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Ryanair tries forcing app downloads by eliminating paper boarding passes(arstechnica.com)
34 points by sipofwater a day ago | 19 comments
  • beezlewaxa day ago

    Should not be allowed. Lots of elderly people use Ryanair and they're often not great with apps. O'Leary calling them stupid is no addition.

    I use Ryanair and the app is decent but it should not be mandatory to fly

    • Avalaxya day ago |parent

      The elderly had more than a decade to learn how to use a phone.

      • gdullia day ago |parent

        The discerning should also have the choice not to be forced into the app economy and all the crap that comes with it.

      • motbus3a day ago |parent

        I hope you get time enough to be old

      • type020 hours ago |parent

        and you had more than a decade to learn how to be snarky on HN

      • doublerabbita day ago |parent

        Do you talk to your own mother like that?

      • pestatijea day ago |parent

        yeah they seem to enjoy having other people looking after them

  • mariopta day ago

    To be honest, I don’t think you’ll need to use the app. I get my passes via email and add them to Apple Wallet.

    In some airports, printing the pass is actually free, they have a dedicated vending machine just for this.

    They are not saying that you can not print the pass yourself, I suspect this move will save a lot of time and money which, ultimately, is a good thing for everyone.

    They want to charge a check-in fee if you don’t do it online, I would not be surprised if they have a lot of people wasting time doing it in-person instead of doing it online. This could speed customer who actually have luggage.

    What am I missing?

    • stevagea day ago |parent

      It does say that paper boarding passes won't exist at all. No printing at the airport. And they claim this makes flying "greener".

      They also call passengers who don't check-in beforehand "stupid".

      • mariopta day ago |parent

        The online check-in opens 48 hours before the flight and you get a notification, no reason to delay this and your life harder inside the airport and potentially lose your flight.

        Still confused about the no paper thing, you could print the digital pass given It has the gate qr code

  • a day ago
    [deleted]
  • m463a day ago

    maybe this is a case of "fire your customers"

    You end up with a bunch of compliant customers, sticky relationships and a data mining revenue stream.

    next step is to fire customer service and replace with ai chatbots.

  • stmwa day ago

    United Airlines has been doing some similar, it takes a lot of effort to get a paper boarding pass or do anything via the web.

    • dc396a day ago |parent

      Haven't had a problem getting printed boarding passes or getting stuff done via United's website myself, but I might be unusual -- I use them a lot.

      • stmw20 hours ago |parent

        Try printing one at the airport - it now takes 4 clicks.

  • cgea day ago

    While I never fly on Ryan, the question here would be whether, as the article suggests but isn't completely clear, digital boarding passes are actually app-only, or whether, like most airlines, you can get an image boarding pass from the website or by email that is meant to be displayed on a phone.

    App-only would be dubious.

  • ChrisArchitecta day ago

    Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45877027

  • ChrisArchitecta day ago

    [dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45877027

  • dc396a day ago

    I didn't actually need another reason to not use Ryanair, but thanks anyway.