Originally Posted by
Aviatrix
Are you talking from personal experience or is this just a rumour you heard?
I have read reports (including some here on FT) of people trying this and being turned away at the gate and having to buy a new ticket for a different flight.
I agree it's a stupid rule but I would recommend you don't even THINK about breaking it. You stand to lose a lot more than the £4 check-in fee.
I've actually done it. Several times. There is no reason why any citizen from ANY country should not be able to check-in online. While it is the carrier's responsibility to verify that the passenger is allowed to travel into a certain country, that is not the fault of the non-EU passport holders and therefore the non-EU passport holders should not be financially punished based simply on the country of citizenship. Under EU rules, the immediate family members (husband, wife, children) of EU citizens have the right to live and be with their EU-member citizens family members. That includes the right to travel within the EU. It seems more than a bit discriminatory that a French husband would have to book on a separate reservation and not pay the check-in fee, while his Canadian wife and Canadian-born children (not yet applied for French citizenship, for argument's sake) would have to be on a separate reservation and pay the check-in fee.
There is but one destination (Morocco) served by Ryanair that is outside of the EU, EEC, or almost-EU (Croatia who is in talks to join and has already made agreements with close EU countries such as Italy, Slovenia, and Austria to change their immigrations and customs regulations to be more aligned with the EU). It seems to me that this is an internal ploy to collect more fees. Simple as that. I am sure that in the court system, Ryanair again would lose.