You’ll need a smartphone to fly this airline.
Irish carrier Ryanair has announced it’ll be eliminating paper boarding passes and airport check-in in just over a month.
As of Nov. 12, the budget airline will switch to 100% digital boarding passes — meaning passengers won’t be able to pick up a pass at the airport or print one at home.
Rather than downloading and printing a physical boarding pass, flyers will need to generate a digital one in their “myRyanair” app during check-in.
Those who don’t have a digital boarding pass will have to pay an airport check-in fee, according to One Mile At A Time.
According to Ryanair, almost 80% of their passengers already use digital boarding passes, and the transition follows other key industries — such as music and sports events — which have successfully switched to digital-only tickets.
“Ryanair’s move to 100% digital boarding passes will mean a faster, smarter, and greener travel experience for our customers, streamlined through our best-in-class ‘myRyanair’ app, where passengers will also benefit from helpful in-app features, like Order to Seat and live flight information,” Ryanair CMO Dara Brady said in a statement.
The airline has been going through a “digital transformation” — and it already rolled out in-app features such as ordering food and drinks from your phone to be served at your seat, real-time flight updates, and live notifications from Ryanair’s Operations Centre during disruption.
Many readers responded to the One Mile At A Time report saying they weren’t thrilled about the transition to digital.
“I don’t think it will take long for somebody to sue over this, and likely win,” one wrote. “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.”
“I am 81 years old, I do not have a smartphone and even if I did I would not know how to work it. I have been flying Ryanair since 1994,” another commented. “WHAT DO I DO NOW??”
“Looking forward to reading all the angry complaints from people who lost or broke their phone on the way to the airport,” someone quipped.
“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,” another noted.
The aviation industry in general seems to be making moves to go digital.
Earlier this year, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations body that oversees many aspects of aviation, revealed it would be getting rid of the existing rules for airports and airlines and instead creating a “digital travel credential,” the UK Times reported.
With the new policy, passengers can upload their passports and passport information to their phones and move through various airports using just their face for identification.
The form of verification will be available within “two to three years,” and checking in for flights online or at the airport will become a thing of the past.