11th March 2009

RyanAir to remove check in desks at airports.    

Michael O'Leary, chief executive of the Irish airline Ryanair has stated  that it intends to remove all its check-in desks and staff by the end of this year.

"All we will have is a bag drop where passengers can drop off their luggage, otherwise everything will be done online," he said. "Ultimately, we want just one in five people to check in luggage."

He added that the savings would be passed on to passengers in the form of lower fares, adding that baggage fees - which costs £19 for a return flight - may be reduced when it becomes possible to check-in your bags online.

The charge for those that exceed the 15kg limit for a checked-in bag is £14 per kilogram.

Stephen McNamara, spokesman for Ryanair, said that 97 per cent of passengers already book online and 75 per cent use the internet to check in.

"We see this as the logical next step," he said. "This will reduce our costs at airports and that means we can pass on those savings to our passengers in the form of lower fares."

The move, which comes after the airline allowed mobile phones to be used on its flights, is bound to lead to some criticism from passengers.

Jonathan French, spokesman for the International Airline Passengers Association, said: "It is sad because it is making air travel a less pleasant experience but if people want cheap flights then that is what they will get.

"It is making everything very impersonal and it seems a shame. There will always be a minority of passengers who need assistance or reassurance and they will switch to their competitors."

The budget airline, which aims to encourage all passengers to carry hand luggage only and use its website to check in, announced that the cost of checking in a bag at the airport has risen from £10 to £12; the online fee is up from £5 to £6. The charge for passengers to check in at the airport, rather than online, has gone up from £2 to £3.

The new charges, which can add up to as much as £50 a flight, mean some customers now pay more in extra fees than they do for their ticket.

Other fees include a priority boarding charge of £3 and a credit-card payment fee of £6 a passenger per return flight (or £24 for a family of four). It also costs £70 to change a name on a ticket or £30 to change the date, time or destination of a flight.