Ryanair’s Paper Boarding Passes Are Taking Off: And With it the Loss of a Holiday Tradition

From November 3, 2025, Ryanair is scrapping paper boarding passes, meaning everything will now operate digitally... and just like that, a small but sacred part of the Irish holiday experience will be wiped out forever.

Set the scene: it’s 2005. You’re off to Spain. For some reason, you’re wearing a “Support Our Troops” wristband, despite never having set foot outside the outskirts of Bray. Your dad? He’s gripping a folder thicker than the Leaving Cert maths syllabus, stuffed with the entire family’s boarding passes, some sucky sweets, and an iPod Nano.

That folder wasn’t just a travel essential—it was the official sign that a belter of a holiday was on the horizon. And now? Instead of having a CIA agent for a caregiver, you’ve got some bloke with seven PDF files and a backup WhatsApp message in the family group chat.

It’s not all bad; Ryanair says the move will make travel more efficient and eco-friendly, estimating that ditching paper passes will save over 300 tonnes of paper a year. The airline claims that 80% of passengers already use digital boarding passes, and this shift will eliminate it. However, some destinations—like Morocco, Turkey, and Albania—still require paper boarding passes due to local regulations, so passengers flying to those locations must print theirs in advance.

Sure, it’s saving paper, but at what cost? The true unsung hero of airport security—the folder dad—has officially been grounded.