There are some big changes coming down the tracks at Ryanair, are there?
There are indeed, although for many people the changes won’t make any difference at all.
What do you mean?
From Wednesday of this week Ryanair is getting rid of paper boarding passes, which means that pretty much everyone travelling with the airline will have to use the digital pass that is sent to the Ryanair app on their smartphone.
Why is the airline doing this?
According to Ryanair, moving to digital-only boarding passes – or DBPs as they are being called – will lower “airport costs and fares for all Ryanair passengers”. It will also lower costs for the airline, and you know how much it loves to save money.
And is it all about cost?
No. The move to DBPs will, Ryanair promises, offer “a better service (including flight info) for customers on the day of travel [and it] improves customer service and rebooking during flight disruptions”. It is also better for the environment and will, we are told, “get rid of 300 tonnes of paper annually”.
Well that sounds good. How exactly will it work?
It does sound good – and generally speaking it is a good thing. From Wednesday passengers will no longer be able to download and print a physical boarding pass, Instead they will use the digital version that is generated by the Ryanair app during the online check-in process.
So what is the process?
You check in online on Ryanair.com or via the Ryanair app before you arrive at the airport – and that is pretty much as it has been for quite some time. Once the online check-in is completed, a Digital Boarding Pass will appear automatically in the app on your phone. You present this to airport security and to Ryanair staff at the boarding gate, and off you go.
And everyone already uses the app, do they?
Hmm, ‘everyone’ might be a bit of a stretch. According to Ryanair’s chief marketing officer Dara Brady, more than 80 per cent of passengers “already use digital boarding passes, and therefore won’t be affected by this progressive change”. That leaves around 20 per cent who do not use the app. To put that into numbers, Ryanair flew just under 20 million passengers to and from destinations all over Europe – and Morocco – last month, and based on its numbers, up to 4 million people were not using digital boarding passes.
So what happens if I don’t use the app?
Quite simply, you might want to start if you plan to travel with Ryanair.
But what if I don’t have a smartphone and can’t access the Ryanair app?
According to research published by Deloitte early this year, around 95 per cent of Irish people have a smartphone – with the penetration of the technology almost universal. And according to Ryanair, “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.”
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That seems fair enough. What are these “enhanced customer service” benefits?
People who access Ryanair’s services via the app can order food and drinks from their phones and get served first – and having used this service more than once, we can assure you it is very handy, although getting served before people sitting in front of you does attract the odd baleful stare. Passengers using the app also get real-time status updates on boarding, gates, and delay, and instant notifications from Ryanair’s operations centre during disruption, as well as real-time alternative flight options during disruption.
But technology is not foolproof. What happens if my phone dies en route to the airport? Or, worse again, what happens if it is thieved?
This is an entirely legitimate fear and one that will be shared by many people. Ryanair has said that “if you have already checked in online and you lose your smartphone or tablet (or it dies), your details are already on our system and you will be assisted at the gate”.
But could I not just pretend my phone had died and then get a boarding pass printed out?
You probably could, but the question is: why would you bother? The airline will be able to tell if the digital boarding pass was sent to your phone or not and if the system says it wasn’t then they are unlikely to be accommodating. If it was, then why would you not simply use it? The key thing is to make sure you check in online before you travel to the airport. Ryanair does not actively want you to miss your flight and accepts there will be teething problems as the new system is rolled out, but the more people that adopt the new system sooner rather than later, the better it will be for them.
But I have had to check in online for ages, right?
Online check-in has been kind of mandatory for a very long while, yes. In 2008 Ryanair rolled out advance online check-in and since then has penalised people who fail to do so. You can still check in at the airport, but it will cost you €55 per person per leg if you choose to do that.
And is the Digital Board Pass universal across Ryanair’s entire network?
Oddly, no. The Moroccan government mandates that all passengers must have a paper boarding pass. That means that people travelling on Ryanair to that country are being told they must still check in online and get their check-in confirmation to their mobile phones, after which they have to show that to the check-in desk to collect their boarding pass.
What else do I need to know?
There might be some issues for people who book with third parties – ie, travel agents that offer Ryanair flights as part of their packages. Ryanair is insisting that bookings made with online travel agents that it does not already have arrangements with will have to be “verified” by the passenger. It says verification will be required because some third-party agents often send Ryanair “fake contact and/or payment details that do not belong to our customer”.
But the bottom line is: this is not a bad thing and it will all work seamlessly?
It should be grand – the system is certainly better on many levels than old-school boarding passes, but there will be some people who struggle to adapt – and while the airline has promised to be accommodating, there might be some anxiety at check-in desks in the days ahead.