‘My mother is 86, if she can do it, so can anybody else’

Ryanair will not enforce their new fully paperless boarding system, due to start 12 November 2025 to coincide with the quieter period after the mid-term break, CEo Michel O’lesary has confirmed.

In reply to a question from Travel Extra, Mr O’Leary was unable to say whether the check in was required to be on the Ryanairi app or whether a photograph of the bar code on the smartphone would suffice.

Passengers must generate a digital boarding pass via the myRyanair app during online check-in, eliminating options for printing at home or airports.

Approximately 80pc of Ryanair’s over 200m annual passengers already utilise digital boarding passes, leaving around 40m to transition.

The airline anticipates forgiving passengers presenting paper boarding passes through November, December, and January 2025, with stricter enforcement planned for the peak summer season.

Ryanair’s app supports this shift, as evidenced by widespread adoption among users including older demographics.

Michael O’Leary shared “it is patronising to suggest older people cannot and would not move to mobile technology. The airline will certainly be reasonably forgiving of people showing up with their paper boarding passes, through November, December and January. I suspect we really tighten up that when we get into the next summer, for the peak of next summer. Nobody would be cut off at the knees. My mother, who is now 86, is a frequent user of the Ryanair app. So, if she can do it, so can anybody else.”