In the coming weeks, Ryanair will be completely eliminating paper boarding passes and airport check-in. Is this a radical change, or is Ryanair just ahead of its time?
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Ryanair boarding passes are going 100% digital
In October 2024, Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary revealed that the airline would be significantly changing its check-in procedures. With this, the airline plans to completely scrap the concept of paper boarding passes, and in the process, eliminate airport check-in.
Well, this wasn’t just talk, as it’s really happening — as of Wednesday, November 12, 2025, Ryanair will transition to 100% digital boarding passes. Not only won’t it be possible to get a boarding pass at the airport, but you actually won’t even be able to print a boarding pass at home.
Instead, the only way to get a boarding pass will be to generate a digital one through the “myRyanair” app. Of course as before, it’ll be possible to check-in bags at the airport, but that’s a different function than getting checked in.
Ryanair claims that around 80% of the carrier’s 206+ million annual customers already use digital boarding passes, and that this move simply follows other key industries that require tickets, like festivals, music, and sports events, which have switched to digital-only ticketing.
Under Ryanair’s current policy, the airline requires passengers to check-in online, unless they have a Flexi Plus ticket, in which case they can check-in at the airport. Those who don’t have online boarding passes are even on the hook for quite some fees.
For one, the airline has a £/€55 airport check-in fee, which applies per person per sector, for those who don’t have a Flexi Plus ticket. That’s right, you might have booked a £10 ticket, but then you need to pay £55 to actually check-in for your flight. On top of that, the airline has a £/€20 fee to reissue boarding passes.
Is this Ryanair policy change unreasonable?
To my knowledge, we’ve never seen an airline go quite this far when it comes to restricting check-in, though we’re talking about Ryanair, an airline that’s almost proud of how punitive it can be with customers. I mean, this is the same airline that (jokingly… well, sort of) insults its customers on social media all day.
What I find interesting here is that this change is actually one step further than I was expecting. Initially, I thought Ryanair would just eliminate the ability to check-in at the airport, but it’s actually more than that. You can’t even print a boarding pass at home, but instead, need to download and use the app.
In other words, it sounds like you can no longer fly Ryanair if you don’t have a smartphone. Now, admittedly a vast majority of people do have smartphones, but it seems pretty extreme to essentially say that those without a smartphone can’t fly on your airline.
I suspect that in the coming years, we’re going to increasingly see airlines push people to check-in online, in order to reduce staffing at airports. For example, in 2023, Alaska Airlines announced it would eliminate airport check-in kiosks. At the time, the airline claimed that about 70% of passengers were checking in online, and the airline wanted to increase that number to 90%.
That’s at an airline where there’s no penalty to check-in at the airport, so I have to imagine that number is even way higher at Ryanair, where checking in at the airport will cost you dearly.
However, there’s a difference between asking people to check-in online (and potentially printing their own boarding pass), and requiring them to have a digital boarding pass (where they need a smartphone and the app). I imagine this is quite deliberate, and is the latest push for Ryanair to get people to download the app, since it’s much easier to sell people flights and services if they have the app, have push notifications enabled, etc.
I can’t help but be curious about the operational impacts this will have, either from people not familiar with the policy, or even from people who run out of battery on their phone while at the airport.
Bottom line
As of November 12, 2025, Ryanair will be transitioning to 100% digital boarding passes. Not only won’t it be possible to print a boarding pass at the airport, but it won’t even be possible to print one at home. Instead, the only way to get a boarding pass will be through Ryanair’s app.
While I do think we’ll increasingly see airlines transition to strongly encouraging people to check-in online, not even letting people print their own boarding passes at home certainly seems extreme, and means that anyone without a smartphone can’t fly with the airline.
What do you make of Ryanair transitioning to 100% digital boarding passes?
One of my favorite things about paper boarding passes is using them as a bookmark for whatever I'm reading while I travel. I leave the boarding pass in the book when I'm done. It's fun to rediscover it when I pick the book up again in the future. Last year, I re-read a particular book for the first time in years and was delighted to find the CX boarding pass from our honeymoon.
I suspect this is illegal in at least one of the countries they're flying from. So it's likely that there will be exceptions.
Yet another dystopian move to mandate smartphones in the name of cost cutting and extra data collection. Not like Ryanair ever had me as a customer.
I don't think it will take long for somebody to sue over this, and likely win. It's pretty arbitrary to require every passenger to have a working smartphone with the RyanAir app in order to access the boarding pass for the flight they paid for.
What if a person broke their phone during their trip? Happened to me in Italy last November, by the time I boarded the flight home at the end of...
I don't think it will take long for somebody to sue over this, and likely win. It's pretty arbitrary to require every passenger to have a working smartphone with the RyanAir app in order to access the boarding pass for the flight they paid for.
