How Spain's 75% flight discount for Canary and Balearic residents works

For residents in Spain's Canary Islands, Balearic Islands or, in some cases, Ceuta and Melilla (more on the specifics of that below), there's a 75 percent discount available on flights to the mainland and some baggage costs.

The idea behind the scheme is to reduce costs for residents of these separate Spanish territories as flights and ferries to mainland Spain can be very expensive, especially during peak season. In fact, it's often cheaper to book a return flight from to the UK to Tenerife or Mallorca than it is from those islands to Madrid or Barcelona.

For many Canary and Balearic residents, this is essential travel for personal or professional reasons, and having to fork out huge amount to travel to the majority of Spanish cities puts them at a big disadvantage economically.

The descuento de residente de islas (discount for island residents) started in 1994 for Canary residents and in 1997 in the Balearics.

Spain's Congress of Deputies recently approved a bill which included an allocation of a further €319 million to compensate airlines, suggesting that the rebate system is here to stay.

It also follows reports in the Spanish press that some non-resident foreigners have been benefiting from the offer when they shouldn't.

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So how does Spain's 75 percent flight discount for Canary and Balearic residents work?

So, how does it actually work? These are the requirements according to Ryanair's rulebook:

The 75 percent resident subsidy is applicable to:

1. Residents registered on the padrón (town hall registration) in the Balearic/Canary Islands travelling between their region of residence and any other part of the Spanish state territory.
2. Residents of Ceuta travelling between Seville, Málaga or Jerez and any other part of the Spanish territory.
3. Members of Parliament and the Senate of the Balearic Islands/Canary Islands or Ceuta travelling on government business.
4. Passengers requesting this discount must have a residency travel certificate (certificado de viaje) issued by their local town hall of the municipality in which they reside that is valid for the entire period of travel. This is different to the padrón document.
5. Residency information you provide during the booking process will be shared with Spain's Ministry of Public Works and Transport.
6. If you receive pre-validation of your residency documents before completing your booking, you will not be required to present your residency certificate at the airport. Otherwise you will have to show the certificado de viaje at the check-in counter
7. If your residency document was not validated during the booking process, you will be required to present one, along with your DNI/NIE, before proceeding to the boarding gate.

In order to get the discount, depending on your nationality you'll need one of several documents to prove your residency in the case it's not pre-approved:

Spanish citizens: a valid empadronamiento certificate and a valid national identity card/passport.

Spanish citizens under 14 years of age without ID: a valid empadronamiento.

EU/EEA/Swiss citizens: a valid empadronamiento and a valid national identity card/passport issued by their country of origin.

Family members of EU citizens: a valid residence permit indicating your status as a family member of an EU citizen.

Non-EU citizens with a long-term residence permit: a valid empadronamiento certificate together with a valid residence permit indicating long-term resident status. Basically if you're from a non-EU country you won't have the right to the travel discount while you hold temporary residence.

Note that Ryanair specifically says: "if any of the passengers in the booking are non-residents, they must book separately" and can therefore not benefit from the 75 percent discount.

All airlines operating flights between Spain's two archipelagos and mainland Spain will have the discount option available on their websites, usually at the initial stage when you're choosing the flight dates and other key details, so don't to tick it if this applies to you.