Holidaymakers fury at Ryanair as budget airline charges passengers a whopping £21 for an e-boarding pass

• Passengers told by budget airline to pay to reserve a seat or queue at the airport

Having charged passengers to reserve a seat, stow a suitcase and print a boarding pass, you might have thought Ryanair had run out of add-ons to squeeze out of its customers.

But now the budget airline appears to have come up with yet another wheeze, with fliers told they must pay to add a random seat if they wish to receive their digital boarding pass. Those who refuse to pay between £8 and £21 are told to queue at the airport to receive a printed boarding pass.

Airport staff told The Mail on Sunday the change, which has been rolled out in recent days, had caused outrage with customers.

Vivien Lovrin booked to fly from London to Germany last Thursday and having opted not to pay extra to reserve a seat, proceeded to check-in with a randomly allocated spot.

But after filling in her details, the Ryanair app told her: ‘Check-in done! Get your boarding pass now and avoid queuing at the airport by adding a seat.’

Ryanair now appears to be charging passengers for downloading a mobile boarding pass

Passengers are now being told they must pay to add a random seat in order to print off or download their boarding card

Those who refuse to pay between £8 and £21 are being told they must queue at the airport to be issued with a boarding pass

The new policy makes a mockery of the £55 fine imposed on fliers if they fail to check-in online

Most airport lounges are of ‘poor quality’

The majority of UK airport lounges are overcrowded, unclean and serve poor food, according to a report.

Undercover inspectors from Which? visited 20 lounges to review the food and drink selection, facilities such as toilets and showers, if there was a runway view and if there were designated quiet areas and spaces for families.

None of the lounges achieved higher than three stars out of five. The worst was Southend Skylife Lounge, which got one star. Gatwick North’s Plaza Premium, Manchester Terminal 1’s Escape and Birmingham’s No 1 Lounge achieved one and a half stars.

Rory Boland, of Which? Travel, said: ‘Using an airport lounge was once synonymous with luxury, but now that’s rarely the case.’

On clicking through she was told to pay a fee to secure a random seat – or else face yet another airport queue to get her boarding pass.

She said: ‘When you thought Ryanair couldn’t sink any lower, they find a way to force you to buy a seat. How is this legal?

‘Isn’t the whole point of online check-in to avoid people queuing at the airport?’

Ciaran Murtagh was faced with the same issue. He said: ‘So Ryanair, you are making travellers, who do not wish to book a seat, queue up at a desk and have their boarding pass printed. That’s great for the environment and another cheap shot at passengers to pay more to travel. A new low for Ryanair. Absolutely disgraceful.’

Fabien Mauroy, who was flying out of London on Friday, commented about Ryanair on X (formerly Twitter): ‘Worse experience for people, long queue at airports, [and] polluting planet for money.’

The new fee makes a mockery of a £55 fine the budget firm imposes on passengers to print out their boarding pass at the airport if they don’t check-in online.

Italian traveller Marcello Maggio said: ‘Ryanair says I must check in online, but it doesn’t give me the boarding pass online to force me to pay for a seat. What am I buying with the ticket if not a seat to fly?’

Other add-ons for those who book online include £4 to £15 to reserve a seat, while bags cost between £20 and £60, with an excess fee of around £10 per kilo. 

Other online add-ons include a charge for reserving a seat and luggage fees, which range from £20 to £60 per bag

Some passengers have reported being issued with a mobile boarding pass for free

If a passenger requires oxygen for medical reasons they are not allowed to bring their own – and must pay £55 to use Ryanair’s. 

The latest fee does not appear to affect all travellers, with some saying they got a digital boarding pass for free.

A Ryanair spokesman said: ‘Passengers have the choice of choosing a seat for a small fee or be randomly allocated a seat free of charge.’ 

The firm did not respond to claims that it was effectively forcing customers to pay for a digital boarding pass.

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