Paying for seats on Ryanair

You can elect not to pay for a seat and they will allocate you one when you check in.

just as an fyi to people re ryanair and seating….

i have now heard THREE separate stories from ppl who dont know each other. bear in mind these ppl were not travelling alone either.

these people travelling with friends had NOT paid for their seating on the return flights to DUBLIN, Italy and Spain, but had to fight tooth and nail to get on the planes as they were "full" coming home. funnily enough in two cases the ppl were told, ryanair hedge their bets you wont turn up if you dont pay for seats ?? somehow i find this extraordinary. in one case they had to keep seats for staff members to return home ?

its all a bit odd, but these are the facts that im aware of.

last few times we have flown with ryanair we havent paid for seats. I am wondering is this another sneaky ploy from ryanair to get ppl to pay for their seats?

Why do you find it extraordinary? Airlines have been doing this for years.

I think you're right about it being when you check in.

You used to be able to sort of cheat the seat system by leaving it until last minute and getting a premium seat that had not been sold but they closed that loophole and you're more likely to get a crappy seat (or none) if you leave it late.

Yeah never experienced it with Ryanair, have with other airlines. You be well remunerated generally if it happens

It could be expensive enough for Ryanair to do considering they'd have to pay compensation. I assume they have an algorithim in place that tells them how much they could make by over selling and hoping people don't show vs how much they could loose in compensation. It could be worth their while mainly in high season.

it happened as i posted above, i have no reason to throw ryanair under the bus, but they have given ppl fear and anxiety with their behavior, and this is just another ploy to get ppl to pay for seats IMO. Bully tactics.

and it kills me to say i booked flights with them two weeks ago, aer lingus just too dear for same route - and we paid for the seats and privilege to breathe on the plane.

My go to strategy has been to check in at late as possible without picking a seat, I get an exit seat more often than not.

Maybe we shouldn't be publicly commenting on our strategies 😁

I've a better strategy if you want to sit beside your travel companion but not pay for seats. Check in last minute, but click on book a seat first so you can see what seats are still avaiable together last minute. Write down the good ones, if any. Then go back and choose random seat selection. Get on the plane last and confidently sit on the empty good seats that you know are likely still free. This strategy has worked for me 80% of the time. The only time it doesn't work is when the plane is full. In that case, you have a high chance of getting at least one good exit seat anyway.

In a slightly different story but Ryanair and seating related. I was flying back to Dublin once, possibly from Germany, and as advised on our tickets we entered from the end of the plane, when I got to the top of the steps there was a lady there with bags and holding a baby, I offered to take her bags or hold the baby as she made her way to here seat/s, she said "it's ok, I'm waiting for them to sort me out, I'm in Row !! and that doesn't exist on this plane" Before take off I saw that she was sorted but I'm not sure if everyone who had booked that row got on the plane.

I've flown BHX-DUB with Ryanair, they had to switch planes and our row didn't exist, they just got us to seat in a spare seat.

Yes between the Max and the non there's about 8 rows of seats that if you are paying for a seat you should avoid as they conflict on each plane. For example the Max has 3 extra rows at the back and then the emergency exit/extra legroom rows are completely different rows which on the Max has a window seat removed and a 'toy' seat fitted behind where it should be that any adult who eats 3 square meals a day will struggle to squeeze in to.

just to go back to this, Ryanair and other websites sometimes have the Skip or similar button super small or as plain text etc that you wouldnt intuitively click on but rather "choose" the paid option thinking its the only way to proceed with the booking.

I'd be similar later on for insurance and car hire.

Ryanair overbooking/ having less capacity than anticipated due to last minute aircraft change is a different issue. I would have far more worrys about the likes of Lufthansa or KLM overbooking than Ryanair as they will have people missing connections at hubs getting re-allocated to your flight, and if you havent a boarding pass/ you arent checked in in good time, its you and not them that ends up on the waiting list/ standby. Ryanair on the other hand is point to point and doesnt shunt people from one flight to another like legacy airlines do.

Never, ever pay for your seat. Absolute scheme from Ryanair and all other airlines. Apart from the exit rows or emergency rows, they're all the same, you're all going to the same place. They try to scare you about families not being together but they have to by law put you together.

I don't think it's 'the law' as such, but it's highly recommended for safety purposes when the family includes young children. In an emergency situation/evacuation (obviously an extreme rarity) you'd want the parent there to help the 10 year-old with their oxygen mask, and you also wouldn't want the parent to be travelling half the plane to retrieve the child.

This is the UK government guidelines on it, but I expect Irl/EU would be similar.

Airline seating allocations | Civil Aviation Authority (caa.co.uk)

So Ryanair have it as their policy that parents must book (and pay for seats) when travelling with U12s. But if they choose not to book seats, the question then it if Ryanair should attempt to follow the CAA guidelines and put the family together. Potentially moving people who have paid for their desired seat. Alternatives being not let them on the flight, or have them separated for the flight and then possibly face tough questions from the CAA.

it’s more of a policy I’d say, flying back from Alicante with Ryanair a family of adults & kids were obviously randomly allocated seats at some point & they got someone to move from their seat to allow a parent sit with two of the kids, they said they weren’t taking off until they were with a parent