Ryanair Will Eliminate Airport Check-In Desks and Paper Boarding Passes

Love it or hate it, Ryanair has been at the forefront of several innovations in air travel. Now, the budget airline is shaking things up further, planning to eliminate check-in desks at airports and relegate paper boarding passes to the dustbin of history.

If you have upcoming travel with Ryanair — or are considering flying with this low-cost airline for the first time — here’s what you should know about these upcoming changes.

Ryanair Eliminating Airport Check-In and Paper Boarding Passes

Speaking at a press conference in Ireland, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary announced the airline’s plans. By May 2025, O’Leary hopes airport check-in desks and paper boarding passes will come to an end for Ryanair.

Presently, you’re encouraged to check-in using the Ryanair mobile app, and roughly 60% of passengers already do this, according to O’Leary. At present, you can check in at the airport, but there’s a fee to do so — unless you bought a Plus or Flexi Plus fare, which are the airline’s 2 most expensive fare types.

Along with fees for extra-legroom seats, front seats, or generally choosing a seat in advance, Ryanair also charges for checked baggage, changing a flight, or booking your flight at the airport instead of online. Presently, if you don’t have a Plus or Flexi Plus fare, you pay a fee of €55 or £55 for checking in at the airport. (That fee is only €30 or £30 for flights from Spain, however.)

Given the fees, many Ryanair passengers already check in online and use the mobile app. O’Leary projects that number to increase to 80% by the end of 2024. After the changes, expected in May 2025, it’ll be 100%, as you will have no choice but to check in online, only visiting counters at the airport to drop off your bags.

“We want to get rid of airport checks in the same way we got rid of bag [desks],” he said. “We are working towards from May 1 that everything will be done on the app, nothing will be done on paper anymore.”

O’Leary sees a silver lining: If airport check-in services go away, “there’s no reason to charge people for airport check-in,” he said.

Some customers may resist this change, O’Leary noted, saying these will likely be the same customers who resisted the airline’s move years ago to an online focus for purchasing tickets, checking in, and managing reservations. He said that he believed everything worked out well in the end with that change.

Although the airline is making changes, Ryanair’s boarding process shouldn’t see any modifications.

Final Thoughts

Come May 2025, Ryanair expects airport check-in services and paper boarding passes to become a thing of the past. The exact timing remains to be seen, but this is an interesting switch-up from the ultra-low-cost carrier.