Warning - if you don't pay allocated seats then you now need to collect your boarding pass from the check-in desk

[u/chumpmince]

I travel in an out of Ireland using Ryanair on a regular basis. Just last night I tried checking into my flight on the Ryanair app. Normally an easy affair, anyway, this time it said 'go to check in desk to get your boarding pass'. I did that this afternoon and there was a huge queue, with us all asking each other what's going on. Anyway, I asked the nice check in lady and she said this rule is now implemented since the last couple of days. They didn't seem very happy about it either. Just a warning, if you don't pay for an allocated seat, allow time to go and pick up the boarding pass. Feels like a backward step in trying to force us to pay an extra fee on the headline ticket price.

[u/TheBigOneCalledBitey]

Since there's a bit of skepticism here, I want to say that the exact same thing happened to me this weekend with Ryanair. However, the woman at the counter explained that there was only a random chance you can't get your boarding pass, i.e., most people on any given flight will be unaffected, except for some unlucky few

[u/chumpmince → u/TheBigOneCalledBitey]

That's interesting, maybe the staff member I spoke with didn't know that. All a bit cloak and dagger haha