- Passengers told by budget airline to pay to reserve a seat or queue at the airport
Having charged passengers to reserve a seat, stow a suitcase and print a boarding pass, you might have thought Ryanair had run out of add-ons to squeeze out of its customers.
But now the budget airline appears to have come up with yet another wheeze, with fliers told they must pay to add a random seat if they wish to receive their digital boarding pass. Those who refuse to pay between £8 and £21 are told to queue at the airport to receive a printed boarding pass.
Airport staff told The Mail on Sunday the change, which has been rolled out in recent days, had caused outrage with customers.
Vivien Lovrin booked to fly from London to Germany last Thursday and having opted not to pay extra to reserve a seat, proceeded to check-in with a randomly allocated spot.
But after filling in her details, the Ryanair app told her: ‘Check-in done! Get your boarding pass now and avoid queuing at the airport by adding a seat.’
On clicking through she was told to pay a fee to secure a random seat – or else face yet another airport queue to get her boarding pass.
She said: ‘When you thought Ryanair couldn’t sink any lower, they find a way to force you to buy a seat. How is this legal?
‘Isn’t the whole point of online check-in to avoid people queuing at the airport?’
Ciaran Murtagh was faced with the same issue. He said: ‘So Ryanair, you are making travellers, who do not wish to book a seat, queue up at a desk and have their boarding pass printed. That’s great for the environment and another cheap shot at passengers to pay more to travel. A new low for Ryanair. Absolutely disgraceful.’
Fabien Mauroy, who was flying out of London on Friday, commented about Ryanair on X (formerly Twitter): ‘Worse experience for people, long queue at airports, [and] polluting planet for money.’
The new fee makes a mockery of a £55 fine the budget firm imposes on passengers to print out their boarding pass at the airport if they don’t check-in online.
Italian traveller Marcello Maggio said: ‘Ryanair says I must check in online, but it doesn’t give me the boarding pass online to force me to pay for a seat. What am I buying with the ticket if not a seat to fly?’
Other add-ons for those who book online include £4 to £15 to reserve a seat, while bags cost between £20 and £60, with an excess fee of around £10 per kilo.
If a passenger requires oxygen for medical reasons they are not allowed to bring their own – and must pay £55 to use Ryanair’s.
The latest fee does not appear to affect all travellers, with some saying they got a digital boarding pass for free.
A Ryanair spokesman said: ‘Passengers have the choice of choosing a seat for a small fee or be randomly allocated a seat free of charge.’
The firm did not respond to claims that it was effectively forcing customers to pay for a digital boarding pass.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
