Ryanair seating policy!

fritzelly

So you booked Ryanair and then are so angered that it would cost an extra 20 euro if that to sit next to someone who is not related to you
The horror - my god, most 13 year olds would be glad to not have to sit next to relatives/parents on a flight

mopi

hurler32 wrote:

Ryanair is up there with Donald Trump separating children from their families ! Booked a flight for family of 5 to Europe all teenagers and ourselves husband-wife . When I decline paying for seats on check in , it allocates 5 middle seats all over the plane ... none within talking distance of each other not to mind even 2 of the 5 together . Their aloghterim it appears is set to have families seated as far away from each other as possible and split up to individual seats ... all their short of doing is putting children in cages away from their parents .... Wouldn’t it be easier charge everyone extra fares when they book rather than forcing people to pay extra for their seats at check in and pi55ing people off ??

hurler32 wrote:

Ryanair is up there with Donald Trump separating children from their families !

This belittles the very real suffering thousands of young children are experiencing this very night. Please find a better way to make a cheap point.

Fann Linn

If you want comfort fly Emirates or Lufthansa. If ye want economy fly Ryanair.
Simples.

L1011

Post that went over the line edited, that type of content isn't acceptable.

Lau2976

Minister wrote: »

I imagine if a thirteen year old girl was sexually assaulted on an aircraft where she had, intentionally, been separated from her guardian Ryanair would receive more adverse publicity.

I think the mother who wouldn’t pay €20 to sit beside her daughter would probably receive more adverse publicity. I know other then the perpetrators that’s who I’d blame.

Your kids 13, not 3. Unless she requires special assistance she’s likely to be perfectly fine on the hour and a half flight. Just like I’m sure she’s perfectly fine every other time she’s unsupervised.

Also this whole “you don’t know unless...” is bs. I was a 13 year old girl once. I would argue that makes me more knowledgeable in the area then you. You didn’t read the policy or you didn’t want to pay. Either way it’s your fault and your problem nobody else.

micosoft

mopi wrote: »

This belittles the very real suffering thousands of young children are experiencing this very night. Please find a better way to make a cheap point.

Agreed. A first world problem if ever there was one...

Tenger

We' re seeing a lot of heated posts here. Please keep in mind the issues of 'standing over your post' and our policy against 'airline bashing'

The fact is that Ryanair have a very public policy of not automatically seating parties together. (This can also happen on other airlines)
Ryanair want you to pay and book your seats.
This was discussed all over Irish media months ago.
Personally I can understand the parents opinion but again the policy is publically known.
I do know that all airlines allow 'unaccompanied minors' to travel alone. I would guess that non-seated together kids on FR are classified similarly?

Also, if you are easily offended by what strangers on the internet may say to you then stay away from chat forums

trick

Charles Babbage wrote: »

Ryanair's policy is such that those who value cheap tickets get cheaper tickets and those who value sitting beside a particular person get to do so for a small fee. Both groups are happy and everyone has the choice. Some people want their cake and to eat it.

100% agree with this!
It’s a budget airline. The more you pay the more you get. Simples.
I recently flew Ryanair. I booked seats in advance.
My way of saving a few quid was to take my own food on board.

It really grates on me when people book a budget airline & want the rules bent because of x, y & z.

Just pay the money!!
I wanted to sit next to my gf on the plane so I paid the money.
The rules should be across the board.
It’s the parents duty of care to make sure their kids are sitting beside them. Not an airline!!

fritzelly

I'm waiting for the day someone asks me could I move so they can sit next to so and so
Will take great delight in telling them to **** off - I paid for my seat unlike you

Fagashlil

I often wonder if people get on a bus and have to sit in seperate seats, do they have such a reaction.

J.pilkington

Look at it another way, Ryanair want to offer the public the possibility to fly as cheaply as possible and can only do this by splitting their offering into multiple offerings where the traveler only picks the ones they want. There are plenty of people who only want a seat, ie no bags, no priority boarding, no window seat, no insurance etc. If you follow OPs request then they need to price seat selection into all fares therefore denying travellers an opportunity to fly as cheaply as possible.

