delderek
15-05-2012, 14:03
Flying Ryanair this weekend? It could cost you an extra £60
Ryanair passengers jetting off this weekend could be in for a nasty surprise if they are heading off on Friday night or Saturday morning.
Unless they get ahead of the game, and check in far earlier than normal, they may be stung for a £60 fee.
The problem is that the Ryanair website is closing for 'unavoidable upgrade maintenance' for 20 hours - from 4pm Friday to midday on Saturday, during which time checking in online will be out of the question. This is likely to throw a spanner in the works for 15,000 flights, carrying as many as 500,000 passengers.
You need to check in before 4pm on Friday and print off your boarding passes, otherwise you'll have to do all this at the airport, which the airline charges £60 for.
Nowadays the vast majority of passengers check in online. They can do so 15 days before their flight, and no less than four hours before take-off. However, while there may be plenty of super-organised people who are poised to check in at the first available opportunity, there are also plenty who find themselves rushing at the 11th hour, after they have scrambled to get ready to leave work, and spent hours trying to get their packing down to hand luggage, and it's these people who will be stung.
If you are affected you will already have had an email or a text telling you about the arrangements, and the advice is to pull your finger out sooner rather than later.
There was some speculation as to whether Ryanair would waive the £60 charge for printing boarding passes at the airport, but the airline will not confirm this, and given Michael O'Leary's fondness for dreaming up new forms of charging passengers, it seems unlikely.
Ryanair passengers jetting off this weekend could be in for a nasty surprise if they are heading off on Friday night or Saturday morning.
Unless they get ahead of the game, and check in far earlier than normal, they may be stung for a £60 fee.
The problem is that the Ryanair website is closing for 'unavoidable upgrade maintenance' for 20 hours - from 4pm Friday to midday on Saturday, during which time checking in online will be out of the question. This is likely to throw a spanner in the works for 15,000 flights, carrying as many as 500,000 passengers.
You need to check in before 4pm on Friday and print off your boarding passes, otherwise you'll have to do all this at the airport, which the airline charges £60 for.
Nowadays the vast majority of passengers check in online. They can do so 15 days before their flight, and no less than four hours before take-off. However, while there may be plenty of super-organised people who are poised to check in at the first available opportunity, there are also plenty who find themselves rushing at the 11th hour, after they have scrambled to get ready to leave work, and spent hours trying to get their packing down to hand luggage, and it's these people who will be stung.
If you are affected you will already have had an email or a text telling you about the arrangements, and the advice is to pull your finger out sooner rather than later.
There was some speculation as to whether Ryanair would waive the £60 charge for printing boarding passes at the airport, but the airline will not confirm this, and given Michael O'Leary's fondness for dreaming up new forms of charging passengers, it seems unlikely.