I am writing this short post because a few days ago I was wasting so much time myself to sort this issue out. Now it is therefore time to help other fellow travellers.
Let’s hence display all the obstacles here:
- Ryanair flight is on a Saturday (Shabbat day, better to choose another day if you can !) from Tel Aviv, Israel.
- Ryanair only allows you to self check-in for free 24 hours prior to your departure time, through the website or App. So in my case check-in day was Friday, another black day for shops, businesses, activities and transportation in Israel, from 2 or 3 pm.
- No communication is provided when booking the flight nor before the 24 hours window.
- Suddenly after check-in is performed through the App (no problem here), Ryanair sends you an email (22 hours before departure time):
| Dear XXX,If you are travelling out of Tel Aviv and you hold a passport from Israel, you can go directly through security and to the gate without going to the check in desk for a visa check if you don’t have any bags to be checked in.To avoid the visa checks we recommend you to print out the boarding pass during your online check in process as Ryanair mobile boarding passes don’t work in Tel Aviv airport.If you hold a passport from another country, you will still be required to go thought the check in desk for visa checks.Thank youKind Regards,Ryanair Customer Care |
***There is also an orthographic mistake in the email: “Go thought the check in desk…”***
And online you might still encounter this webpage from the Ryanair official site:
Which airports do not accept Ryanair’s mobile boarding passes?
All very perturbing and unsettling to be honest, especially if you are just relaxing on a Friday afternoon few hours before your flight and with all shops about to close for Shabbat.
- The last issue is that Ryanair charges a 20 € / 20 £ fee for printing your boarding pass at the airport:
Having said that, I started to worry and immediately search for online info. I could only bump into some old (more than 3 years) TripAvisor Forum threads:
Nothing else in the last 3 years. I started there a new thread too, but nobody with direct knowledge on the matter could help either.
Since I was staying with a Couchsurfing host (no hotel nor hostel), I could not ask for assistance at the reception either.
On top of that, at 4 pm shops were almost all closed already for Shabbat.
What to do then ?
Well, nothing : )
Nothing, because all this theatre is indeed unjustified. I hadn’t printed a boarding pass for the previous 10 years I believe. I could not fathom that still in 2023 some airports would require a paper copy.
In fact, that is not the case any longer. Ryanair should stop sending misleading emails and update their website.
Due to the transportation blackout, the following day I regrettably had to book an unwanted, expensive taxi through the Yango App (you may also use Gett too) and head for the Terminal 1 (all low cost companies depart from there in Tel Aviv) without my printed boarding pass.
Long story short, I was never requested the physical copy of my pass, at any stage. You may easily use either the App-generated QR code or the PDF barcode downloaded from the website. Both of them are accepted.
Another reassuring fact I may offer you is that Ryanair (unlike Wizzair for example) seems to be more tolerant with the checked luggage, allowing you to exceed the 20 Kg. My suitcase was 21.4 Kg and no remarks were uttered by the staff.
I just wanted to ensure here that other travellers would not waste even one minute or 10 cents to print a document that is NOT required at all. Besides that is not eco-friendly either.
Feel free to come back with any comment or suggestion about the topic and the other airports mentioned in Ryanair help page (Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey, Kefalonia).
Thanks for posting this! I have a Ryanair flight next Shabbat and just saw on their site that Israel doesn’t accept mobile boarding passes. Was starting to stress about getting it printed 24 hours before until I saw this! Thanks again
Thanks a lot Steve !!
thanks a lot for this useful and updated information, I am going through the exact same process and I was wondering where I could print my boarding pass in Tel Aviv as I stayed in an apartment (so no reception & no possibility to print)! hopefully I’ll face no problems with the electronic ones! Those emails from Ryanair should be updated!!
Definitely !!
We’ve got the same mail
“If you are travelling out of Tel Aviv and you hold a passport from Israel, you can go directly through security and to the gate without going to the check in desk for a visa check if you don’t have any bags to be checked in.
To avoid the visa checks we recommend you to print out the boarding pass during your online check in process as Ryanair mobile boarding passes don’t work in Tel Aviv airport.
If you hold a passport from another country, you will still be required to go thought the check in desk for visa checks.”
I read it like if we don’t have an Israeli passport we need to go to the visa check. But we wäre flying back straight to our home country so we obviously we don’t need a visa.
Or is it meant like if your got an passport other then the country you agree flying to, you need to do the visa check?
We are all little bit confused if we can go straight to the security check and to the gate without go to the visa check
Sorry for the delay, I did not see your comment. All went well in the end ?
It looks like they still keep doing it unfortunately…