Another point, aisle and window seats are most desirable so it’s surely understandable that these don’t get given away free leaving mainly middle seats for those who don’t want to pay so naturally a high chance that you will get a middle seat.

Car99

hurler32 wrote: »

Ryanair is up there with Donald Trump separating children from their families !
Booked a flight for family of 5 to Europe all teenagers and ourselves husband-wife . When I decline paying for seats on check in , it allocates 5 middle seats all over the plane ... none within talking distance of each other not to mind even 2 of the 5 together . Their aloghterim it appears is set to have families seated as far away from each other as possible and split up to individual seats ... all their short of doing is putting children in cages away from their parents ....
Wouldn’t it be easier charge everyone extra fares when they book rather than forcing people to pay extra for their seats at check in and pi55ing people off ??

No , it's easier that the consumer who wants something pays for it .

trellheim

Ryanair just want to maximise ancillary revenue - selling seat assignments is one major way they do that. Why do you think they gave up on the random seating thing ? It wasn't due to MOL's big heart. Every single thing they do is try and upsell off the basic cheap product. I can't blame them for this.

Also most ryanair flights are only a couple of hours.

Steer55

Be glad of couple hours break from the teenagers. Don't fret they will manage fine without you.

Steer55

Pauliedragon wrote: »

<snip>
It's very clear when you book with Ryanair that if you don't pay the extra mula you don't get a booked seat. You can't miss it so that is careless on whoever made the booking. A lot of airlines allow children 12+ to fly alone and it doesn't seem to cause issues. People love to hammer Ryanair but in my experience Aer Lingus is no better and twice the price most times.

Thus is ridiclous, she's 13. When I was 13 I had a summer job. Go back 50 or 60 years ago and young Irish girls were emigrating for work a year or two later.

Bebop

My partner and I often book the extra legroom seats in Row 16/17 (overwing emergency exits) but sometimes you get under 16s in these seats and by law the cannot occupy an emergency exit seat, the CC inform them of this and find them another seat but if the flight is fully booked this can be a problem, we have seen this several times recently..

Can Ryanair not tell passengers about this when they book online? something like a pop-up message explaining the safety issue in plain language and requiring a click to acknowledge.

VG31

Bebop wrote: »

Can Ryanair not tell passengers about this when they book online? something like a pop-up message explaining the safety issue in plain language and requiring a click to acknowledge.

If you select an exit row seat on Lufthansa you have to confirm that you're over 16, able-bodied etc.

Marcusm

Minister wrote: »

Please re-read my comment before you react with an unthought out reply. Stupid, stupid and churlish post by you, sir.

The lack of thought was you and/or your partner not verifying the seating arrangements!

Noxegon

fritzelly wrote: »

I'm waiting for the day someone asks me could I move so they can sit next to so and so
Will take great delight in telling them to **** off - I paid for my seat unlike you

Would you not maybe say “I’m very sorry, but I’ve paid for this seat and I’m not willing to move from it” instead? There’s no reason to be rude.

Just a thought.

Noxegon

AfterDusk wrote: »

The problem is that the system deliberately separates parties travelling together, including families, when there are ample seats together remaining. It is done to purposely force people to pay the extra. It's disgusting.

It’s probably fairer to say that the seat allocation for each passenger is treated separately, with weight towards the less desirable middle seats.

Many airlines allocate in groups; Ryanair has chosen not to. That’s been well documented at this stage; if you don’t like the seats you’ve been allocated then you do have the option of purchasing different ones.

That said, I wouldn’t like to be in an emergency evacuation with families split around the plane. I wonder if anyone has studied that situation and the potential impact on exit times.

Mebuntu

That said, I wouldn’t like to be in an emergency evacuation with families split around the plane. I wonder if anyone has studied that situation and the potential impact on exit times.

Can't see how it would make any difference at all. AFAIK pax with children U12 have to purchase their seat(s) together so only 12+ would be separated and I'm sure they'd get off the plane row by row just as quickly without a parent having to hold their hand.

