Ryanair Airport Check-In Refund
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File this under the “annoying” category. While in Europe last month, I flew a quick leg on Ryanair — one of Europe’s low-cost carriers that provides dirt cheap airfare and tries to get you by charging for everything extra they can. Ryanair also pushes you to use web check-in; if you check-in at the counter, they make you pay a check-in fee. What is annoying, though, is that if you don’t have an EU/EEA passport, you have to check-in at the airport, and thus have to pay the check-in fee. At Stansted, that fee was 3 GBP.
On the help section of their website, though, they have this section: “Where a passenger is unable to avail of Online Check-in by reason only of not being the holder of either a valid passport or a National Identity Card, issued by the government of an EU/EEA country, any airport check-in fee paid will be refunded upon application.” So, from that, due to my US passport, I should be entitled to a check-in fee refund of the 3 GBP. Of course, Ryanair provides absolutely no information on how to do this on their website.
Luckily, there is the internet, which led me to the post “WARNING: RyanAir Online Checkin” over at Less Than a Shoestring who managed to figure all of this out. Apparently, to request the refund, you need to write to them with your name, flight details, and confirmation number to:
Ryanair Refunds Dept
Ryanair Head Office
Dublin Airport
Co Dublin, Ireland
Yes, that’s right, you actually have to write in, which just makes this process even more annoying. So if you’re going to write to get the fee refunded, its probably a good idea to mail it while you’re in Europe. From the United States, it cost my ninety cents to mail the request to Dublin.
Ryanair will reply to your letter at the email address you used to book the ticket (so while I have to pay international postage, they don’t respond in kind). Frustratingly, they got back to me telling me that they needed a copy of my passport identification, and that, you guessed it, they would appreciate it if I mailed it to them in Dublin. Now, there was no way I was going to provide them a copy of my passport, but I did send them a heavily censored copy of my identification page that removes most of the private information, which should suffice.
At this point, its pretty much a matter of principle that I am trying to get this fee refunded. The current weak value of the dollar makes this slightly more worthwhile, too — 3 GBP is somewhere around 6 USD right now, so even spending two dollars to get four back seems somewhat worth it. While it probably is not worth getting worked up over a single 3 GBP fee, it almost certainly is worth writing in after a round trip (which would have TWO check-in fees) or several legs.
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Greetings Student Scrooge!
On the 10 flights I have taken with RyanAir since they instituted this rule, I simply selected Web Check-in at the time of booking and have used airport check-in without a hitch. Only once did they even mention that I hadn’t paid the fee; I simply told her I’d called the hotline who said I would be given a refund anyway, so the check-in attendant dropped it. Personally, I’d rather not give them the money up-front. But if you don’t/didn’t know, you should most certainly apply for the refund — and yes, it is about the principle here.
As I note in the post, it is also possible to FAX your request to their number in Ireland, which is probably cheaper than international postage.
I would appreciate it if you left a comment at the page you link to, updating us all when your refund arrives. Thanks!
poetloverrebelspy, I’ll be honest, given that this was my first time dealing with Ryanair and given what I had heard, I didn’t want to risk doing anything creative to try to get around the fee, but in hindsight you’re absolutely right that it likely would have worked. I’ll keep that in mind for next time.
And while you are right about the fax option, I simply didn’t have a fax machine easily accessible right now — I so rarely need to send a fax.
I will certainly keep you updated!
how long did it take you to get your refund? thanks….
adeline, I’m actually still waiting on the refund. Timing wise, it took them about two to three weeks to respond to my letter requesting the refund.
I then replied to the email fairly quickly with the additional requested email, and it has now been a little less than a month — I’m hoping to hear back soon, and I’ll definitely update the post.
poetloverrebelspy - I had read that your technique would work on the Less Than A Shoestring website and tried the same when I arrived at Stansted. However, the person at check-in flatly refused to check me in until I had paid the airport check-in fee. Whether this is an isolated case or a new rule, I don’t know, but it’s worth bearing in mind in future.
This was a flight taken in mid-April from Stansted. Of course, on the return flight from Stockholm, there were no problems whatsoever, and they didn’t even ask about why I had not checked in online.