Back in the day, paper boarding passes were the ultimate physical memory of a special holiday, and often kept, affectionately, as mementoes.
In 2025, though, the days of holding up a physical ticket to scan at the airport are fading fast – and from November 3, Ryanair will be almost completely eradicating them.
Earlier this year, the budget airline confirmed that it would be moving to paperless boarding passes during the winter season.
Passengers will no longer be able to download and print a paper version at home and will instead be asked to use the digital version generated on the app during check-in, which between 85 and 90% of the airline’s 200 million yearly customers are already doing.
Now, Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary has sought to ease concerns surrounding the new policy, advising that there will be alternatives for passengers whose phones might have run out of battery or even been lost.
There’ll be no more space for a last-minute airport check-in, either, as you’ll need to have done this before arriving.
Sign up to The Getaway newsletter
Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration. Sign up here.
‘If you lose your phone, no issue. As long as you’ve checked in before you got to the airport, we’ll reissue a paper boarding pass at the airport free of charge. But you have to have checked in before you got to the airport,’ Michael told The Independent’s travel podcast.
‘If your battery dies or something happens, once you’ve checked in, we’ll have your sequence number anyway at the boarding gate, we’ll take you, you’ll get on. Nobody should worry about it.’
While authorities in Albania currently insist that passengers present paper passes, Ryanair has also now reached an agreement that from March 2026, they’ll be going digital, too.
Morocco also currently has the same policy, which it won’t be changing, but Michael added that the airline will make exceptions in this case and accept physical passes.
Naturally, there have been concerns from customers, many of whom are worried that the new policy will penalise people without smartphones – though Ryanair has advised those without smartphones to download their boarding pass using either a friend’s or family member’s device.
Over on X, formerly Twitter, @ThornieKate described it as ‘age discrimination,’ while @StayInRunswick added that it was ‘great if you still have a Nokia 3210 like my 75-year-old parents do.’
@JeniHooper said that it was a ‘nightmare’ to manage tech on her phone, as ‘age and slow visual processing make filling in online forms difficult.’
Likewise, following the announcement earlier this year, Metro readers wrote in with furious opinions on the plans, some of whom urged other flyers to boycott the airline in protest.
Youssef Ka wrote: ‘People should just boycott… Not everyone has a smartphone or apps…’, while Raymond Skinner added, ‘Just Boycott them, go easyJet, Jet2 instead.’
Dan James echoed: ‘Simple, don’t fly with them, they’re awful anyway’ and Andrew Kaye simply said, ‘I’d rather walk.’
However, plenty were pretty unfazed by the change, as for the majority who already use the app, it’ll make very little difference.
Abhaya Ferdo Fulgosi commented: ‘What seems to be the problem!? I haven’t had a paper pass in over five years!’
Ian Scott added: ‘Grow up, it’s so easy to use the app on your phone. Why should anyone want a paper boarding pass?’
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.