Question: Why is Ryanair's Boarding Card Reprint Fee so Expensive?
My question to Ryanair in full:
Can you explain the justification for charging 40GBP to reprint a boarding card in terms of cost to the company? Can you assure your customers that this is not an attempt to force them to 'jump through hoops' in the hope that they break your rules, forcing them to pay extra fees?
Answer:
Ryanair is removing check-in desks by October 1st and must ensure that passenger behaviour adapts to allow the smooth transition to our on-line check in service which will remove high airport cost and help us to lower fares yet again. If passengers are not encouraged to use the service correctly usage would clearly be affected. Passengers would never dream of arriving at an airport without their passport, travel visa or flight tickets and we are simply asking that they ensure that they bring their boarding card. In fact passengers who do present without their passport or the appropriate visas are not allowed to travel and while we must encourage passengers to bring their boarding card we do not wish to be so harsh as to prevent passengers from travelling so we have introduced a purposely high fee of €40 to ensure that the estimated 0.1% of passengers who do present without their boarding card do not continue to ignore this important condition of travel. This fee is designed to encourage passengers to arrive with their boarding card and is not a revenue generating measure – in fact we hope not to charge any passengers this fee.
My Response
It is difficult to find fault with this, apart from the fact that the policy needlessly disadvantages people who don't have access to a printer. (I don't own one for a start!)
Considering the amount of money Ryanair will save with this measure, a little customer service for those who genuinely can't or forget to print their boarding card
