RYANAIR PASSENGERS WILL need to get to the airport earlier from November as bag-drop and check-in desks are set to close 60 minutes before flight departure. 

From 10 November the last time passengers will be able to check in or drop their bags will move from 40 minutes before departure to one hour before their flight is due to take off. 

The airline announced the change today and said this is to provide more time for passengers to get through security and passport queues. 

They said the aim is to reduce the “very small number of passengers who currently miss their flight departure as they are getting stuck in these airport queues”. 

In a press release Ryanair said only 20% of their customers choose to check in a bag, leaving the other 80% unaffected by this change. 

The majority of passengers check-in online and move straight to security once they arrive to the airport, according to the airline. 

Speaking about the change Ryanair CMO, Dara Brady, said it will allow passengers more time to get to their gate before departure “especially during busy travel periods when some of these airport queues can be longer”.

He said Ryanair will have self-service kiosks for bag drop and check-in “at over 95% of Ryanair airports before October”.

Last year Ryanair moved to 100% digital boarding passes.

Since November passengers have not been able to download and print a physical paper boarding pass. They instead need to use the digital boarding pass generated in their Ryanair app during online check-in to board their Ryanair flight.

To check-in at the airport for a Ryanair flight comes with a hefty fee – €55 per passenger, or €30 for flights from Spain.

A spokesperson for the airline previously said that if a passenger has already checked-in and downloaded a boarding pass, but their smartphone dies or is lost, they will be assisted free of charge at the airport.