Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, has announced that it’s completely eliminating paper boarding passes. In a few weeks, only digital boarding passes will be accepted. For real: No smartphone = No Ryanair flight! This innovation obviously doesn’t please some travelers, especially older ones.
This doesn’t change anything for most travelers (and frankly, you really should take advantage of all the many benefits that smartphones provide to make your travels easier).
But it’s a drastic change for some others, for sure. Given that it’s certain that one day, most airlines will do the same thing… Ryanair is very groundbreaking, that’s undeniable. But is it too early?
Here are the details of Ryanair’s elimination of paper boarding passes.
Basics of Ryanair’s elimination of paper boarding passes
It’s very simple: Ryanair will completely stop issuing paper boarding passes and move to digital only.
Quite radical. The goal is not just to completely eliminate in-person check-in, but even printing paper boarding passes at home.
Here are the details:
- Starting November 12, 2025
- Digital boarding passes only
- Available in the Ryanair app
- 80% of their 206M passengers already use them
Is it too early to do this? Probably yes. This is extreme. That’s subjective, though. What’s objective for sure is that it’s very forward-thinking and bold. Maybe even too much so!
Ryanair says this will provide a faster, smarter, and greener travel experience. Marketing teams from all major organizations always like to spin everything positively, obviously. But in this case, those benefits are pretty true, honestly.
Yes, 300 tons of paper will be eliminated annually (everyone says they’re eco-friendly, but then they’ll go and print their ticket completely unnecessarily; it’s a bit inconsistent when you think about it). Having the app will facilitate communications and rebookings during disrupted flights, too. And it’s obviously faster to do everything online.
Personally, I haven’t used paper boarding passes for at least my last 400 flights or so. In the tips below, I’ll share the 2 most important tricks for digital boarding passes (for the battery and the Internet access parts that unnecessarily stress out too many travelers).
The ultra low-cost carrier (ULCC) describes this new policy as being “the latest step in Ryanair’s industry-leading digital transformation.”
Impact of Ryanair’s elimination of paper boarding passes
Already, 80% of Ryanair’s 206 million annual passengers use the digital boarding pass. Not very surprising. It’s 2025, after all. But also, they charge a fee for in-person check-in (which I support 1000%; having an employee help you costs money and you should pay for that if you want that, not me).
So there’s no impact at all for the vast majority of travelers. Apart from reducing the airline’s staffing costs and lowering ticket prices.
(Many clearly do not know this, but as is always the case in this industry, lowering prices mostly means slowing the inflationist increase from current prices… and prices are often €15 with Ryanair!)
It’s obviously for the remaining 20% that this is clearly a big change. And some of those probably do have a smartphone and just prefer a printed version for some reason, so they won’t really be affected.
The impact is quite major for those who use paper boarding passes and don’t have a smartphone: you simply can’t board without a digital boarding pass starting November 12.
You’re effectively banned from Ryanair. Very extreme.
Although I wonder if they’re will be a last-resort mechanism, as an alternative. They’re saying no, but would anyone really be surprised if there was a government intervention to force one? It’s Europe, after all. Or maybe even a grace period at first at least, for an adaptation period. But it’s better not to count on that.
This new policy is certainly unfortunate for those who’ve managed to make it this far without a smartphone. Presumably, not many of those smartphone-less people who actually travel alone, though (without anyone else with them). But who knows?
Tips for Ryanair’s elimination of paper boarding passes
Checking in online is the most basic thing everyone should always do.
And it’s 2025, as mentioned. It’s obviously so much more convenient to have your boarding pass on your phone.
There are 2 important tips, though:
- Having a portable charger to never run out of battery at the airport
- All travel pros should have the 6 only travel items that are truly essential
- For the convenience aspect, but also the security aspect (and now to be sure to board)
- Having Internet access AND a screenshot of the boarding pass
- Most airports have free Wi-Fi, even if you didn’t get a cheap eSIM card
- But it’s really not necessary anyway; just take a screenshot of your boarding pass
For me, it’s evident that avoiding paper is the best approach. There’s no downside, with those 2 tips.
But for other generations, technology isn’t as easy to adopt, and that’s understandable. Some travelers really like to print everything… and they won’t be able to anymore. I definitely understand the frustration.
Ethics of Ryanair’s elimination of paper boarding passes
Is it right to prevent people without smartphones from being able to fly Ryanair?
As much as I love technology, I find that extreme.
