Budget Travel - Ryan Air- Wrong passport number

My boyfriend and I booked our tickets on a whim a few days ago and he did not have his passport number handy so we entered a series of zeros thinking that we could change it online later.

Silly silly us. No option to do that. :(

Is it worth trying to phone and change it or can we do it at the desk when I (a lowly non-EU passport holder) queue to prove who I am. (He is British.)

I know the jokes about RyanAir fees, but has anyone actually been charged for this?

I think it highly likely that you will be charged to modify your details - I believe it's something like 100€ for a name change.

It might well be better to accept that these tickets will cost you more to change than to buy new ones with the correct details ... and if you were to check in online and then need to change the details at the airport, I'm sure the charge imposed would be substantial and you risk being told that you will need to buy new tickets there and then which would be astronomical in price, assuming that there were still seats available for the flight.

My assumption is that this information would be overwritten in EasyJet's system, or any other airline's system, if you handover your passport at the check-in counter to do a boarding pass reprint.

I've done the same thing the OP did one other airlines in the US and never had any problems.

With only hand luggage I never use Ryanair check in desks, but my guess is that passport numbers are not accessed by check-in staff and are only gathered for transmission to immigration authorities at destination airports.

If that's the case, you could have a problem at your destination.

I guess it all depends where you are flying to. On my last 3 trips with Ryanair from STN to PIK it has only been a cursory glance at the passport and no more, so unless the computer flags this up there is every possibility you will not need to change the number.

One thing puzzles me about the original poster's query:

How was it that he/she entered passport details when making the booking?

(Unless it was for travel within 15 days of booking and she/he meant the incorrect passport numbers were entered when checking in online.)

Perhaps the original poster would like to comment.

Just curious!

Thank you for the replies so far. I have been trying to get through to Ryanair on the phone, but have not been successful yet.

As stated in the OP, we entered all zeros instead of his passport number. Ryanair asks you for your passport numbers when making the booking. Other airlines, such as Virgin, also ask for this info, but you have the option to amend your details later. Ryanair does not allow you to do this, as we have discovered.

Alsacienne, this is not a name change.

Finally got through to Ryanair. The rep told me that it does not matter what passport number you use to BOOK your flight as the details are not saved. You are asked to enter your passport details again when you do online check in and this is where it counts.

Since we had not checked in yet, we are fine. :)

I'm confused. Where exactly did the OP have to enter their passport number when booking?

I never have, so I just made a dummy booking as far as the Purchase Now stage - going any further would have cost money. Nowhere was there the need to enter a passport number.

That's only been required IME when checking in online.

Alsacienne, this is not a name change.

Thank you Courtney for your lesson in how to suck eggs, even if I'm not as old as your grandmother. I was simply referring to the fact that Ryanair charge for all alterations even one as simple as a name change, and yours is substantially more significant as it contains documental information required by Government agencies.

booked our tickets on a whim

Perhaps the whole question would have been irrelevant if you had had the correct information to hand when making a financial transaction, rather than entering incorrect information and having to spend time and effort to make a change at a later date.

Ryanair, like most airlines, have to collect information on their passengers to pass on to the immigration authorities of the incoming flight. Thus a passport number is sufficiently important to be checked - albeit cursorily - to ensure that the information provided to the immigration authorities is correct and not considered fraudulent, and to avoid the airline being fined for providing incorrect information.

(OK slightly off topic, but if an airline flies a passenger to a destination without a visa (if required) the airline is fined by the incoming authorities and has to pay for the immediate repatriation of the passenger whose documentation is not in order ...)

My assumption is that this information would be overwritten in EasyJet's system, or any other airline's system, if you handover your passport at the check-in counter to do a boarding pass reprint.


Your assumption that the information could be overwritten on the airline's system is certainly reasonable, were it not for the fact that we are discussing Ryanair not Easyjet in this case, and Ryanair charge 40€ per passenger for printing a boarding pass at the airport ... and I am sure that this fee would also apply to a 'reprint' even when the error has been corrected. The correction of the 'error' might also lead to a further charge.

The rep told me that it does not matter what passport number you use to BOOK your flight as the details are not saved. You are asked to enter your passport details again when you do online check in and this is where it counts.

Since we had not checked in yet, we are fine

Glad it has all worked out ok in the end and that you enjoy your trip.

Roger, I cannot remember at what point we had to enter the details, but we tried to skip over it and it was not allowed. Hence our need to enter the zeros. Perhaps it was at the payment stage.

Alsacienne, I was not being snarky. I'm sorry you interpreted it that way.

Roger, I cannot remember at what point we had to enter the details, but we tried to skip over it and it was not allowed. Hence our need to enter the zeros. Perhaps it was at the payment stage.

