Upvote:1
An electronic ticket isn’t the same as a boarding pass, which includes the bar code required for scanning at check in and security. The bar code looks like a block of straight lines (you see them on food packages, clothes tags etc) and contains data on the booking eg the passenger’s full name, flight record finder, arrival and departure airports, the airline you're flying, and frequent-flier number. Ryanair requires all passengers to checkin online and print their boarding pass https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/help-centre/terms-and-conditions/termsandconditionsar_1379164564 You won’t be able to change to an alternative flight free of charge. It looks like your parents had checked in but didn’t have valid Boarding Passes and there was insufficient time for the airline to re-issue them with an alternative form of Boarding Pass. Ryanair Terms&Conditions state that for travel on a later flight, passengers will be required either to make and pay for a new reservation or to pay the Missed Departure Fee (only available to passengers less than 40 minutes before and up to 1 hour after the flight departure time). It doesn’t sound like Ryanair were particularly helpful to your parents in this situation - the airline is not renowned for its customer service. You can complain about this here https://contactform.ryanair.com/?cr=4-0&lg=en&id=43&compr=Airport+-+Check-in%2FBoarding+Gate%2FTravel+Documents