Ryanair announces that it will close check-in 20 minutes earlier

Ryanair announced yesterday that it would be closing its check-in desks 20 minutes earlier from November.

This means that check-in desks will close an hour before the flight time, rather than the current 40 minutes. The airline claims this will give passengers more time to negotiate security and passport checks, and reduce the possibility that they may miss their flight.

The airline has not said whether the move was prompted by the introduction of the EES system, but has stated that the system has increased passport queues. Michael O’ Leary, Ryanair’s CEO, has described the EES situation as “a shit show”.

Ryanair has stranded passengers on Lanzarote before. In 2024, 104 passengers booked onto two flights were left behind as they “did not present themselves at the gate on time”. In March this year, another 89 passengers were left behind on a flight to Bristol.  Ryanair is the only airline to have taken such measures at Lanzarote.

The airline also said that the earlier check-in times would only affect the 20% of passengers with hold luggage.