Now there is another chance to bash Ryanair as travellers have criticised it for its check-in procedure.
The criticism follows that made by passengers about hand baggage.
Ryanair expects all passengers to check-in online and print out their boarding pass. Until recently this could be done up to 14 days in advance.
But now passengers can do this only up to seven days before departure. Some holidaymakers may be forced to spend their time seeking the whereabouts of an internet cafe.
Those who have invested an extra £10 per flight to select an allocated seat, however, have up to a month to print their boarding card.
Suspicions have been raised that the new conditions have been imposed to order to get passengers to pay the additional £10 fee.
Ryanair’s communications director rode in to defend the change, which was introduced apparently without warning and in tandem with the changes the carrier is making to assuage an increasingly disenchanted public.
Robin Kiely said that the change will hit just a small fraction of its customers. “The vast majority of Ryanair customers travel out and return within a week (average length of stay is 2.75 days) and so are unaffected by the changes we have made,” he said.
He did note that the introduction of mobile boarding cards, due in early July, would eliminate the issue. Time will tell.
Earlier passengers were critical of the airline’s new carry-on luggage policy. Because a second item is now permitted, the overhead lockers are in greater demand. This has resulted in only the first 90 passengers onboard being able to keep their luggage in the cabin, while the rest will see their bags going into the hold.
