Following a global IT outage which grounded thousands of flights and cancelled holidays just as the summer travel period began, Britons are now being warned about the importance of not always relying on technology when travelling.
Though many airports around the world allow passengers to download their boarding passes onto their mobile devices and scan them digitally, there are a handful of popular locations where this isn’t the case.
Passengers travelling to Marrakech Airport in Morocco, Bodrum and Dalaman in Turkey and Tirana Airport in Albania are advised to print their boarding passes before arriving at the airport. Ryanair, easyJet and Jet2 all advise passengers to ensure they have a printed version of their boarding pass.
“You will need to print your boarding pass and go to Bag Drop for a document check, even if you don’t have bags to drop off,” explained the easyJet website.
In some cases, certain airlines may even require you to pay to print your boarding pass at the airport if you do not arrive with your own copy.
“You can access your boarding pass on the Ryanair App once you have checked in,” stated Ryanair. “You do not need to print your boarding pass once you have access to the Ryanair App unless you are departing from a Moroccan airport.
“If you do not have access to a printer, we can print it for you at the check-in desk, but you will be charged a boarding card reissue fee for each passenger.”
Based on Ryanair’s table of fees, the reissue charge to print a boarding pass is £20 at the airport. 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.
In all cases, you should check the requirements of your departure airport and your chosen airline before jetting off as rules can change.
However, even if you are travelling to a destination where digital boarding passes are accepted, experts from TonerGiant say the global IT outage is just one example of why you can’t always rely on technology.
They recommend “always” printing your boarding pass when flying. They said: “Your phone battery could die, leaving you with no access to your airline’s app.
“You could find yourself in an airport’s dead zone for phone service or Wi-Fi.
“Phones can be difficult to scan at security gates. Screens rotate and it can be hard to find the angle right. Printed copies are easier at self-scan gates, as well as the duty-free counter.”