Last updated: August 2026
A Ryanair missed flight isn’t automatically a lost booking, but the clock decides what happens next. Act early enough and a flight change costs from £45. Leave it until less than 40 minutes before departure and Ryanair has a specific £100 fee built for exactly that moment. Miss that window too and the ticket is gone, no fee will bring it back.
The Missed Departure Fee: £100, and only in this window
Ryanair calls it the Missed Departure Fee. It costs £100 per passenger per sector, and it exists for one specific situation: you haven’t changed your flight in advance, and you’re now less than 40 minutes before departure or up to an hour after it, with no seat booked on anything else. Arrive at the ticket desk within that same hour-after window and the fee applies there too, moving you to the next available Ryanair flight on the route. Outside that window, in either direction, this option isn’t available.
Advertisement
| When | What it costs | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| More than 2.5 hours before departure | £45 online, £60 by phone or at the airport, plus any fare difference | Standard flight change to any new date or time |
| Less than 40 minutes before, up to 1 hour after departure | £100 Missed Departure Fee, per passenger per sector | Moved onto the next available Ryanair flight on the same route |
| More than 1 hour after your original departure | No fee applies, because no change is possible | The booking is forfeited; you’ll need to buy a new one |
Ryanair doesn’t publish a way to arrange the Missed Departure Fee in advance. It only becomes available once you’re inside that narrow window, either through the app or at the airport ticket desk. It’s a fallback to know about, not something to plan a booking around.
If you haven’t missed it yet: change online first
Ryanair lets you change a flight online up to 2.5 hours before departure, whichever is earlier between your original flight and the new one. Doing it yourself through “My Bookings” costs £45 per person, per one-way flight, or £60 through an agent or at the airport. You also pay the gap between your original fare and today’s fare, and Ryanair keeps the difference if today’s fare is cheaper. Seats, priority boarding and checked bags don’t carry over automatically, so check before you assume they have.
Flexi Plus: the fare that skips the fee
Passengers who paid for Flexi Plus get one genuine exception. On the day of travel, you can move to a different flight, same route or a different one, if a seat’s available. That’s free of the change fee, though you still pay any fare difference. Moving to a day before or after your original date works the same way, no change fee, just the fare gap. Flexi Plus is the one Ryanair fare where a late change costs only the new flight’s fare, nothing stacked on top.
How to avoid needing any of this
The cheapest way to deal with any of this is not needing it. Check in online as soon as it opens, since missing that deadline creates its own separate fee before a missed departure even comes into it, covered in full in our Ryanair airport check-in guide. Build in a genuine buffer for security and the walk to the gate too. Our how early to arrive at the airport guide has realistic times by UK airport, not just the bare minimum Ryanair states. Get both of those right and a change fee doesn’t come into it at all.
“The two and a half hours before your flight are worth more than the hour after it, because that’s when a £45 online change still gets you your own choice of new flight. Wait past that point and the choice disappears: what’s left is the £100 Missed Departure Fee, and only inside its own narrow window. Readers who’ve called us afterwards almost always say the same thing: they saw the window closing and didn’t act.”
Kate Acaster, Chief Editor, Flight Tribe
Ryanair missed flight: FAQs
How much is Ryanair’s Missed Departure Fee?
£100 per passenger, per sector. It only applies in a narrow window: less than 40 minutes before your original departure, up to an hour after it, or at the ticket desk within that same hour-after period.
What happens if I miss my Ryanair flight completely?
Once you’re more than an hour past the original departure time, no changes are possible. The seats you booked operated empty, and the booking is forfeited. You’d need to buy a new ticket.
Can I change my Ryanair flight before I actually miss it?
Yes. Online changes are possible up to 2.5 hours before departure for £45 per person, per one-way flight, or £60 through an agent or at the airport, plus any fare difference.
Does Flexi Plus let me change flights for free?
It removes the change fee, not the fare. On the day of travel you can move to a different flight, same or different route, if a seat’s available, paying only the fare difference. Moving to a different day works the same way.
Will Ryanair refund me if my new flight is cheaper?
No. If the new fare is cheaper than what you originally paid, Ryanair keeps the difference rather than refunding it.
Do my seat and baggage transfer if I change my Ryanair flight?
Not automatically. Seats, priority boarding and checked bags need checking at the time of the change, rather than assumed to have carried over.
More on flying with Ryanair
- Missing your check-in deadline is a separate problem to a missed departure; our Ryanair airport check-in guide has the desk and bag-drop cut-offs.
- Our how early to arrive at the airport guide has realistic arrival windows by UK airport.
- Changing more than your flight date? Ryanair name change fee covers correcting a passenger name instead.
- If it’s your bags you’re worried about, not the flight itself, see Ryanair baggage allowance.
- Booking a new one entirely? Flying with Ryanair covers what UK passengers need to know before they fly.
← Back to: Flying with Ryanair
Kate Acaster is Chief Editor at Flight Tribe. She writes about practical travel planning, budget airlines, baggage rules, city breaks, beach holidays and good hotels that do not cost daft money.
Kate has travelled through Europe, South America and beyond, usually with a notebook, a half-formed plan and a strong opinion on airport snacks. At Flight Tribe, her work focuses on helping UK travellers understand what is included, what costs extra, and whether a trip is worth booking at the price shown.
How Kate works
Kate checks the details that can change the value of a trip, including cabin-bag rules, airline fees, hotel location, seasonality, travel dates and booking conditions. She is especially interested in offers that look useful on the surface but need a proper reader-first check before they are worth recommending.
Editorial standards
Flight Tribe covers deals and travel advice for readers first. Affiliate links do not decide whether an offer is worth writing about.
