Ryanair has confirmed a 20 minute check-in change for all flights from November.
Next month, the budget airline is extending the amount of time passengers have to get through airport security and passport queues by 20 minutes. Under current rules, Ryanair check-in and bag drop desks close 40 minutes before a flight is scheduled to depart, but from November 10 this will change to 60 minutes, giving passengers an extra 20 minute window to make their flight. The move is imed at reducing the number of passengers who miss their flights by allowing a longer period to get through airport checks.
Ryanair said most passengers will be unaffected by this 20 minute change as around 80% check-in online before arriving at the airport and go straight to their departure gate on arrival.
Only about 20% of Ryanair customers check-in bags at the airport, with the majority opting to pay for a cabin bag or travel without luggage, but the extra 20 minutes will give these passengers more time to get through security and passport queues before boarding starts.
The change comes following the introduction of Europe’s Entry Exit System (EES) on April 10 which requires non-EU citizens to register biometric data at the external borders of 29 European countries in the Schengen area.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said while British travellers don’t need to take any action before arriving at the border on entry to the Schengen area, passengers are warned to prepare to wait “longer than usual” and to allow more time for immigration controls.
In further improvements for passengers, Ryanair also announced plans earlier this year to install more self-service bag-drop kiosks to speed up the check-in process, with more than 95% of airports due to have these in place from October.
The airline said the self-service kiosks are fully integrated with the Ryanair app to enable passengers to check-in bags and print luggage tags, helping to speed up bag-drop and reduce waiting times.
Announcing the changes in July this year, Ryanair CMO Dara Brady said: “From Tues 10 Nov, Ryanair customers will see airport check-in and bag drops close 60 minutes before scheduled departure, instead of today’s 40 minutes.
“This will allow these 20% of our customers (who check in a bag) more time to clear through airport security and passport queues, and get to their departure gate on-time, especially during busy travel periods when some of these airport queues can be longer.
“We are also installing self-service kiosks at over 95% of Ryanair airports before October. This means a quicker bag-drop service, less queuing at airport desks, and an even more punctual service for the 20% of our customers who still wish to check-in a bag, while the 80% (who don’t check-in a bag) will be unaffected by this small 20 minute change, as they will continue to check-in online before they arrive at the departure airport and they go straight through airport security to their departure gate.”
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
