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Ryanair has given a cheeky response to the most common excuses that people might miss their flight, which can lead to hefty fees if you want to be rebooked for a new flight

Missing your booked flight can prove to be an enormously frustrating ordeal, particularly when the hold-up is completely beyond your control. Delays can occur due to security complications, last-minute boarding gate changes requiring you to trek across the entire airport, or even a late taxi journey to the airport.

However, sometimes, missing a flight can be completely blamed on the traveller in question, who might have been distracted by the various things you can do at an airport and simply didn’t keep an eye on the time. And known for their sometimes cheeky responses to travellers, Irish budget Ryanair shared a piece of advice to anyone who might have missed a flight in the past.

Taking to their Facebook page, the airline went on to share some of the most common excuses of missing a flight, which included ‘I didn’t hear boarding being announced!’ and ‘I didn’t see the gate had changed!’

They then cheekily added a top tip for people to stop them missing a future flight, as they wrote: “Turn ON push notifications for real-time notifications in the Ryanair app!”

In the Ryanair app, travellers can both check in to their flights, preventing the extra fee added when checking in at the airport, while also keeping an eye on any changes or updates for their flights, including getting notifications when the gate is announced and when boarding starts.

The app also give you easy access to your mandatory digital boarding pass, as they went paperless in 2025 in order to save on costs. If you don’t like this, you also have the option to print your boarding pass from home.

However, travellers quickly hit back at the airline, with many arguing they hadn’t received the correct gate number from their airline’s app. But this didn’t stop some, as another said. “I watch those boards like a hawk purely for that reason.”

What to do if you miss a Ryanair flight

If you miss your Ryanair flight, tickets are non-refundable, but you can move to the next available flight within one hour of departure at the airport ticket desk for a £100 missed departure fee. If you arrive later than one hour, you must purchase a brand new ticket.

If you know you’ll arrive late at the airport, the airline allows you to change your flight online up to 2.5 hours before the scheduled departure time by paying a flight change fee plus any fare difference.

But if you completely miss the flight and do not visit the ticket desk within the 1-hour window, the ticket is lost, and no refund or credit is given. But there are some exceptions to this rule.

While refunds or travel credits are not provided for routine illnesses, travel credit can be requested for specific recent family bereavements if submitted before travel.

However, it’s also recommended to take out travel insurance before your travels, as this usually gives you more security if you can’t make your flight.