How do mobile boarding passes work?

Mr rebel

Sorry if this sounds very obvious but I think it might be time I stopped printing out boarding passes and use my phone instead.
Anyway, I just saved my Ryanair boarding passes to the Apple Wallet in my phone....do I then just show the screen of the boarding pass from the wallet when required as usual or must I use the Ryanair app only?

DavyD_83

I haven't actually used it, but I assume as long as you have the barcode visible on your screen for them to scan, then it should be fine.

Just make sure your phone battery doesn't die.
Obvious, and may seem silly, but this is the reason I haven't actually tested it; the times I wanted to, I couldn't guarantee my battery would survive until boarding (evening flights, with no access to reliable charging and a need to use phone during day before hand).

Marcusm

Either the wallet or the app is generally acceptable. As the airport scanners only view the QR code, you could also just save it as a photo! Personbally I find the wallet handier as it is directly accessed with the screen locked.

Mr rebel

Thanks, wallet it is then:)

gumbo1

You can use wallet, ryanair app or photo. If you are going to screenshot the bar code make sure that it is clear and not blurred in any way. We turn away so many people every day due to their bar code not being clear enough for it to be read. If your worried about your battery wasting there are plenty of sockets around for you to plug it in and charge for a while. Happy travels.

mahamageehad

Also, turn your screen brightness up!!! Some scanners don't read the codes well without full brightness! (I know coz I usually have mine down low to save battery!)

Snickers Man

This is interesting to me as I was about to post a question about printing off boarding passes in an airport.

My situation is I will be flying back from holiday on the continent in a couple of months and will be trying to make a late night connection between two Ryanair flights in Stansted. Now I know Ryanair doesn't facilitate or guarantee connections so even if it's THEIR fault that the incoming flight to Stansted is late, thereby causing us to miss our connection, that's just our tough luck. I get it.

I would then be willing to rebook on the earliest flight out of Stansted the next morning (the 6:30 flight which is not heavily booked). The predicament is, if I bought the tickets the night before ie while in Stansted, how would I print them off?

Is it now the case that I can just show a bar code from a PDF on my phone? Does this only work with iPhones or do Androids support it as well? Or failing all that, does anyone know of any place in Stansted airport itself that would likely be open in the small hours and that could print off a boarding pass in the traditional way?

Any help appreciated.

munchkin_utd

yep, you can do all now on your mobile phone and the barcode in the app is no different than the barcode on a bit of paper.
The android app is here :
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ryanair.cheapflights

RoYoBo

Took the plunge earlier this year and used the Ryanair app for the first time on my Android phone for boarding passes. I have a powerbank, so wasn't too worried about the battery charge, but I'd read (somewhere?) that the passes had vanished off someone's phone and I was manically checking that they were still there until we boarded.
In the end, all was fine - no bother - so this is the way to go from now on. I think you can actually store them on more than one device with the app, so maybe that's an option if you're traveling with someone else - belt and braces!

athtrasna

RoYoBo wrote: »

Took the plunge earlier this year and used the Ryanair app for the first time on my Android phone for boarding passes. I have a powerbank, so wasn't too worried about the battery charge, but I'd read (somewhere?) that the passes had vanished off someone's phone and I was manically checking that they were still there until we boarded.
In the end, all was fine - no bother - so this is the way to go from now on. I think you can actually store them on more than one device with the app, so maybe that's an option if you're traveling with someone else - belt and braces!

Easier to screenshot it and save it as a photo. No need to go near the app.

Gatica

Snickers Man wrote: »

Is it now the case that I can just show a bar code from a PDF on my phone? Does this only work with iPhones or do Androids support it as well? Or failing all that, does anyone know of any place in Stansted airport itself that would likely be open in the small hours and that could print off a boarding pass in the traditional way?

Before you fly check that the airport you're travelling from accepts mobile boarding passes (most EU destinations do, but just in case). Download the airline's app and get the boarding pass on that. It's usually not a PDF, but a screen in the app. Do a screenshot of it on your phone and that usually works as good as the app itself. I always worry it may un-cache the booking in the app and require a network connection to get my pass.
There were some passengers using a PDF on the phone when we used BA couple of weeks ago and while the airline staff didn't turn them away, they pointed them to some sign stuck up to the scanner that these (printed boarding passes and app QR barcodes on a phone) were now the only acceptable forms of boarding card. They got onto the flight, but I guess they must be introducing this now on some airlines anyway, so best be careful.

I also recommend switching off screen auto-rotate before going up to the machines, and turning up brightness (or turning off/pausing any dimming app you may have). It's a pain when you're about to scan the thing and the screen flips and isn't where you thought it was.