There are often a million and one things that you have to think about when travelling to go on holiday. Do you have your passport, your bank card and your boarding pass?
It is sometimes easy to forget an item and the ones who are feeling this particular pain are Wizz Air passengers after they were reportedly charged £42 to print their boarding passes.
And it is no wonder seeing as there has been a 22 percent increase in searches for the term ‘print boarding passes’ this month alone.
However, experts have come to the rescue to ensure you don’t fall victim to this extra charge.
Print experts TonerGiant have created a comprehensive guide, outlining the reasons why you should always print your boarding pass.
First of all, your phone battery could die, leaving you with no access to your airline’s app and secondly, you could find yourself in an airport’s dead zone for phone service or Wi-Fi.
Meanwhile, phones can be difficult to scan at security gates seeing as screens rotate and it can be hard to find the angle right. Elsewhere, printed copies are easier to access through self-scan gates (as well as the duty-free counter).
But did you know there are little-known rules for printing your boarding passes?
Most airlines specify that your boarding pass must be printed on a single A4 page (not overlapping several pages). This policy is enforced by the airlines Jet2, Ryanair and TUI.
Make sure to avoid printing on double-sided paper as airline staff often tear boarding passes which could damage the one on the opposite side.
By the way, it makes no difference if your boarding pass is printed in colour or black and white.
What happens if you don’t print your boarding pass (and you don’t have a mobile version)?
If you need to print a boarding pass at the airport, Ryanair charges a £20 re-issue fee. Other airlines charging a £20 print-out fee for boarding passes include Frontier and Spirit.
This charge is different to an airport check-in fee, which for Ryanair is £55 per passenger per sector (or £30 for flights from Spain).
You might want to take note of this bit as these are the destinations that only accept printed boarding passes.
Some airports cannot accept mobile boarding passes yet. Ryanair, easyJet and Jet2 advise passengers to print their boarding passes before travelling to these locations:
Albania (Tirana Airport)
Morocco
Turkey
So, holidaymakers travelling to the likes of Bodrum, Dalaman and Marrakech should print their boarding passes before arriving at the airport, otherwise, they risk not being able to board the plane.
What to do if you don’t have access to a printer?
If you don’t have a printer, try printing your documents at work or a local library – or ask a friend with a printer to help out.
Don’t let technical glitches or rip-off charges ruin your holiday. Always make sure to pack physical copies of your boarding passes for peace of mind. It’s a stress-free travel hack.
Stuart Deavall, an expert at TonerGiant said: “We see it too often – holidays starting off with unnecessary stress because travellers either haven’t printed their board passes or they are being charged rip-off fees in the airport. We want to clear up confusion around holiday printing, so we created a go-to guide for flyers.
“As the summer holidays begin and airports around the world hit their peak season – it’s important to take note of these simple travel hacks that could save hundreds of pounds. Not to mention the headache of dealing with airlines and their arbitrary rules”.