What if a person broke their phone during their trip? Happened to me in Italy last November, by the time I boarded the flight home at the end of my trip my screen was basically unusable and nobody would have been able to see a boarding pass on it.
What if somebody doesn't have a smartphone? Not everyone does. Manufacturers still make and sell flip phones, because some people only want something cheap to call/text with and don't need a $600 pocket PC. And even beyond that, smartphones are attractive theft targets and many people do lose their phones on trips.
And that's not even getting into things like phone running out of battery or the app messing up.
Won’t be applying in Morocco where the authorities require a paper boarding pass and Ryanair has a sizeable operation.
They've charged for check-in/paper boarding passes before. Friend of mine forgot to check-in for a 9 euro flight during study abroad way back in 2012 and had to shell out 60 euro at the counter to get her boarding pass.
Frontier already has a similar program where they charge $25 for using the counter at the airport. They have "exemptions" that help them meet ADA. Unfortunately as Ben said, I bet we see this become more and more common
Does this mean there will not be a single crying baby or screaming toddler on my flight because they do not own smartphones? Yay!
What happens if you're somewhere and the wifi is out?
Add it to your wallet app before you leave home.
I just checked my December Ryan Air flight and I paid for the "Plus" upgrade package that includes a checked bag, reserved seats and Complimentary Boarding Pass Issue. Can I get the €55 airport check-in fee refunded??
I'm also curious about the implications of this change from an accessibility perspective. As popular as smartphones are, they're not universally accesible.
Also, not all of us want to be tethered to depressing touch screens for even the basic tasks in our life. I fear for the future.
Because apps work perfectly 100% of the time… ♂️
They announced this some time ago and I can't believe that they can get away with this. What happens if you're blind/disabled, or your phone breaks/gets lost or stolen whilst you're on your holiday. It happens all the time.
Some older people prefer non smart phones that can only text/call and have large buttons.
I can see the headlines now - "Stranded abroad by Ryanair because my phone fell in the sea/got nicked/blew up etc and they refused to fly me home"
Looking forward to reading all the angry complaints from people who lost or broke their phone on the way to the airport.
I flew them twice (albeit without bags). As per ALL LLC's and ULLC's, if you understand and follow the rules/policies...it will be a nice flight. I have no issue with this new policy (although I dislike ticket QR codes) I use them on the LLC's no issue. For those grumbling, fly someone else...quite simple.
The tickets are so cheap; I just pay for what I want. First on/front rows etc. Makes for a pleasant...
I flew them twice (albeit without bags). As per ALL LLC's and ULLC's, if you understand and follow the rules/policies...it will be a nice flight. I have no issue with this new policy (although I dislike ticket QR codes) I use them on the LLC's no issue. For those grumbling, fly someone else...quite simple.
The tickets are so cheap; I just pay for what I want. First on/front rows etc. Makes for a pleasant flight.
People who have issues are not following the carrier's rule book.
ALWAYS screenshot your online ticket and QR code PRIOR to arriving at the airport, so you have it immediately accessible before arriving at security and the gate. Makes life a lot easier.
Quit imposing your views of technology on me. We don't all want to be extremely over-reliant on depressing, addicting, and society ruining technology for getting from point A to B
Dickhead airline.
They'd have to accommodate people with disabilities who cab not use smartphone
This was my immediate thought. There WILL be people who are unable to use a smartphone due to disability who legally will have to be accomadated.
I would say that they've lost me as a customer but they never had me
I like to have a printed boarding pass when I travel. I do have a smart phone, but a printed boarding pass makes me feel protected against cases like low battery or bad network connectivity.
Here's how to protect yourself against a low battery or bad network connectivity
1) be prepared. pack a power bank if that helps you. "my battery is low" is the new "my dog ate my homework" - it just isn't an acceptable excuse.
2) again, be prepared. take a screenshot and/or add your pass to your phone's Wallet app which functions without connectivity.
Stop making excuses for destroying the environment with single-use paper boarding passes.
...Here's how to protect yourself against a low battery or bad network connectivity
1) be prepared. pack a power bank if that helps you. "my battery is low" is the new "my dog ate my homework" - it just isn't an acceptable excuse.
2) again, be prepared. take a screenshot and/or add your pass to your phone's Wallet app which functions without connectivity.
Stop making excuses for destroying the environment with single-use paper boarding passes.
I earn in excess of $10MM a year not because I am super smart (I am not) but because I am prepared.
You do realise your amazing phone can break/get lost or stolen without warning. You can leave it in a cab/uber/on a train or bus.
I had one phone (less than a year old) destroy itself whilst I was using it as a hotspot in a meeting. S*** happens.
Boarding pass in the app is also available when you're offline. As for battery running out, Ryanair will start offering free printing of BP at the airport in such cases (provided you checked in online).