Noxegon

Mebuntu wrote: »

Can't see how it would make any difference at all. AFAIK pax with children U12 have to purchase their seat(s) together so only 12+ would be separated and I'm sure they'd get off the plane row by row just as quickly without a parent having to hold their hand.

When I said families, I didn’t exclusively mean those with children.

Imagine that your wife/husband is at the other end of an aircraft filling with smoke. Do you realistically think you could evacuate without any attempt to rescue her/him?

Even if you could, do you think an entire plane full of passengers would be as level headed?

Mebuntu

Imagine that your wife/husband is at the other end of an aircraft filling with smoke. Do you realistically think you could evacuate without any attempt to rescue her/him? Even if you could, do you think an entire plane full of passengers would be as level headed?

It's probably unlikely that everyone would be completely level headed in any evacuation where smoke was involved. I'd have no realistic chance of making it down the aisle "against the tide" nor she neither. In any event, no matter where she is seated, she is not going to just sit there waiting for me to rescue her rather than get up like everyone else and evacuate through the nearest exit as instructed by CC.

plodder

Noxegon wrote: »

When I said families, I didn’t exclusively mean those with children.

Imagine that your wife/husband is at the other end of an aircraft filling with smoke. Do you realistically think you could evacuate without any attempt to rescue her/him?

Even if you could, do you think an entire plane full of passengers would be as level headed?

It's a good point. It could be chaotic. Given that it's their policy to split groups, they should be addressing it in the safety briefing.

Irish Steve

I didn't think I'd be commenting on this, but it seems that Ryanair's policy is NOT working.

My son has just been in on a family holiday to Salou for a week, 2 Adults and 2 children under 12, flight both ways with Ryanair, and he paid for a seat booking. The way the system worked was just wrong, he had his son in a seat by him, but his wife and their 7 year old daughter were spread around, which is NOT how I understood the system is supposed to work, if the parent has paid for seat allocation, it was my understanding that the system then kept the children with the parent that had the booked seat. That did not happen.

The result was that on both flights, they had to prevail on the generosity of other passengers to get the 7 year old moved to be with him. Whatever about the merits or otherwise of a 13 year old being separated from the parent, if a seat has been paid for on a family booking, in accordance with Ryanair's rules, then all the children should be within the same row, or adjacent across the aisle, not spread around the place.

I will need to check with my son that the children were in the system correctly, having just looked at it, the booking engine has 4 options that are all age related, so unless there was a mistake made, it looks like the system doesn't work correctly. If that's the case, then there are some serious questions to be answered by Ryanair's programmers and managers, if their complex rules have been complied with, separating children of that age from their parent/s is NOT acceptable for so many reasons.

Mebuntu

Irish Steve wrote: »

if a seat has been paid for on a family booking, in accordance with Ryanair's rules, then all the children should be within the same row, or adjacent across the aisle, not spread around the place.

Agree 100%. That has always been their answer to previous complaints. Please let us know the result following your re-check with your son.

Tenger

I was under the impression that children under a certain age HAD to be seated within 1-2 rows of their parent/guardian, ie. 5B and 6E were permissible but 5B and 8B are not.
I have seen this in action on EI flights, the crew 6 weeks ago had a separated family, I watched as they got each parent seated behind 1 of the kids. I heard them explaining that “under 2 rows apart was the regulation”
This could relate to under 12s or maybe younger though. It could also be an EI rather than IAA regulation.



Personally I think that neither FR or EI (or any other budget/value airline) will automatically reserve seats for family’s/groups if they see a way to squeeze a few more Euro from the customer

lardzeppelin

Ryanair is a business that made flying a reality for millions of people who would otherwise not have been able to do so for want of cost... Fast forward how ever many years and a sector of the flying public can't stop getting a hard on for looking the gift horse in the mouth... The Ryanair model of travel has been so successful that its the economic envy of the flying business world, and it did it with clever and shrewd marketing that we all accept if we want to go places...so if you want to sit together, pay to sit together, if you want more legroom, pay for the privilege in advance, if you want priority boarding, we'll, you get the picture....however, don't knock the system when you haven't got your own ducks in a row or your too tight to put up the few extra euros (which would still have been way cheaper than with other airlines) ..
Im not the biggest fan of the company, but I know exactly what to expect when I sign up for a budget flight... Ryanair is the bus eiran of the sky's, cheap, practical and plentiful, and that's why the OP used them above Aer Lingus or another more expensive carrier...

