An hour late and way more than a dollar short?
Don’t try to test the viral “airport theory” on a Ryanair flight. The low-cost carrier — which has become notorious for imposing seemingly arbitrary fines — has decreed that passengers who arrive too late for their flights will be forced to pay a steep price.
Under the new policy, flyers will have to fork over $128 per passenger if they show up to their flight less than 40 minutes before departure, the Daily Star reported.
By that point, the check-in desk will be closed and boarding will be in full swing.
Plus, it’s not so easy to get out of lateness debt — the tardiness tax also applies to passengers who attempt to reserve the next available flight after missing their initial one.
“[The penalty] is also available to customers who arrive at the ticket desk up to an hour after their flight departure to move to the next available flight,” the policy states.
The late fee is in line with previous penalties imposed by Ryanair, including an infamous $70 tax for travelers who check in at the airport instead of online, the Mirror reported.
The revised rulebook reads: “If you do not check in online up to two hours before your scheduled departure time, you may check in at the airport up to 40 minutes before departure, but you will be charged an airport check-in fee.”
To avoid incurring a penalty, Ryanair advises passengers to check in online and get to the airport with time to spare.
Passengers should also check their booking details and the rules designated by the airline, which has been known to charge outrageous-seeming fees, including a $60 fine for a flyer whose bag had one wheel poking out of the sizer late last year.
Despite the threat of a monetary penalty, the so-called “right” time to show up before a flight has been a point of contention among travelers.
Some passengers prefer arriving up to four hours early, while others like leaving themselves as little as 15 minutes to navigate security.
That latter troubling and increasingly-popular trend, known as “airport theory,” has caused at least one person to miss their flight.
In general, experts advise people to show up to the airport two hours before departure time for domestic flights and three hours for international ones.
