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Bill Radke: The Irish low-cost airline, Ryan Air, is introducing some new fees today. For one thing, passengers will be charged for checking in online. From the European Desk in London, Stephen Beard explains.

Stephen Beard: Starting today, Ryanair’s passengers will be required to pay around $15 each for booking and checking in on line. They must print out the boarding pass at home. And if they turn up at the airport without it they’ll be charged a hefty $120 penalty.

The airline’s spokesman, Stephen Macnamara, says this is all part of a move to scrap the checking in procedure at airports…which is both costly and time wasting:

Stephen Macnamara: We want to remove the instances of passengers queuing up at a check-in desk. And also it will help us to lower our costs and therefore we’ll be able to reduce our fares even further.

But Ryanair’s critics say the $15 charge for checking-in online obviously makes a flight with the airline more expensive. The carrier’s additional charges have long been controversial. The airline caused a storm by proposing that passengers be charged for using the onboard restrooms.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.