The Canary Islands resident discount: 75 percent off flights and ferries, and how it works
If you live in the Canary Islands and are registered on the population register of a Canary Islands municipality, you get 75 percent off the price of your plane and ferry tickets. This applies both to travel between the islands and to routes to the rest of Spain. Spanish law sets the rate for an indefinite period.
You claim the discount when you buy your ticket. In the last step of the purchase, the airline or ferry company checks with a state system whether you qualify. If the answer is yes, you do not need to show any proof of residence. If it is no, you have to prove your residence on paper.
Everything comes down to two things: your nationality, and whether you are on the padrón, the municipal population register. In this article we go through who qualifies, what is covered and what is not, how the check works, and what to do if the system does not recognise you. If you are just moving here, we explained the order of the paperwork in our guide to the NIE and the padrón.
Who qualifies
The law on the Canary Islands economic and tax regime (Ley 19/1994) lists who gets the discount, provided they can prove they live in the Canary Islands:
Spanish citizens,
citizens of other EU member states, and of Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland,
their family members from non-EU countries, if they hold a right of residence or a right of permanent residence,
non-EU citizens living here with a long-term residence permit.
The implementing regulation (Real Decreto 1316/2001) defines a "resident" as someone registered on the padrón of a Canary Islands municipality. So the discount is tied to your registration.
If you are an EU citizen staying longer than three months, you also need to get your registration certificate (certificado de registro) from the immigration office or the police within three months of arriving. It carries your foreign identity number, the NIE, and you will need that when you buy tickets too. For non-Spanish EU citizens, the text of the regulation names this registration certificate as proof of residence, always together with an ID card or passport.
What it covers: flights and ferries
On flights, the discount is 75 percent between the Canary Islands and the rest of Spain, and the same on flights between the islands. A journey with a connection also counts as a direct trip, as long as the connection takes no longer than twelve hours. You will find the airlines' airport offices among our listings.
On ferries, the scheme has two parts, but the result is the same:
between the Canary Islands and the rest of Spain, the state gives 75 percent,
between the islands, the state discount is 50 percent, the Canary Islands Government adds another 25 percent under its own decree, and together the two parts can come to no more than 75 percent,
on the La Gomera inner ferry line (between San Sebastián de La Gomera, Playa Santiago and Valle Gran Rey), the Canary Islands Government gives 75 percent.
The Canary Islands Government's transport page sums it up in one sentence: 75 percent off the price of air and sea tickets, from the islands to any other point in Spain and back, and between the islands. We have gathered the ferry companies' port offices and departure points here, the stops of the La Gomera inner line in Valle Gran Rey and Playa Santiago, and all the island's ferry listings on this page.
What it does not cover
Not international flights. The law supports travel between the Canary Islands and "the rest of Spain", and the regulation states that no discount applies to a ticket that includes a leg outside Spanish territory. So a ticket between Tenerife and Budapest, or between Gran Canaria and Düsseldorf, gets no resident discount, even if you fly via Madrid on that ticket.
Not your car either. According to the Canary Islands Government's page, the discount does not apply to a vehicle the resident takes along, or to issuing or handling fees and taxes. For flights, the law also deducts certain public charges listed in the aviation law from the amount the discount is based on, and the extra cost of a higher class ticket is not subsidised.
That is why your ticket will not always cost exactly a quarter of the full price. Fred. Olsen's own information says the discount only applies to part of the ticket: the vehicle part is not discounted, and port fees may also differ for residents and non-residents. If you are thinking of taking the car across to another island, our article on car hire and ferries also works out when it is worth taking it at all.
How it works when you buy: SARA
To check residence, the Spanish transport ministry runs an automated system called SARA (Sistema de Acreditación de Residencia Automatizado). The law requires every airline and ferry company that issues discounted tickets to use it on all its sales channels. In practice it looks like this:
You select the discount at the end of the purchase. Under the law, you can only be asked about your residence in the final stage of the purchase, right before payment. Fred. Olsen says the same: with them, the discount is applied at the end of the online purchase.
You enter your DNI or NIE number and your name. According to a consumer summary by the Balearic Islands Government, you have to type your name exactly as it appears on your document, letter for letter.
The system replies. Fred. Olsen explains that SARA is checked every time a ticket is issued, and the result is either "VERIFICADO" or "NO VERIFICADO".
If the answer is yes, the law says that on flights you identify yourself like any other passenger, and you do not have to prove residence at check-in or at boarding. On Fred. Olsen ferries you then do not need to show the municipal certificate. Keep your ID document with you all the same.
If you buy a ticket for someone else, for example a family member, Fred. Olsen says you need their permission to enter their details. For finding your way between the airports, our article on the Canary Islands airports will help.
