Ryanair - New reserved seating structure(s)

embraer170

Allinall wrote: »

So you harassed a guy flying home to his own country.

When that didn't work, you just decided to sit in someone else's seats, and complained when they - rightly - wanted to sit in there allocated seats.

And it's Ryanair's fault?

Sometimes I despair.

I don't think he said that he sat in their seats, rather that someone wanted those seats for themselves.

faceman

MOH wrote: »

This is the whole source of the problem.

People who want to be guaranteed to sit together should pay the extra few euro for that. Instead of which, people have been turning up at the airport for the last few years without having bothered to pay, then expect special treatment because they insist they can't be separated from their child. But wouldn't spend €4 to ensure that.

So then what are the crew supposed to do? Do you split up a group of people who have actually paid to sit together, to accommodate the skinflints?

After years of idiots trying to game the system, Ryanair have finally had enough. By making it clear that you can't expect to be seated together unless you pay, they'll get some whinging in the short term, but save themselves a lot of hassle in the long run once people finally lose their sense of automatic entitlement.

This. Whether or not they changed their policy discreetly or not, the way it is now with random allocation is fair. After all if I have paid extra to sit next to my travelling partners and other punters haven't yet are allocated together then that's unfair on punters who have paid extra in advance.

Random allocation should mean random allocation IMO. Either that or adapt the Southwest seating model.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

grogi

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I don't think anybody here suggested that you should. You pay for the guarantee - and nobody should take it from you.

Spanish Eyes

There may be trouble ahead, but while there's moolah....

Just pay for the seats. It doesn't cost THAT much and you get priority boarding too as a little bonus that only works in certain airports I know that. But still.

Otherwise go with another airline.

I have to say that RYR are making this very complex and it is bound to end up with onboard angst.

Simple solution would be to add say E3 to every ticket and you get what seats you want, and pay more for priority boarding, exit and front rows.

God why does it have to be so complicated.

Someone at RYR obviously said, hey they think we are TOO cuddly now. Rowback, rowback stat.

Spanish Eyes

kyogger wrote: »

my and a mate flew to italy last week got given two different seats on the boarding card. asked an itlaian guy that was sitting next to my friends seat to move twice so that we could sit together and he wouldn't despite the fact he was in a middle seat and seemed to be on his own. in the end we found another 2 seats empty behind my assigned row and then another gang of people came on the plane unexpectedly and a mother spent 5 mins arguing with us trying to claim our two seats so that her children could sit together. it's a joke now with ryanair.

Not RYR , You, your mate and the mad mummy should have PAID for your seats. I am sorry, I have no sympathy. Rules are rules.

embraer170

faceman wrote: »

This. Whether or not they changed their policy discreetly or not, the way it is now with random allocation is fair. After all if I have paid extra to sit next to my travelling partners and other punters haven't yet are allocated together then that's unfair on punters who have paid extra in advance.

So it is better for the majority on the aircraft to be seated "randomly" when the system can actually easily seat the vast majority of passengers together?

In dozens of Ryanair flights in a group of 3/4, I have never been seated apart even booking and checking in at the very last minute. The old algorithm was very effective.

grogi

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Not RYR , You, your mate and the mad mummy should have PAID for your seats. I am sorry, I have no sympathy. Rules are rules.

It is human nature. Rules or not, disputes about seats will happen now much more often.

embraer170 wrote: »

So it is better for the majority on the aircraft to be seated "randomly" when the system can actually easily seat the vast majority of passengers together?

In dozens of Ryanair flights in a group of 3/4, I have never been seated apart even booking and checking in at the very last minute. The old algorithm was very effective.

And extremely simple - allocated the first available group of seats as far to the back as possible. This class of algorithms is called eager algorithms - what an irony...

embraer170

Just pay for the seats. It doesn't cost THAT much and you get priority boarding too as a little bonus that only works in certain airports I know that. But still.

Priority boarding and seats are separate.

faceman

embraer170 wrote: »

So it is better for the majority on the aircraft to be seated "randomly" when the system can actually easily seat the vast majority of passengers together?

In dozens of Ryanair flights in a group of 3/4, I have never been seated apart even booking and checking in at the very last minute. The old algorithm was very effective.

It's their business model though. You pay a base price to get on the plane and everything is a value add. You can't treat anything as a half way house otherwise it's unfair.

Btw I'm not suggesting that I'd rather pay for a seat. However it's either random or it's not. And until a few days ago, it wasn't random.

A Dub in Glasgo

Just booked a return flight for 3 in July Glasgow to Dublin, based on this discussion, I also booked the seats at £2 / €2 each

zac8

embraer170 wrote: »

Priority boarding and seats are separate.

They're not. Paying for seats gets you priority boarding.

embraer170

zac8 wrote: »

They're not. Paying for seats gets you priority boarding.

Only 1ABC and 2DEF (maybe the emergency exits too, 16/17) but not any other rows.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

zac8

Fred Swanson wrote: »

No it does not. Priority boarding is then offered as an extra after you select seats.

Maybe it changed recently, but I always pre-book seats and get priority boarding at no extra cost. And I wouldn't always be booking front rows or exit seats.

Edit: last flew with them in April row 20 odd and got priority boarding with pre-paid seat.

Spanish Eyes

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I dunno, maybe it's changed now, but I recall free priority boarding along with a seat charge. But maybe that doesn't include the "cheap 2 euro seats" or something.

There are (or were) different seat charges depending on where in the aircraft the seats were positioned. Maybe lower seat charges don't include priority, but certainly any seats I have paid for recently did.

