Ryanair branded ‘evil’ after warning that passengers with travel agent boarding passes won’t be allowed to fly

Third-party bookings site Kiwi.com branded the statement ‘petty’ and ‘evil’

Passengers at a Ryanair check-in counter (Getty)

Ryanair has issued a warning to its customers that anyone arriving with a non-official Ryanair boarding pass will be denied entry to their flight.

In the announcement on 18 August, the airline said that only passengers who have completed the official Ryanair check-in process and been informed of safety and security protocols can board its flights.

The airline claims that passengers booking through the third-party website Kiwi.com - which provides customers with its own boarding passes - are circumventing that process, and will not be allowed to fly.

“It is an obligation under EU regulations that an airline informs passengers directly of all safety and security policies regarding their flight,” said Ryanair’s director of marketing Dara Brady.

“Kiwi.com are circumventing this by checking passengers in and replacing the Ryanair Boarding Pass with a fake boarding pass issued by Kiwi.com.”

A Kiwi.com spokesperson described Ryanair’s statement as “petty” and “evil”,  insisting that its boarding passes were identical to Ryanair’s apart from a branded background and colour scheme.

“Kiwi.com complies with all the requirements to ensure safe travel for our customers and have done so for years,” said the spokesperson.

“Threatening not to board customers is petty and an evil Ryanair practice to try and stifle customer choice.

“The real reason for this action is because Kiwi.com often sells Ryanair tickets cheaper than Ryanair and they don’t like it.”