LAST UPDATE | 18 Aug 2021
RYANAIR HAS SAID it will not accept boarding passes issued by the booking website Kiwi.com.
In a statement, Ryanair said that from today (18 August) any passenger with a boarding pass issued by Kiwi “will regrettably be refused boarding as they have not complied with Ryanair’s safety and security protocols during check-in”.
The airline said that valid boarding passes can be accessed via Ryanair.com or the Ryanair app.
Ryanair’s Director of Marketing, Dara Brady, said the airline became aware of the issue “when a small number of passengers who booked their flights through Kiwi.com arrived at the boarding gate without official Ryanair boarding passes last week”.
Brady said any passenger who made a booking through Kiwi.com should contact that company directly.
Customers have been told to avoid booking flights “via third party agents, such as Kiwi.com, who do not have authorisation to sell Ryanair flights or to issue boarding passes”.
“Under EU regulation 2015/1998, it is mandatory that passengers complete the Ryanair check-in process directly to ensure passengers are informed of all safety and regulatory protocols required when travelling.
“Kiwi.com circumvent these essential aviation regulations by issuing their own boarding cards which are not valid on Ryanair flights,” the statement noted.
Kiwi.com is a platform on which people can book flights and accommodation, as well as arrange car-hire when abroad.
It was one of a number of booking agents that Ryanair accused of contributing to delays in the airline’s attempts to reimburse customers who could not fly during the initial phases of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ryanair today said it has secured a court order in Czechia requiring Kiwi to stop replacing customer email addresses with alternative email addresses, thereby “preventing Ryanair from communicating directly with its passengers”, but that Kiwi “is not yet complying with that order”.
Kiwi.com has told The Journal that all of its customers receive Ryanair boarding pass which features a Kiwi.com branded background.
The company accused the airline of ‘stifling customer choice’ by its announcement this morning. It said it ‘will do everything in its power to support customers’.
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