Ryanair to shut down website for 10 hours

Essential maintenance work will close Ryanair's website for ten hours next week, making it impossible for passengers to check in online.

People due to travel on Thursday June 25 should print their boarding passes extra early, as the down-time will run from 7pm the previous evening to 5am in the morning.

Anyone with an early morning flight who fails to check in online by 6pm on Wednesday will be charged a £40 "boarding pass re-issue fee" at the airport.

That penalty will not apply to travellers who booked their flight prior to May 21, provided they have already paid for Ryanair's airport check-in service.

The airline announced last month that it is phasing out airport check-in desks while simultaneously imposing a £10 return fee for online check-in. The move was billed as a cost-cutting measure, but critics decried it as a way of boosting revenue.

A spokesman for the Air Transport Users Council said the watchdog was "disappointed" with the planned shut-down, and called on Ryanair to waive its £40 charge.

"We don't think it is responsible for the airline to switch to a web-only check-in system and then have the website close down for a significant period of time," he told The Herald. "We would certainly want any charges that are incurred ... to be waived.

"Other airlines have not had to close down their websites and we would ask why Ryanair appears to be the only company that requires to close its website to carry out this work."

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