As Ryanair no longer seem to print things like the passport number on a boarding card, what's the real purpose of asking for it at all ? Does FR run a check against an immigration database to confirm validity of details before issuing the boarding card ?
As long as the name and the nationality on the boarding card match the passport and the photo in the passport resembles the passenger, gate staff will let the person presenting the boarding card onto the plane.
I'm just struggling to see the point of the insistence that passengers must supply their passport number to Ryanair...
Think its likely to be a legal requirement.
I reckon the non printing is down to someone pointing out that if you print it and someone loses or throws away the pass it then you have a valid passport number of someone that will be recognised by immigration as being valid.