What is a "correct travel document"? All you need is an ID, which can be any passport, even if it does not have a valid Schengen visa in it.
And a passenger can never be refused "entry" on a Schengen-Schengen flight based on his inability to show he has a valid Schengen visa, since sending him back to the other Schengen country does not change anything in this regard....

All the visa checking is completely irrelevant for flights within Schengen.

YMMV.

I have flown Flyin' Ryan once in 2010, that's all... due mostly to living far from their flight network.

I had to go from London to Aarhus, Denmark. Wife and infant daughter along with.

Mainly, they were the only nonstop, all others were connections.
But I looked into British Air award tickets, and was pretty stunned to find that after buying all of the extras that Ryan was peddling (early boarding, snacks, seats, bags, etc, etc, it still came out to be 45% less than the cost of FREE tickets on BA.

The EU website seems to suggest otherwise: http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens...s/index_en.htm

It's not irrelevant. It is done on intra-Schengen flights by some carriers departing from some States (varies by ground handler). If irregularities are found, police may be called in and the person may be detained. Of course this depends on how well they are following the letter of the law. YMMV. If you're not checking bags, it's highly unlikely that they'd check at the gate.

The general statement by FR is that they perform ID on all flights so they only have one process for boarding.

Ryanair checks ID on all flights - even on domestic/internal flights.

All rules on Ryanair are simple and well-advertised and have no exceptions. Hence, all flights are handled in the same manner (which also makes it easier to train staff. There are fewer "what if?" scenarios to cover). In this instance, it is easier to train a gate agent to check for a document check stamp on the boarding pass than to train all agents on all the subtleties of immigration law, or to provide them with access to the TIMATIC database at every boarding gate. Of course, you and I know that a US passport holder is automatically entitled to a 90-day Schengen visa as long as they have not spent more than 3 months in the Schengen zone in the previous 6 months and as long as their passport is valid for a period of at least 3 months past their planned departure date. But would you know what rules apply to each of the 100-plus non-EEA passports that may be proferred at the boarding gate?

Yes, I accept that there won't be an issue on a flight from Berlin to Cologne, or from Eindhoven to Alicante, but are there any Ryanair airports where they only serve domestic destinations, or only intra-Schengen destinations? Probably only a handful, if any (Some of the Greek islands only have year-round service to Athens, for example - but perhaps they abandon document checks when only domestic flights are operated). So - it makes more sense for them to stick to one simple rule. Non-EEA passport means document check procedure must have been completed.


Ryanair checks the immigration status of all passengers on all flights. You may say this is overkill, but it works as a simpler solution for them to implement.

If, as a non-EEA passenger you find this onerous, you can fly with KLM instead!

Where does the revenue come from?

They don't charge a "document check" fee. They don't charge you more for your ticket if you use a non-EEA passport.

No, I wouldn't, and it is also irrelevant for domestic/intra-Schengen flight, do GA of other airlines know them all? for ex-Schengen flights document check will normally be done via API information, and if needed then a document check will be done either at the check-in counter (if checking in bags) or at the gate (if not)

I can get that, however Ryanair also fly to non-EU destinations, and while EU passport holders might not require a visa to those destinations, who to say they haven't been denied entry before and therefor have a stamp in their passport to indicate that?

Clearly, this is not correct, since they do not check the immigration status of EU pax to enter non-EU destinations, and yes I do think it is an overkill :)

They don't; but then, other airlines tend to have more elaborate check-in systems that harvest the necessary API data ahead of time; the process of determining who can travel based on what they have is largely automated.

Ryanair doesn't seem to use any sort of similar check-in system; they still sometimes even just tick people off on paper lists at the boarding gate. That's starting to change now that they support mobile boarding apps in an increasing number of locations; if they ever do end up carrying shorthaul passengers on connecting itineraries for the larger, full-service long haul airlines, they presumably will have to overhaul their flight departure systems and end up with something more like the systems used by other airlines.

I've not heard of people having a stamp placed in their passport to bar them from entry.

