Ryanair is in trouble again - this time with the Law in Spain. A Spanish judge has ruled that the airline’s requirement that passengers print their own boarding passes online or pay a “fine” of 40 euros at the airport is illegal.

Judge Bárbara Córdoba has ruled in Barcelona that, under international air travel conventions, Ryanair can neither demand passengers turn up at the airport with their boarding pass, nor charge them if they do not.

"I declare abusive and, therefore, null, the clause in the contract by which Ryanair obliges the passenger to take a boarding pass to the airport," she said.

"The customary practice over the years has been that the obligation to provide the boarding pass has always fallen on the airline."

Ryanair will appeal against the decision, which threatens its model of scrapping check-in desks and replacing them with online boarding cards and airport bag drops.

According to Ryanair spokesman Daniel de Carvalho forgetting your boarding pass is almost as bad as forgetting your passport. He added: "The court is wrong. You need the boarding card to fly. If a passenger arrives without a boarding card, we find an ad hoc solution to their problem. The €40 is a penalty for doing that."

In typical Ryanair fashion, ie being unpleasant and aggressive towards its passengers, De Carvalho threatened: "If the problem is the €40 charge for this service, we'll simply stop offering the service. That, of course, will mean the passenger who arrives without a boarding card cannot fly."

Personally, I don’t have a problem with online check-in and printing my own boarding card, although I think the €40 penalty is an outrage.

© Paul Whitelock

To read a Guardian article on this topic click here.

See also:

Ryanair shocker!

Ryanair f**k off!

Tags: Ryanair, Bárbara Córdoba, boarding pass, boarding card, online check-in, Daniel de Carvalho, Guardian, Paul Whitelock, www.a1-solutions-spain.com