A few days ago, I made a booking on the Ryanair website (no, it wasn't some fake website) for a one way flight in my own name, using a credit card in my own name. I've now received an email from FR saying my booking was made by an online travel agent or a bot and therefore I need to be at the checkin desk at least 2 hours in advance to check in (or presumably 3 hours to allow for a queue), or spend more money and pass all my biometric details from my passport to some muppet in a call centre and risk identity fraud. Furthermore, access to the booking has been removed when I visit the FR website or look at the Ryanair app on my phone. Web support are hopeless. Any idea as to what one needs to do in future to prevent this happening ? Is it compulsory to book car hire when I fly FR or is there a maximum number of bookings allowed per year per person ?
I've flown with FR about 40 times since the start of 2022, but am very reluctant to use them if there is a risk of having to turn up at the airport 3 hours to checkin