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Original poster

Ryanair made 4yr old sit alone

736 replies

LHGL · 13/10/2024 19:18

We had a really stressful experience recently and I don’t know if it’s just me who finds this completely unacceptable but I just feel the need to get this out there.
Family of 5; DH, myself, DD 4 and 9, DS 7. Both DD’s get very travel sick.
Just under 3 hour flight to Italy and we check in online in advance, and I notice nobody is sitting together. I mean nobody is even on the same row - 5C, 32F,19B etc. We click ‘change seats’ but there are no options. I read up on kids sitting alone and am relieved to hear that Ryanair policy is that anyone under 12 needs to sit next to an adult.
We get to the airport and tell the Ryanair woman at baggage, she’s says not to worry and they’ll make sure we’re sitting together at the gate. Get to the gate, same story but the cabin crew will sort us out.

we board the plane and the two flight attendants tell us the flight is busy and they can’t help. DH reminds them of the policy of kids and adults sitting together, and they shrug and tell us we’re blocking the aisle. After a little more polite protestation we’re told they’ll sort us out once seated.
They don’t. We tried to swap with people ourselves but only managed to get the two youngest together, people weren’t terribly helpful and luck was against us with language and some odd folk.
The long and short of it was that the flight was a very distressing experience for all, not least the kids, and I was really taken aback by how uncaring the Ryanair attendants were. They put more effort into trying to sell us scratch cards than attempting to stop my kids being terrified of ever getting on a plane again.

OP posts:
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12
MumChp · 13/10/2024 22:19

SpringYay · 13/10/2024 22:17

Yep, this thread is full of horrible people driven by the " well I've paid for my bit of the world so to hell with everyone else" attitude. Including a wee 4 year old needing to sit away from their care giver.

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A need the care giver could have chosen to pay to be met.

samarrange · 13/10/2024 22:18

Elektra1 · 13/10/2024 20:19

@Boobygravy "more fool you" why? Being forced to pay extra to have a (in my case at the time) 2 year old child sit next to me is not something which was made clear at the point of booking (in 2009) nor is it on any view humane conduct. I'm more than happy to pay a decent airline which makes its terms clear at the point of booking, and have done so ever since.

It certainly won't have been made clear to you in 2009, because you couldn't pay for a seat on Ryanair until 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/apr/19/ryanair-to-charge-seat-reservations-airline

Ryanair to charge for seat reservations

Ryanair says the £10 each way charge to reserve a particular seat will be trialled on flights from Dublin to Gatwick and Malaga

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/apr/19/ryanair-to-charge-seat-reservations-airline

SpringYay · 13/10/2024 22:17

Garlicnaan · 13/10/2024 22:01

Agree with you. People sneering at OP for not paying to book a seat like she's a cretin for not doing so need to STFU. She booked her seats in advance and was told they would be sorted.

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Yep, this thread is full of horrible people driven by the " well I've paid for my bit of the world so to hell with everyone else" attitude. Including a wee 4 year old needing to sit away from their care giver.

MumChp · 13/10/2024 22:17

SpringYay · 13/10/2024 22:14

Sure, your money is more important than a 4 year old's well being.....not horrible in the slightest.....

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Tbh yes.

You can't expect random people to care about other people's children onlybecause their parents won't pay seating.

Soontobe60 · 13/10/2024 22:17

For those who think Ryanair did something wrong, why not try a test booking where you put 1 adult and 1 child 2-11. The very first thing the website does is signal you to the need to pay for a reserved seat. No way did the OP not see that!

Ryanair made 4yr old sit alone
FoodieToo · 13/10/2024 22:16

SpringYay · 13/10/2024 22:14

Sure, your money is more important than a 4 year old's well being.....not horrible in the slightest.....

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Maybe if the kid's own parents had cared enough to avail of the FREE child seat they were offered but didn't buy then randomers wouldn't have to give up seats they had bothered to pay for .....
Your comments are misplaced.

juggleit · 13/10/2024 22:16

reesewithoutaspoon · 13/10/2024 19:22

Ryanair will always split up people who book together if you don't pay for assigned seats. This is to make it as inconvenient as possible so you pay for seats. they now even offer you the option of paying an extra £3 for random allocation that won't be a middle seat.
Their whole business model is having a very cheap base price then adding extras to bump the price up.
If you want to sit together on Ryanair you pay for the privilege or you take your chances, but they will never put a whole party together for free.

This - 100% the strategy is to ensure you pay the extra seat fee next time / they are mercenary but they offer low cost flights and giving customers the seat options if you want to pay. I would never leave it to chance that they would fulfil their policy, I'm just too cynical! Sorry you had such a terrible time OP ❤️

youheard · 13/10/2024 22:16

SpringYay · 13/10/2024 22:14

Sure, your money is more important than a 4 year old's well being.....not horrible in the slightest.....

