Ryanair - New reserved seating structure(s)

grogi

-=al=- wrote: »

On the return flight I also noticed some folks waiting in the stairwell after they got their boarding card scanned but before they go to the stairs on the plane... maybe to scope the situation out and take a chance on seating?

Why do that? Just sit together, worst case scenario one will have to move.

Wheety

Will just have to include the price of a seat in any comparisons with other airlines when I'm booking. Aer Lingus and WestJet (flew with them recently) let you actually pick your seat on check-in if you haven't already bought one. Got exit seats on WestJet for free.

MayoForSam

Just checked in there for a flight to Italy on Monday (4 of us) and as expected, we got split up, randomly allocated middle seats. First time this has happened in 10 years of travelling with them. Our kids are now teenagers so it won't matter too much but Ryanair are going to lose a lot of goodwill by sneakily trying to get an extra payment out of us for an allocated seat.

degsie

Ryanair playing fast and loose with their 'put up or shut up' attitude. I have to feel a little sorry for the cabin crew who have to put up the all the moaning and general carry-on with seat switching.

joeysoap

Is there another policy also in place? Allocate two passengers on the same booking two seats apart, but one has a spare seat beside them, which the airline can offer for sale?

grogi

joeysoap wrote: »

Is there another policy also in place? Allocate two passengers on the same booking two seats apart, but one has a spare seat beside them, which the airline can offer for sale?

It goes how the free seats are allocated - firstly they are given the middle seats. So there will be other seats available beside.

degsie

grogi wrote: »

It goes how the free seats are allocated - firstly they are given the middle seats. So there will be other seats available beside.

The middle seat 'trick' is how they maximise the potential for allocating separate seats, having a spare seat either side of you.

ED E

degsie wrote: »

The middle seat 'trick' is how they maximise the potential for allocating separate seats, having a spare seat either side of you.

Nope.

The aisle and window seats are more valuable, nobody wants a middle seat, so they keep them until last so as to possibly sell them.

Thats why if you check in very late you get a better seat

Bob24

grogi wrote: »

Why do that? Just sit together, worst case scenario one will have to move.

If everybody starts doing that boarding will be a complete mess. Moving around the cabin is pretty slow when people are queuing in the corridor to find their seat. If some passengers keep changing seat the process will slow dow significantly.

grogi

Bob24 wrote: »

If everybody starts doing they boarding will be a complete mess.

Maybe MO'L takes a hint then.

dermiestv

embraer170 wrote: »

Someone needs to find a proper platform to challenge such lies.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission – CCPC contact form is available on www.consumerhelp.ie/contact-form for addressing such issues.

The Irish Aviation Authority website has the following link for submitting safety complaints in relation to Irish commercial airlines -such as actual and potential dangers occasioned by this new seating policy.
https://www.iaa.ie/contacts/voluntary-reports-1

IIRC, When checking in with Aer Lingus, you have to pay again before choosing a seat. It's been a while since I've flown with them so am open to correction.

Bob24

dermiestv wrote: »

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission – CCPC contact form is available on www.consumerhelp.ie/contact-form for addressing such issues.

The Irish Aviation Authority website has the following link for submitting safety complaints in relation to Irish commercial airlines -such as actual and potential dangers occasioned by this new seating policy.
https://www.iaa.ie/contacts/voluntary-reports-1

I don't think any of those two is relevant to challenge lies from a Ryanair executive though?

Clearly it's not a safety complaint and I don't think the CCPC will have any interest unless the lie is used in marketing material (and even then from my experience the CCPC is fairly useless).

annascott

Deleted User wrote: »

IIRC, When checking in with Aer Lingus, you have to pay again before choosing a seat. It's been a while since I've flown with them so am open to correction.

Yes, this is correct. I booked a flight with them last week.

GLaDOS

I flew to/from Budapest with my girlfriend there recently with Ryanair, first time encountering the new seating policy.

We paid to sit together on the flight over, but on the way back we left it late enough to check in and we couldn't even pay to sit together, because all the middle seats were allocated! Tonnes of aisle/window left though :rolleyes:. We took our given allocation and in the end swapped with another couple who had the middle seats corresponding to the 2 window seats we had been given.

Whole thing is a pain in the hole really.

GLaDOS

GLaDOS wrote: »

I flew to/from Budapest with my girlfriend there recently with Ryanair, first time encountering the new seating policy.