If the system cannot verify you: the paper to carry
If the answer is "NO VERIFICADO", you have to prove your residence on paper to get the discount. Under the law, residence is proven by a valid padrón certificate (certificado de empadronamiento). Fred. Olsen and the Balearic summary ask for the same: a valid residence certificate from the town hall, together with a DNI, NIE or passport.
What should you ask the town hall for? A certificate issued specifically for the discount. The law says it has to follow the form set out in the implementing regulation, and according to the regulation's template it states something like this:
your name, your DNI or NIE number and your nationality,
that you are on the municipality's padrón on the date of issue,
and that it was issued to prove eligibility for the transport discount.
The regulation sets a validity of six months from the date of issue for the municipal certificate. So if you travel often and the system does not recognise you, you do not need a new one for every trip.
What should you carry as an EU citizen if the system has not verified you? The rules name two documents, and not the same one. The text of the regulation names the registration certificate, while the law and the Canary Islands Government's page name the padrón certificate. The safest option is to carry both, together with your passport or ID card.
Why does the system fail to verify you? Our sources do not list the reasons, but two things are worth checking: whether you typed your name exactly as it appears on your document, and whether you really are on the padrón at your town hall. Fred. Olsen also explains that if you do not request the electronic check, or it does not verify you, you have to prove your eligibility in person with the required documents.
Children and large families
Children. The regulation states that for Spanish children under 14 who do not have a DNI, residence is proven by a certificate from the municipality where they live, and in that case the regulation's template also shows the date of birth. Under Fred. Olsen's own procedure, for a child without an ID document you choose the "Menor sin documento" type when booking and enter the legal guardian's DNI, you show the family book (libro de familia) at boarding, and the child's residence is proven by a "Certificado de residencia para viaje". For other cases, for example if the child has their own foreign passport, our sources give no separate rule, so ask the company before you book.
Large families. According to the regulation, the resident discount can be combined with the large family discount. For ferries, the law also sets a ceiling: if several state-managed discounts are combined on one trip, the total discount cannot exceed 85 percent of the fare. Fred. Olsen's information says that with them the two can be combined.
If there is a problem: boarding, liability, complaints
This part is worth taking seriously, because the discount is a state subsidy, and its rules are strict to match.
If you cannot prove your status, you cannot travel on that ticket. According to the regulation, if you cannot prove your identity and residence when the company or the authorities ask, you will not be allowed to board with that ticket.
Showing your documents counts as a declaration. According to the regulation, by doing so you take responsibility for your details and your residence being valid.
It can come to light later. If it turns out after the ticket was issued that the conditions were not met, you are liable under the subsidy rules.
This also applies to winter visitors: if you are not on a Canary Islands padrón, do not tick the discount box.
If you think you were wrongly refused the discount on a flight, you first have to complain to the airline. Only after that will the Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea (AESA), the Spanish aviation authority, take up your case. According to AESA, you have five years from the date of the flight to complain to the airline. AESA's complaint form for denied boarding has a separate reason for document problems with discounted tickets, including resident tickets.
In short
You qualify if you belong to one of the groups the law lists (Spanish, EU, EEA or Swiss citizens, their family members, or long-term residents) and are on the padrón of a Canary Islands municipality.
75 percent on flights and ferries, between the islands and to the rest of Spain.
Not for international flights, nor for any ticket that includes a leg abroad.
Your car, handling fees and taxes are not discounted.
When you buy, SARA checks you automatically, so enter your name letter for letter.
If it cannot verify you: a municipal certificate for the discount (valid for six months) and an ID document, and as an EU citizen the registration certificate too.
It can be combined with the large family discount.
Our island-hopping itineraries give you a starting point for planning travel between the islands. You can read the legislation in the BOE: Real Decreto 1316/2001 and Article 6 of Ley 19/1994. The Canary Islands Government's page covers the ferry discount, and Fred. Olsen explains its own check on this page.
Sources: Ley 19/1994 de modificación del Régimen Económico y Fiscal de Canarias, Article 6 (BOE); Ley 17/2012 de Presupuestos Generales del Estado para 2013, thirteenth additional provision, with later amendments (BOE); Real Decreto-ley 1/2014 (BOE); Real Decreto 1316/2001 and Real Decreto 1340/2007 (BOE); Real Decreto 240/2007 (BOE); Gobierno de Canarias, Consejería de Transportes, "Bonificaciones al transporte de residentes en Canarias"; Decreto 196/2017 (Boletín Oficial de Canarias); Govern de les Illes Balears, consumer summary on proof of residence; Fred. Olsen Express, "Verificación de la residencia" and FAQs; Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea (AESA).
Cover photo (cropped): the Fred. Olsen fast ferry Benchijigua Express leaving the port of Santa Cruz de La Palma. Marc Ryckaert, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.