No app, no flight: airline axes paper boarding passes

[Larko1]

From Exec.traveller:

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/no-app-no-flight-airline-axes-paper-boarding-passes

 

[moa999]

Of course it's RyanAir.

That said this is very un-RyanAir

As long as you've checked in before you got to the airport, we’ll reissue a paper boarding pass at the airport free of charge.

And reality is a barcode is a barcode. Shouldnt matter if it's in an app or on paper.
(Don't believe the airline standards allow for rotating or secure/time based bar codes)

 

[Himeno]

Another tax on people who don't have a working phone that happens to support a silly app.

 

[PERLHR]

Another tax on people who don't have a working phone that happens to support a silly app.

Or being progressive. Bet they will not be the only carrier over the coming months...

 

[Himeno]

Or being progressive. Bet they will not be the only carrier over the coming months...

Making things harder and reducing options isn't being "progressive". Nor is punishing people who don't have access to whatever they randomly decide they need to have.

 

[PERLHR]

Making things harder and reducing options isn't being "progressive". Nor is punishing people who don't have access to whatever they randomly decide they need to have.

Yep tell that to the banks, airlines who insist on self tagging, cashless society, list goes on.....RYR are by far not the only ones. If pax don't like it it's easy as with everything RYR, just simply don't fly them.

 

[Forg]

Making things harder and reducing options isn't being "progressive". Nor is punishing people who don't have access to whatever they randomly decide they need to have.

I reckon they've done their sums, and decided that people who don't have access to a smartphone aren't in their target-market.

 

[Himeno]

I reckon they've done their sums, and decided that people who don't have access to a smartphone aren't in their target-market.

It isn't simply "access to a smartphone". It is access to a smartphone, with a working data connection where ever you happen to be, that is in full working order (such as having power available as a start), which is compatible with their app.

Random company decides to make their required app only available on the Irish apple store? Too bad for anyone without an iphone or accounts that can't access that store.

 

[Forg]

It isn't simply "access to a smartphone". It is access to a smartphone, with a working data connection where ever you happen to be, that is in full working order (such as having power available as a start), which is compatible with their app.

Yep, I reckon they've decided people who can't work that out aren't their target market.

I generally hadn't even noticed it myself, but I see it with Mum all the time, there's just heaps of stuff she can't even do because she's decided she doesn't want to learn to use a touchscreen anything.
It's starting to get even worse though, Ryan Air I can give or take 'cos the few times I've been looking for something in their chunk of the market there's been a cheaper or more-convenient option. But the best products our bank (ANZ) offer are ONLY available through their ANZ Plus channel, which is ONLY available as a 'phone app (and trying to use a tablet to get around the fact that a mobile 'phone screen is NOT big enough to do banking on doesn't work 'cos it leaves big black borders around the outside and uses a 'phone-sized portion in the middle of the tablet - huh?!?!).

 

[Himeno]

Yep, I reckon they've decided people who can't work that out aren't their target market.

You think that someone who might otherwise get an app but can't because the people who created the app failed to make it available to them aren't in the "target market"?

That's someone actively deciding to cut out a part of the market rather then stupidity because the people making the decisions are too dumb to think about what they are doing.

You're also suggesting that someone who has a smartphone which they use every day shouldn't be able to use something because their phone simply doesn't work outside their home country.

 

[jbman]

It isn't simply "access to a smartphone". It is access to a smartphone, with a working data connection where ever you happen to be, that is in full working order (such as having power available as a start), which is compatible with their app.

Random company decides to make their required app only available on the Irish apple store? Too bad for anyone without an iphone or accounts that can't access that store.

I have the app and I do not have the Irish App Store for iOS

 

[PERLHR]

RYR app easily available on Apple store and Google play like all airlines. Also download the "ticket" to your wallet and you don't need any internet connection at the airport to board.

Ryanair

Book direct at the official Ryanair.com website to guarantee that you get the best prices on Ryanair's cheap flights.

www.ryanair.com

 

[justinbrett]

If you don’t need data to board then you have a dumb boarding pass (ie won’t show seat changes, delays, or even if you’ve cancelled or changed to another flight).

May as well permit people to print their own pases at home. Or some kind of permanent card (like how QF lets you scan your FF card at the gate).

 

[Forg]

You're also suggesting that someone who has a smartphone which they use every day shouldn't be able to use something because their phone simply doesn't work outside their home country.

That wasn't the intention ... I myself think that's annoying at the very best ... what I'm saying is that Ryan Air doesn't think that people who can't do that aren't worth the effort catering for. It's a comment on who Ryan Air is purposely selling to & on Ryan Air themselves, not on what my thoughts/beliefs/preferences are.

Although it doesn't seem that specific limitation is there, in this case?

Ryan Air seems to be an airline which, if they could get away with it, would remove the seats & cling-wrap customers to make it easier to load them with a fork-lift ...

 

[wandering_fred]

Sooner or later the requirement of tying the use of one product (your airline flight) to the use of a basically unrelated product (your smart phone) will hit the courts.
If Ryan Air's boarding pass requirement would only work on a Ryan Air marketed phone, under current law (at least in some jurisdoctions) it would be illegal.
From an analysis of USA "tied marketing antitrust"
The law on tying is changing. Although the Supreme Court has treated some tie-ins as per se illegal in the past, lower courts have started to apply the more flexible "rule of reason" to assess the competitive effects of tied sales.
Given the ease with which law suits are now created, things may get interesting. Provided of course, that other world issues make it a moot point.
I long for the time when it was simple to be wandering.
Fred

 

[Forg]

Sooner or later the requirement of tying the use of one product (your airline flight) to the use of a basically unrelated product (your smart phone) will hit the courts.
If Ryan Air's boarding pass requirement would only work on a Ryan Air marketed phone, under current law (at least in some jurisdoctions) it would be illegal.
From an analysis of USA "tied marketing antitrust"
The law on tying is changing. Although the Supreme Court has treated some tie-ins as per se illegal in the past, lower courts have started to apply the more flexible "rule of reason" to assess the competitive effects of tied sales.
Given the ease with which law suits are now created, things may get interesting. Provided of course, that other world issues make it a moot point.
I long for the time when it was simple to be wandering.
Fred

I think that unless you’ve paid for something you’re not getting, this wouldn’t be applicable.
However … the existence of loyalty schemes means that you HAVE potentially paid for something you can no longer get, you’ve used the airline with the intention of accumulating loyalty-credits and assuming you can obtain a ticket in the traditional fashion in future, and now you need to own a mobile device to do so so you’re locked-out of the loyalty-credits you’ve already paid for.
Interesting … although “rule of reason” may come into it, the vast majority of people don’t care about that loyalty stuff ‘cos they’re not in a position to get any value out of it.

 

[Flyerwin]

I always take a screenshot of my app boarding pass and scan the photo, not the app, at boarding - this is after experiencing an app outage a while back.

All they need is the QR code.