We paid to sit together on the flight over, but on the way back we left it late enough to check in and we couldn't even pay to sit together, because all the middle seats were allocated! Tonnes of aisle/window left though :rolleyes:. We took our given allocation and in the end swapped with another couple who had the middle seats corresponding to the 2 window seats we had been given.

Whole thing is a pain in the hole really.

And time consuming with people changing seats.

degsie

GLaDOS wrote: »

We paid to sit together on the flight over, but on the way back we left it late enough to check in and we couldn't even pay to sit together, because all the middle seats were allocated! Tonnes of aisle/window left though

Are you saying that while there were aisle and window seats available, you both ended up in a row where all three seats were allocated?
That's unlucky.

aon1998

Hypothetical situation

If you had bought a seat, boarded the flight and somebody with a family asked you to swap with them so the family could sit together would you move?

I would be the first to say to them that they chose not to pay for allocated seating but on the other hand I would feel quite bad for separating them, especially a young family.

A Dub in Glasgo

aon1998 wrote: »

Hypothetical situation

If you had bought a seat, boarded the flight and somebody with a family asked you to swap with them so the family could sit together would you move?

I would be the first to say to them that they chose not to pay for allocated seating but on the other hand I would feel quite bad for separating them, especially a young family.

Depends on what seat they wanted me to take. Window to window, aisle to aisle and aisle to window... yes. Window to middle or aisle... no

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

.G.

Copied and pasted to save people from having to visit the Daily Mails website since they are a horrible organization.

Ryanair admits groups wanting free seat allocations will 'inevitably' be split up - because it saves aisle and window berths for those willing to pay reservation fees

Ryanair has faced mounting criticism that it’s operating a money-grabbing policy of splitting up passengers who book free seats as a group to force them to pay a reservation fee.

The carrier has now admitted that its booking system is geared to encouraging customers to pay a reservation fee of between two and 15 euros - by keeping the popular window and aisle seats free for them.

The admission came as researchers from Oxford University discovered that those opting for a free seat allocation are more likely to get a middle seat than any other type.

Ryanair's 'random' seating allocation algorithm has been called into question by scientists at Oxford University +2
Ryanair's 'random' seating allocation algorithm has been called into question by scientists at Oxford University

Anger among passengers built up over the booking computer at Ryanair frequently splitting groups up even when lots of adjacent seats were available.

Subsequently, a BBC Watchdog investigation sought to test how random the airline’s seating algorithm is. As part of their tests, groups of four people were sent on four separate Ryanair flights.

In each instance every single person was allocated a middle seat. Dr Jennifer Rogers, Director of the new Oxford University Statistical Consultancy, was invited to work out the chances of every person getting a middle seat allocated randomly.

By looking at the amount of window, aisle and middle seating available on each flight Dr Rogers calculated the chances of all four people being randomly given middle seats on each of the flights, to be around 1 in 540,000,000. The chances of winning the National Lottery jackpot are 1 in 45,000,000.

This means that you are 10 times more likely to win the lottery than be in a group who are all randomly allocated middle seats.

To support her analysis, Dr Rogers was also given access to data from a further 26 individuals, from nine groups, who had been separated from their party when travelling with Ryanair. Of the 26 people canvassed, 21 had been allocated middle seats, and in 11 of the total 13 groups assessed, each person had been given a middle seat.

Dr Rogers also found that individuals would, on average, be seated 10 rows away from someone else from their group. On two of the flights the data revealed that a passenger had been seated 26 rows away from someone else who they were flying with.

Dr Rogers said: ‘This is a highly controversial topic and my analysis cast doubt on whether Ryanair’s seat allocation can be purely random.’

The findings will no doubt please passengers who have taken to social media to vent their anger at Ryanair - many posting screenshots of their flight's seating layout to illustrate their point.

Rachel Bartlett took to Twitter to confront the airline: 'Seriously @ryanair - couldn't possibly find two seats together? Forcing customers to pay to sit together, disgusting customer service...'

Anthony McGarrigle's experience was similar. He tweeted: 'Checked in two people together on @ryanair and they've 'randomly' allocated seats a plane's length apart! The things they do for [money].'

Meanwhile, Thomas Berger expressed his disbelief that families with children would be affected by this, tweeting: '#Ryanair Even though there are seats available next to each other, Ryanair "randomly" allocates seats to my family traveling with young kids.'

Ryanair denies it separates families, but does admit that the system is loaded so that groups wanting free seats are indeed more likely to be split up.

A spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We don’t separate families. We require families, with kids under 12, to sit together and we give all of the kids free of charge reserved seats to ensure that families are not and cannot be separated.

'Secondly, the chances of random seat passengers being separated are extremely high because so many of our customers now choose to pay for reserved seats and these customers overwhelmingly prefer window and aisle seats, which is why customers who choose free random seats are almost certain to be allocated middle seats, while we keep window and aisle seats for those customers who wish to pay for them.

'This is an issue of customer choice. We fully respect the choice of our customers who choose free of charge random seats, which inevitably means you can’t sit together, and we also respect the choice of those passengers who wish to sit together to select reserved seats for just two euros.'

otnomart

ED E wrote: »

nobody wants a middle seat

Surely, if you are travelling as a couple, ideally you will want a middle seat and a window or an aisle ?
Or do you take the window and the aisle, with a stranger between the two of you ?

degsie

otnomart wrote: »

Surely, if you are travelling as a couple, ideally you will want a middle seat and a window or an aisle ?
Or do you take the window and the aisle, with a stranger between the two of you ?

I'm sure he meant for single travelers.

otnomart

degsie wrote: »

I'm sure he meant for single travelers.

True enough !
However I wonder how many single travellers are on flights to pure holiday destinations ?

grogi

degsie wrote: »

I'm sure he meant for single travelers.

Not in this world I would hand my money to Ryanair for the seat if I was travelling alone.

NOT A CHANCE.

trishasaffron

Fred Swanson wrote: »

It has often happened to me where people attempted to get me to move from 17A which I have paid €15 extra for. Not a chance in hell will I move.

I've had this happen to me & was then subjected to extreme embarrassment when the couple (who hadn't paid for their seats) humiliated me by identifying me to their (many) friends on the plane as the woman who wouldn't move despite the husband's "disability". Apparently this was some kind of heart condition......a "heart condition" that didn't stop him drinking, moving up & down the plane chatting to friends & pushing in front of me at disembarkment.

Single travellers are routinely bullied by cheapskates who won't pay for what they want but pressurise others to move.

EverythingGood

trishasaffron wrote: »

I've had this happen to me & was then subjected to extreme embarrassment when the couple (who hadn't paid for their seats) humiliated me by identifying me to their (many) friends on the plane as the woman who wouldn't move despite the husband's "disability". Apparently this was some kind of heart condition......a "heart condition" that didn't stop him drinking, moving up & down the plane chatting to friends & pushing in front of me at disembarkment.

Single travellers are routinely bullied by cheapskates who won't pay for what they want but pressurise others to move.

Sell the seat to them for €20!

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

joeysoap

I'm slightly puzzled by some of Ryanair's comments. They say they are keeping the aisle/window foe customers who wish to purchase a seat but 'randomly' assigning middle seats in the meantime.

But they cannot assign a middle seat to anybody for free until 4 days before the flight. So are they saying that with 4 days or less to flights they are saving window and aisle for passengers who wish to purchase? Anyone who wants to purchase usually does so at booking stage when a) you have a choice of seats and b)you have a choice of prices, including seats 'on sale'.

The only ones who might purchase later are because they have been separated and wish to sit together.

RoYoBo

joeysoap wrote: »

I'm slightly puzzled by some of Ryanair's comments. They say they are keeping the aisle/window foe customers who wish to purchase a seat but 'randomly' assigning middle seats in the meantime.

But they cannot assign a middle seat to anybody for free until 4 days before the flight. So are they saying that with 4 days or less to flights they are saving window and aisle for passengers who wish to purchase? Anyone who wants to purchase usually does so at booking stage when a) you have a choice of seats and b)you have a choice of prices, including seats 'on sale'.

The only ones who might purchase later are because they have been separated and wish to sit together.

Exactly! The only people who can get seats before the 4 day 'free' window have purchased and reserved a seat.

Not only that, if they assign all the middle seats first, where are the seats together for the supposed paying customers who come after that? Even if only some of the middle seats are gone by the time you check in, you're going to be restricted by what's left.

I won't be travelling again until October, but I can't wait to see how late I can check in to get somewhat decent seats 'free'. From my observations now, there's only very pricey seats left within 24 hours on some routes -
and they'll have to 'give' me one of those if the crap ones are gone :pac: It seems to be a minimum of 2.5 hours is necessary to check in before a flight - not sure if my nerves can take it to the wire!