Squatter

Irish Steve wrote: »

I didn't think I'd be commenting on this, but it seems that Ryanair's policy is NOT working.

My son has just been in on a family holiday to Salou for a week, 2 Adults and 2 children under 12, flight both ways with Ryanair, and he paid for a seat booking. The way the system worked was just wrong, he had his son in a seat by him, but his wife and their 7 year old daughter were spread around, which is NOT how I understood the system is supposed to work, if the parent has paid for seat allocation, it was my understanding that the system then kept the children with the parent that had the booked seat. That did not happen.

The result was that on both flights, they had to prevail on the generosity of other passengers to get the 7 year old moved to be with him. Whatever about the merits or otherwise of a 13 year old being separated from the parent, if a seat has been paid for on a family booking, in accordance with Ryanair's rules, then all the children should be within the same row, or adjacent across the aisle, not spread around the place.

I will need to check with my son that the children were in the system correctly, having just looked at it, the booking engine has 4 options that are all age related, so unless there was a mistake made, it looks like the system doesn't work correctly. If that's the case, then there are some serious questions to be answered by Ryanair's programmers and managers, if their complex rules have been complied with, separating children of that age from their parent/s is NOT acceptable for so many reasons.

It is mandatory for an adult travelling with children under 12 (excl. infants) to purchase a seat so that the children in their booking get a free reserved seat. A maximum of four children for every one adult on the booking will get a free reserved seat. This way adults can choose where to seat their children.

Did the system enable your son to pick two specific seats for his two kids?


For adults required to purchase a reserved seat, a reduced fee of €4.00 will apply. These standard €4.00 seats are available for selection in rows 18-33. Seats in rows 18-33 will be free for children. If an adult required to purchase a reserved seat selects a seat in a different row, they must pay the difference in price. Children will be charged the full price of these seats.

https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/help-centre/faq-overview/Travelling-with-children/Will-families-be-split-up-if-they-do-not-wish-to-pay-for-allocated-seating

California Dreamer

lardzeppelin wrote: »

Ryanair is a business that made flying a reality for millions of people who would otherwise not have been able to do so for want of cost... Fast forward how ever many years and a sector of the flying public can't stop getting a hard on for looking the gift horse in the mouth... The Ryanair model of travel has been so successful that its the economic envy of the flying business world, and it did it with clever and shrewd marketing that we all accept if we want to go places...so if you want to sit together, pay to sit together, if you want more legroom, pay for the privilege in advance, if you want priority boarding, we'll, you get the picture....however, don't knock the system when you haven't got your own ducks in a row or your too tight to put up the few extra euros (which would still have been way cheaper than with other airlines) ..
Im not the biggest fan of the company, but I know exactly what to expect when I sign up for a budget flight... Ryanair is the bus eiran of the sky's, cheap, practical and plentiful, and that's why the OP used them above Aer Lingus or another more expensive carrier...

Some good points there. But what a lot of people fail to remember is what Ryanair of old was actually like. They were cheap, like really cheap. If you had the pre paid credit cards and booked at the right time and were not fussy you could get flights for 2c!!! I remember those days. Before bag charges, before priority boarding, before their 'always getting better' slogan. MOL was a c**t and nobody expected anything less. Fast forward a few years and he was pretty much forced into change with the advent of social media and the power of peoples voices.

These days the Ryanair PR machine is still dishing out the sensational stories to get free media coverage. (1 in 10 stories of 'press releases' get picked up on by mainstream media).

With 400 plus aircraft to pay for all costs have gone up. Anybody who thinks Ryanair today is like Ryanair 20 years ago is sorely mistaken. More often than not they are not hugely cheaper than the legacy carriers.

The seating is just another way to squeeze a few more quid out of you is all!
They will work it until they deem it successful and then use the bad press to their benefit!