Alsacienne, I was not being snarky. I'm sorry you interpreted it that way.

This is very strange.....

It is only at OLCI that Ryanair wants passport details.

It's quite possible it was for API? I know Spain requires such information for travellers from the UK/Ireland, as does the UK (from certain destinations). Ryanair tends to collect such information at time of booking, as it cannot be done at the airport.

That could be it! We are going to Spain. :)

That could be it! We are going to Spain. :)OK, but the dummy booking I made was to 'Barcelona' which is of course in Spain, so that theory bites the dust.

As I said, I got to the Purchase Now stage with my dummy booking. I could have purchased without entering any passport info, but didn't - I'm not going to 'Barcelona' any time soon.

OK, but the dummy booking I made was to 'Barcelona' which is of course in Spain, so that theory bites the dust.

As I said, I got to the Purchase Now stage with my dummy booking. I could have purchased without entering any passport info, but didn't - I'm not going to 'Barcelona' any time soon. Yeah, I was scratching my head over RyanAir needing pp# because I booked them w/o it. BTW, I think it's very reasonable that this airline charges 40 Euros to print a boarding pass on the airport. Ink & paper, and a printer is expensive, you know. In fact, it's a bargain!

OK, but the dummy booking I made was to 'Barcelona' which is of course in Spain, so that theory bites the dust.

The API data wouldn't be collected until after purchase.

The API data wouldn't be collected until after purchase.

Yes, but...

With 100% OCLI, Ryanair makes no effort to collect API before OCLI. There's no point. (It used to in the past but it was not mandatory; I remember checking in online in those days and sometimes the passport fields had been completed for me, sometimes they were blank.)

So, I repeat my point. The earliest point the original poster could have entered passport information is 15 days before travel, and then only via the OCLI page and not the booking engine.

Something odd here......

It can be provided before check-in :)

https://www.bookryanair.com/SkySales/FRRetrieveAPIS.aspx?culture=en-gb&lc=en-gb

It can be provided before check-in :)

https://www.bookryanair.com/SkySales/FRRetrieveAPIS.aspx?culture=en-gb&lc=en-gb

Well, well, you live and learn! Thanks!

Having said that, though, I can find no way to this page from Ryanair's home page. I tried clicking on "Manage My Booking", then on "View My Bookings", then on "Photo ID" (the only options which seemed relevant) and nothing!

Are you sure this is a page which is currently being used? If so, I'd be grateful to know the pathway to it from Ryanair's home page.

Thank you.

Ryanair.com > "My Flight" on the left hand navigation menu > Advanced Passenger Information.

It can be provided before check-in :)Sure, it can be, but it's not an integral part of the booking process.

I understood from the OP that s/he was compelled to supply a passport number when booking, entered an incorrect one so that s/he could book and now has the perceived problem of needing to change the booking.

Supplying the info after booking would be different and voluntary until OLCI.

Last summer, I booked a round trip MAD-STN on Ryanair for the fall. I am pretty sure that I was prompted, and not voluntarily, to enter my passport information at the time of purchase, and then again at OLCI. I had to think about it, because I wasn't sure which of my passports to use.

I had one diggit wrong once, no problem. They corrected it with a pen and said; "don't do it again" haha.

I just traveled on Ryan Air last week. The boarding pass does NOT have a passport number printed on it. Come to think of it, I can't think of any airline that prints the passport information on the boarding pass.

The boarding pass, DOES have the traveler's nationality on it. So if you hold citizenship in more than one country make sure you indicate the correct one with Ryan Air.

As a US passport holder, I had to get my boarding pass stamped at the bag drop/visa check desk. This was a very quick process, they barley looked at my passport and just stamped my BP. They did not look anything up on their computer to compare the passport number I provided with the one listed on my BP.

I hope this helps.

On an unrelated note, both flights departed on time and arrived 45 minutes early. I can only imagine that Ryan Air pads there schedule significantly to achieve a high on time performance record.

I just traveled on Ryan Air last week. The boarding pass does NOT have a passport number printed on it. Come to think of it, I can't think of any airline that prints the passport information on the boarding pass.

Up to a couple of weeks ago, they did. They've been taken out now, for whatever reason.

Make sure to contact FR and/or FR agents at the airport you're departing from well in advance. (Talking about days here...)

Other than that, I don't see any reasons for you to get charged the Airport Check-In Fee. Furthermore, FR BPs don't include the ID# anyway.

As long as your details, in general, match w/ the details in the bkg&passport - and travel documents (incl. passport) are valid, FR won't be a pain in the neck.
^

Depends where you're flying from ... I don't think that you'd find much joy at STN ...