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1 month ago
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Ryanair, never afraid to kick the hornet’s nest, has announced that it will phase out paper boarding passes in favour of digital boarding passes issued by its iOS and Android app.
The change is scheduled for 12th November, after initial plans to launch earlier this year were delayed due to concerns over disrupting the busy summer peak. Even the 12th was a fudge – it was announced for 3rd November but was pushed back because this is a busy Monday morning straight after half term.
Of the 200 million passengers it serves per year, it says almost 80% already use the Ryanair app to manage boarding passes. This still leaves approximately 40 million passengers who don’t – and that’s a lot.
Ryanair, of course, is famous for cutting its customer experience to the bone in order to offer the lowest fares. I’m totally on board with that: as the airline has proven, there is a place for rock-bottom fares with disputed levels of comfort.
CEO Michael O’Leary has always been extremely transparent that if you book the cheapest fares then you should expect a comparably cheap (but safe and usually punctual) experience. In fact, Ryanair’s social media posts consistently ridicule passengers who paid £19.99 and expected the world.
But what I couldn’t get my head around with this announcement is who the move to digital-only boarding passes serves.
After all, allowing customers to print off their boarding passes at home costs Ryanair nothing. All they have to do is send you a PDF with your QR code. That can only cost the airline a fraction of a penny to operate. It is cheap to implement and cheap to run, so why make the switch?
The subheading of Ryanair’s press release says the change will save “over 300 tonnes in paper waste” per year. Whilst saving paper is valiant, it does, after all, literally grow on trees.
On my maths, producing 300 tonnes of paper results in 350 tonnes of carbon dioxide. That’s not a lot. It’s the equivalent to the annual emissions of around 30 average Brits.
Ryanair’s press office also told me it would “save time” but when I queried how much time, they could not give me a firm answer. I don’t see how scanning a digital boarding pass is any faster than a paper boarding pass – can you?
Discussing the issue with Tom Boon, Managing Editor at Simple Flying, we came to the realisation that – of course – it is all about driving customers to the app.
Ryanair doesn’t make any money selling the flights themselves. From the UK, you often pay less than the Air Passenger Duty handed to the Government, yet alone airport fees etc.
Where it makes money is selling you ancillaries, such as additional luggage allowance and priority boarding as well as re-selling travel insurance, car hire, hotel accommodation and more. This is what drives Ryanair’s margins, not the flights themselves.
If you print out your boarding pass then Ryanair’s ability to sell you ancillaries is over. Ryanair currently has two chances to get you – when you book the flight, and when you check in.
But if you have to keep opening the app, Ryanair has endless opportunities to sell you something. Best of all, it can dynamically rotate its offering.
Just as the social media giants have realised, Ryanair can make more money by keeping you engaged. In the attention economy, eyeballs on screens is paramount and Ryanair is leading the charge.
So yes, whilst it will save paper (but not much) and might save time (but probably not) Ryanair isn’t being honest with you. The real reason it wants to introduce digital boarding passes is to increase the time you spend on its app.
Is it worth annoying potentially millions of people who don’t want to, or can’t, use the app? Ryanair thinks so.
The most vocal pushback has been from groups who represent ageing adults, as these are the most likely not to use or have smartphones. Age UK claims that four million Brits have never used the internet and millions more don’t have an Android or iPhone.
In reality, of course, the number of people who fly Ryanair on their own and who don’t have access to the internet must be tiny, especially as they need to go online to book in the first place.
Nevertheless, it clearly does reduce flexibility for customers. Ryanair, obviously, doesn’t care. It is not the first time it has reduced choice.
Ryanair says it will assist any customers free of charge if they downloaded a boarding pass but their phone subsequently dies or is lost. Ironically, this would probably involve – you guessed it! – a printed boarding pass.
