Ryanair announces major change to online check-in that will leave some passengers unable to board

Some passengers could be left grounded due to the new rule

Ryanair has announced a major change to its online check-in process. Currently, customers are encouraged to check-in for their flight online.

Anyone who does not faces a £55 charge at the airport. But CEO Michael O'Leary has said he wants to get rid of check-in desks in the next six months.

It would mean that any customers who do not have a smartphone will be unable to board a Ryanair flight from May. Speaking at a press conference in Dublin on Thursday (October 4), he said: "We will get rid of ticket desks and then there's no reason to charge people for airport check-in.

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

"It will probably be around April or May of next year, after Easter. I think from May next year it will be 100 per cent the app." Mr O’Leary said he is reluctant to make changes so that all bookings and check-ins will have to be done on the Ryanair app, Irish Mirror reports.

But he said it would eliminate the number of workers needed in the airport and help keep airfare prices low. He added: "I have been reluctant to go on the app because I am terrified to get on a flight without a piece of paper, but it works so well.

"[The app] tells you your gate and if there is a delay. The customers who want the piece of paper are the same demographic that when we first moved over to the internet they wouldn’t move over but were then the first ones to switch to the internet for cheaper airfares."

Mr O’Leary said 60 per cent of passengers are currently using the app. He expects this to rise to 80 per cent by the end of the year.

By May, customers will have no other choice but to use it. If someone's phone runs out of battery while at the airport, the Ryanair CEO said there are procedures in place for this.

He said: "If your battery dies we have your seat and your passport and we can do that at the boarding gates at the moment. We sometimes do that if someone's phone doesn’t scan for some reason.

"Once we have the name and passport that's fine but everyone will be on the app."