead favour digital ones.
By summer, the plan should be operational with plans for the physical passes to be entirely implemented by the end of the year.
This would make the airline the first to go entirely paperless meaning passengers would have to present the boarding pass via the Ryanair app, reports The Mirror.
Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair, said at a press conference in October: “We are working towards May 1 that everything will be done on the app, nothing will be done on paper anymore.”
Around 60 per cent of Ryanair passengers use the app. Mr O’Leary anticipated this would rise to 80 per cent before the end of 2024, before hitting 100 per cent in spring 2025.
As well as eliminating printed boarding passes, physical check-in desks may also be removed.
“I’m one of the last remaining people still showing up with my piece of paper,” he said. “But it works so well. [The app] tells you your gate and if there is a delay.”
Currently, passengers will be charged £55 if they forget to check in online.
Mr O’Leary claimed that by scrapping check-in desks and physical boarding passes, passengers will never have to pay for their ticket to be printed at the airport again.
Many thought the change unnecessary and predicted chaos, with one person saying: “What a ridiculous rule. They are trying to make things difficult for absolutely no reason.”
However, some customers are voicing their worries about what this could mean for them.
One traveller told Birmingham Live: “It’s ok to say if your battery dies we can do everything at the gate…. no indication of how much Ryanair will charge you if this happens.”
The change has sparked debate with others pointing that older people who may not have a smart phone will struggle with the new rules.
Another passenger challenged the idea that going digital speeds up the process: “Digital is quicker? Hardly! They are the ones not ready and we have to wait while they fumble around finding their pass on their phone. People with paper are much faster.”
Others say the move to digital passes is inevitable with many other forms of passes such as concert tickets or other events already now mostly based online.