However, if the only mechanism to determine that a passenger is not allowed to enter a particular country is a stamp in their passport saying this, that system would fool any other airline's systems, too. No airline will leaf through your passport to look for such a stamp.

(Surely the passport details would also be loaded onto a "do not travel"/"do not allow entry" list)

In such a case, Ryanair (or whatever airline) would probably be charged the fee for repratriating such an unwanted passenger back to the place of origin.


This is because Ryanair has (so-far) scrupulously avoided serving destinations where there may be visa issues for EEA passport holders. The only countries outside the EEA that Ryanair serve are Montenegro, Morocco and Israel [soon to be joined by Serbia]; passport holders of all EEA states are allowed entry without any advance visa requirement.

Were Ryanair to start service to Turkey, for example, then they would have to commence some form of check for tourists bound for Turkey (some EEA passport holders must apply online for a visa beforehand; others need no such visa).

But, as things stand, they do check the immigration status of all passengers - the presence of either an EEA passport or a "document check" stamp means that all passengers are checked and meet the requirements of entry of the destination country. By checking for these things, the boarding agent has subjected you to an immigration check - to the extent that they have verified that those who may have a question mark hanging over their validity have had this confirmed at the doccheck desk, safe in the knowledge that all EEA passport holders can travel the entire FR network without any immigration issues.

Some countries do ban entry if you have over-stayed, I would imagine that would be in the form of a passport stamp (along with of course writing it down in their own systems)

That's probably true, one might also have more than 1 passport or have replaced his passport for a number of reasons

They do also serve Serbia & Montenegro, though same rules apply there for an EEA passport

Will they go and start calculating 90 out of 180 days? :D

I updated the list to include Montenegro; flights to Nis have not yet started.

However, neither Montenegro nor Serbia require visas for EEA passport holders.


That's the document check desk agent's job! The boarding agent merely needs to check for the requisite stamp if they are presented with a non-EEA passport.

Presenting a "clean" boarding pass with a non-EEA passport means you will be refused travel.

But are they actually going to start calculating days at the document check? :p

Actually, that happened to a friend of mine once, needless to say he was allowed on the flight, after GA called someone (presumably the same desk agent that would otherwise do the document check") to verify if someone with a Dutch residence permit is allowed to travel to Sweden.

Needless to say?

Would you therefore recommend all non-EEA passport holders to skip the document check? Or is it the specific combination of Dutch residency permit/Swedish destination that makes this unnecessary?

No, I wouldn't recommend anyone skipping this check based on this specific incident, it's just one more reason for me to doubt its existence, and what would EC261/2004 say if someone would be IDB'd at the gate for failing to go through it.

BTW, for a bunch of domestic travel, a "any valid drivers license/any photo ID" is enough:
https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful...nsse_579117795

So clearly this means there are different boarding processes for domestic flights than for international ones, as a drivers license cannot determine someones nationality, and what is "any photo ID"? can I use my ov-chipkaart to travel on domestic routes in Germany or the UK? and do I need to go to the document check desk if I have a non-EEA passport?

An OV chipkaart is not recognised as a valid identity document in the Netherlands. I doubt it would be accepted as a valid proof of identity in any other country either.

While Ryanair doesn't define "any photo ID", I think they will operate to a higher standard than merely accepting anything that has your photo and name on it (OV chipkaarts don't always have a full name on them; they can be obtained without undergoing any formal identity check and can be ordered in others' names).

http://www.geenstijl.nl/archives/images/rickroll477.jpghttp://www.geenstijl.nl/archives/images/beaovchip.jpg

I know that there have been cases in the past where work IDs, bus passes, etc, have been (reluctantly) accepted as proof of identity - but only in cases where the person performing the check has at least some familiarity with the companies involved. The chances of having such unofficial ID documents recognised outside the country or context which they were produced for is pretty low. In most cases, you should read "photo ID" as meaning some valid government-issued document, like a passport, national ID card or driving license - and these are the most likely forms of ID to be offered, anyway.
If you want to test and see whether your OV Chipkaart is acceptable proof of ID to board a domestic flight, then I invite you to try so on a German domestic Ryanair flight and to report back!