Spanish Eyes

Well in all fairness, who would NOT pay €2 for a guaranteed seat next to their loved ones and brats. No hassle, no worries.

Feck sake, I just don't understand the anger about this. But I might be missing something, and I am sure I will be rightly told off sooner or later, and will have to wind in my neck or something.

zac8

Mr.S wrote: »

Only the €2 seats don't come with priority boarding, the other two pricing tiers (rows 1-5 and emergency exits) come with priority boarding included.

Then thats part of the recent change. Makes sense because if more people start paying for seats you can't have the majority of passengers queueing in the priority queue.

Allinall

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Well in all fairness, who would NOT pay €2 for a guaranteed seat next to their loved ones and brats. No hassle, no worries.

Feck sake, I just don't understand the anger about this. But I might be missing something, and I am sure I will be rightly told off sooner or later, and will have to wind in my neck or something.

I'm with you 100%.

People just lose all sense of perspective when it comes to air travel.

Spanish Eyes

Fred Swanson wrote: »

What price were those seats I can't see it. If the €2 ones, well you have a choice to pay or not for priority. All others that are a couple of euro dearer include priority boarding AFAIK.

Edit, I see it is €4 for two passengers. Nuff said.

embraer170

Mr.S wrote: »

Only the €2 seats don't come with priority boarding, the other two pricing tiers (rows 1-5 and emergency exits) come with priority boarding included.

Ryanair has 11 tiers of reserved seat pricing.

Again, the only tiers that come with priority boarding are rows 1ABC, 2DEF, and the 2 emergency exit rows. This is not a recent change.

zac8

embraer170 wrote: »

Ryanair has 11 tiers of reserved seat pricing.

Again, the only tiers that come with priority boarding are rows 1ABC, 2DEF, and the 2 emergency exit rows. This is not a recent change.

Not true. I always pre-book seats with ryanair, several times a year and I don't book those seats you speciify but I always get priority boarding at no extra cost.

.G.

I pre booked seats with Ryanair for the family holiday this year and priority boarding is an optional extra.

mallen

The reason people started flying with Ryanair is because it was cheaper, so cost is a factor. When the market share was captured and the competition receded, the prices increased. I like to know what the fare is upfront with no surprises and the law demands that the advertised fare includes all essentials. That's why a lot of people are against paying for extras. Ryanair have become the experts in creating a market for extras. There is a fake fanfare of a benefit and then after a short while the reality becomes apparent. For example: 'Check on online and get free priority boarding', Reality: Priority boarding becomes a paid for extra. 'No more queuing at the gate when choosing your own seat now there is allocated seating' , Reality: Seats become a paid for extra. 'Bring an extra smaller bag on board', Reality: There is a good chance they will take the bigger bag off you if you haven't paid for priority and been one of the first 90 people on board. This seat allocation change is another cynical attempt to force people to pay for extras.The same strategy has been employed here, get them used to sitting together and then they feel they have to pay to sit together. I have used Ryanair to see a lot of Europe over the last 30 years and I am happy they came along but I am getting very tired of these tactics and the competition is closing in on them.

Sadb

I just don't get the big hubbub, are grown adults really incapable of spending 2/3/4 hours sitting on their own??!! If you can't cope sitting apart then pay for the seats, it really is that simple.

degsie

Sadb wrote: »

I just don't get the big hubbub, are grown adults really incapable of spending 2/3/4 hours sitting on their own??!! If you can't cope sitting apart then pay for the seats, it really is that simple.

Michael?

joeysoap

kyogger wrote: »

my and a mate flew to italy last week got given two different seats on the boarding card. asked an itlaian guy that was sitting next to my friends seat to move twice so that we could sit together and he wouldn't despite the fact he was in a middle seat and seemed to be on his own. in the end we found another 2 seats empty behind my assigned row and then another gang of people came on the plane unexpectedly and a mother spent 5 mins arguing with us trying to claim our two seats so that her children could sit together. it's a joke now with ryanair.

If the doors weren't closed then those passengers didn't come on the plane 'unexpectedly ' and those seats behind YOUR assigned row were not necessarily empty. With the doors closed that's a different story.

Priority seats; first 5 rows plus rows 16 and 17. The €2 seats are only in rows 24/28.

When I was checking for prices a few months ago (unsure of my dates but had ballpark idea) RY were quoting €134 fares. A few weeks after this when I did have my dates the fares were €156. I didn't book and the fares went to €178. Last week the fares on the date I am travelling dropped to €97. And dropped again on Friday to €82. Obviously they were trying it on with the earlier prices but that's still some drop.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

joeysoap

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

No, but thanks to this thread discovered it last week, having said that it didn't foresee the further drop in prices on Friday. I checked out the available seats to see ( I know it means diddley squat) and it looks like there's an awful lot of seats left on that date. 3 AL flights that day including a 330, a321 and a 320 =700+ seats and 3 RY x 189 = another 560+.


I guess looking at the fares on offer Aer Lingus have pretty much sold the bulk of theirs.

quadrifoglio verde

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Well in all fairness, who would NOT pay €2 for a guaranteed seat next to their loved ones and brats. No hassle, no worries.

Feck sake, I just don't understand the anger about this. But I might be missing something, and I am sure I will be rightly told off sooner or later, and will have to wind in my neck or something.

The way some people are going on, you'd swear they were being forced to hang onto the wings. :pac:

It's a seat. If you crave sitting beside your travel companions, then pay the few quid. If you're happy to sit where then keep it. It'll buy you a pint