Ryanair last week announced it has abolished check-in desks in favour of on-line ticketing.

The Dublin-based company said everyone booking a seat on a Ryanair flight from 20 May will be required to print out their own tickets – at a mandatory cost of e10 per passenger per round-trip journey. Anyone who fails to do this will suffer a e40 or 40-pound penalty at the airport.

This fee policy replaces Ryanair’s previous practice of offering free on-line ticketing and charging extra for anyone who opted for face-to-face check-in. Under the new policy, everyone will be treated the same – because now nobody can avoid paying to check in. Ryanair says the only exceptions will be on tickets offered at fee-included prices of e5 or less.

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said the airline hoped to shut down all of its traditional check-in desks at 146 airports by 1 October, but quicker if possible.

However, Ryanair will keep staffing desks to collect people’s checked-in bags – as well as potentially hefty income from passengers arriving without their printed-out tickets.

However, an AP report said that in-built restrictions on Ryanair’s on-line ticketing system mean that many customers will be unable to print out their tickets at the time of booking, raising the chances for Ryanair to collect penalty charges from customers who think they’ve completed the process.

Ryanair said its computer system won’t allow customers booking more than 15 days before their flight, or within four hours of one, to check in at that time. So people booking further in advance – common since Ryanair’s cheapest deals often are offered months ahead and snapped up quickly – will have to get in the habit of revisiting the website again nearer the time of their trip. And last-minute fliers will face an effective e40 surcharge on their fares.

European Union litigation has forced Ryanair to change the way it lists the costs of its tickets to include taxes and some – but not all – fees up front. Still, advertised “free” tickets can end up costing e20 to e80.

For example, Ryanair adds e10 or more to each round-trip ticket per passenger if it’s purchased with normal credit or debit cards, making the charge virtually impossible to avoid. Nonetheless, this cost is omitted from the initial price. The airline defends this practice because it offers the option of free booking for holders of a restrictive, ill-marketed Visa Electron card that is not available in major countries.