But you might know how much I love to play devil’s advocate and take the contrarian side…
So, I’ll use 2 comparisons to give some context and see this from another perspective a bit:
- Uber and numerous other services not accessible without a smartphone
- Festivals, concerts, and sports events not accessible without a smartphone
Uber and numerous other services not accessible without a smartphone
Once again, like on many topics, the aviation industry seems to be held to higher standards than other industries.
Uber isn’t available if you don’t have a smartphone. They decided to be on smartphones only. That’s their prerogative, isn’t it? That’s life. You can always take an old-fashioned taxi. Never heard anyone say that was unfair.
Since Ryanair is the first airline to make this fairly radical change, everyone will still be able to choose another airline if they want (at least for now, and likely for many years). There are other flight options.
If all airlines did this simultaneously, it would genuinely be a very different debate. But unless technological advancements extend our human life expectancy very soon, the reality is this digital-only policy won’t be widespread as long as the age group that is very resistant to smartphones forms a significant proportion of the population. In the meantime, there are alternatives to Ryanair.
Philosophically, I believe everyone should be able to do what they want. Including businesses. Customers can simply choose accordingly!
As long as it’s communicated clearly during the purchase. And Ryanair is objectively very good at doing that already, to explain their ULCC business model. Then again, that requires that people actually read what’s written, but that is a whole other topic.
Festivals, concerts, and sports events not accessible without a smartphone
There are several industries that use tickets and that have already switched exclusively to digital tickets. There are plenty of shows, concerts, festivals, and sporting events where you simply can’t enter without a smartphone.
Why not for flights?
Again, everyone should be able to do what they want. You do of course have the choice not to have a smartphone. However, at some point, you also can’t expect to have all the benefits and innovations that come with it.
Sure, transportation is an essential service for many. That’s not the case for events. There’s that.
I also completely understand that it’s a little different from Uber, because with an airline, it’s something that was accessible before without a phone and that is changing. And people are objectively terrible at accepting change in general (it’s just human nature).
But there are plenty of events that used to be accessible by printing a paper ticket. They’re not anymore. It’s digital only now. Things change. Better to get used to it; the rate of change for everything in life is only going to accelerate. Change is definitely not going to slow.
I firmly believe that accepting change is literally one of the best ways to be a better human being, because that’s what science tells us clearly.
By the way, that’s one of the reasons why traveling is so great; it forces you to step outside your comfort zone and become more adaptable! 😊
Context of Ryanair’s elimination of paper boarding passes
You might not agree with Ryanair banning people who don’t have smartphones. That’s okay.
Still, at a minimum, you have to at least respect how the airline is unafraid of making bold decisions.
I honestly love Ryanair. How can you not love flights for as little as €15, taxes included?
By the way, that’s why the self-transfer tip is by far the most important one to know to save money on flights to Europe! If you buy your flights on one and only ticket, you are almost certainly overpaying.
Next week, I’m flying from Canada to Europe for $220 (one-way; I already had my return for the Turkish Airlines 1M pts challenge). Cheap. So you understand that the key is to simply buy the cheapest flight that crosses the ocean!!! You combine that with a cheap flight (Ryanair or not).
While I’m making a sidenote, in August I tested the Ryanair tip to get a free extra legroom seat in the emergency exit row. And it worked. I’ll share that with you soon!
But apart from being cheap and loving good deals, I also love how Ryanair manages its business. While several ULCCs have been struggling since the pandemic with rising costs caused by inflationary government spending everywhere in the world, Ryanair is doing very well.
On a lighter note, they’re funny on social media (very funny, really very funny), and they put out press releases that don’t hesitate to criticize government taxes and government incompetence in general.
Anyway, I love that they do and say what they want, and fully own it.
This elimination of paper boarding passes fits into this approach.
I sincerely think they don’t care that some are unhappy. And I respect that… because they decided that’s what they wanted to do, and they’re comfortable with what that means. They’re not always trying not to displease, which is refreshing coming from a large brand.
Their attitude is a bit like: Not happy? Go pay 2 times more on another airline! 😅
That said, I completely understand that this new policy is complicated for people who don’t have smartphones. But everything else in life must also be quite complicated without a smartphone, right?
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Summary
The #1 airline in Europe, Ryanair, will eliminate paper boarding passes starting November 12, 2025. The only way to board will be to have a digital boarding pass, like 80% of their passengers already do. For the others, though… it’s a big change. Thankfully, travelers who don’t want to adapt to change will have many other airline options for now.
What would you like to know about Ryanair’s elimination of paper boarding passes? Tell us in the comments below.
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