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She wants to sit with her own children, not exactly unreasonable

As PP said if you want to have passengers swap for seats they paid for you need to pay them

BettyBardMacDonald · 13/10/2024 22:16

HisNibs · 13/10/2024 22:11

"She booked her seats in advance and was told they would be sorted."
She didn't book the seats. She checked in online in advance and saw the seats were spread about. Is the person at bag drop going to argue the toss about paying for seats? Nope, they'll kick the can down the road to the gate staff. Will the gate staff deal? Nope, pass the buck to the cabin crew. Cabin crew try to accommodate but the other passengers have already paid for their seats so they not moving. Not a lot of options left now. Either accept the seats as they are or leave the flight. For the two seats the OP does managed to blag what does she do? Put the 4 and 7 year old together.

Exactly.

Blaming the airline and other passengers is absurd.

Bombalarino · 13/10/2024 22:15

I've had this problem. I DID book seats for my family and I to sit together - then Ryanair changed the aircraft, booted my 4 year old out of her seat and stuck her up the other end of the aeroplane.

Online chat, check in and cabin crew were entirely unhelpful. Fortunately the woman sitting next to said 4 year old was very nice and probably didn't want to entertain a pre schooler for 2 hours (fair enough) so swapped with DH.

So yeah... Paying for a seat wasn't very helpful in our situation

SpringYay · 13/10/2024 22:14

Whaleandsnail6 · 13/10/2024 21:21

I'm not a horrible person.... I am a person who has paid and booked seats to sit with my own children however, therefore I wouldnt swap!

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Sure, your money is more important than a 4 year old's well being.....not horrible in the slightest.....

youheard · 13/10/2024 22:13

I feel deeply sorry for Ryanair staff having to deal with this aggro every flight. It’s why they and Easyjet no longer have reclining seats as they led to too much fighting. It’s a shit system - but I’ll say it again - it’s notoriously shit and they’ve never hidden that fact, in fact they make a virtue of it. There are other, more expensive options available if you want to avoid them.

eyeblob · 13/10/2024 22:12

I've paid for seats together on Ryan air and when we got in queue were allocated seats all over the plane as after an air craft change our seats were not longer there. As kids are older they were OK. Took ages to get a refund too, only 3 seats were refunded and gave up on 4th as lost will by then! If I had paid for my seat and someone hadn't I probably would move so a young child could be with their family but would be peed off if it was because they hadn't booked and paid for a seat!

Soontobe60 · 13/10/2024 22:12

Did you not read the bit where I said the OP has ‘misremembered’? If you believe this actually happened then you’re unbelievably gullible,

HisNibs · 13/10/2024 22:11

"She booked her seats in advance and was told they would be sorted."
She didn't book the seats. She checked in online in advance and saw the seats were spread about. Is the person at bag drop going to argue the toss about paying for seats? Nope, they'll kick the can down the road to the gate staff. Will the gate staff deal? Nope, pass the buck to the cabin crew. Cabin crew try to accommodate but the other passengers have already paid for their seats so they not moving. Not a lot of options left now. Either accept the seats as they are or leave the flight. For the two seats the OP does managed to blag what does she do? Put the 4 and 7 year old together.

thebigchangeishere · 13/10/2024 22:10

Sorry op but you took a risk. Always pay to sit together.

Where were you in relation to the kids? If I remember rightly the policy of 'next' to your kids could be across the aisle or behind or in front. It doesn't just mean directly next to them

Ohnobackagain · 13/10/2024 22:08

@Phonicshaskilledmeoff they used to offer a family option that included seats. However, in most cases unlike many other airlines their seats start at such low prices if selected at time of booking that it’s cheap even for a group - anything from £3 to £4 and up. And at check in you can let the system book the first at random then pay for one next to it but of course if the flight is full that close to departure you’re kind of stuffed.

Hibernating80 · 13/10/2024 22:07

They are the pirates of the skies - I once heard a pilot say something like that. Since I sat on chewing gum on their flight and it ruined my trousers and they couldn't give too hoots in fact they were rude, I've refused to fly with them. Anyone know if they have a higher proportion of near miss accidents than their competitors?

FoodieToo · 13/10/2024 22:06

Garlicnaan · 13/10/2024 22:01

Agree with you. People sneering at OP for not paying to book a seat like she's a cretin for not doing so need to STFU. She booked her seats in advance and was told they would be sorted.

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She didn't book her seats in advance ? Despite being allowed book a kids' seat for free !!

toadlady · 13/10/2024 22:05

@Garlicnaan given that it's the whole point of the thread and entirely the reason for the situation she found herself in, I'm not sure why you think people should STFU.

Look, if you don't want to pay that's fine. If dh and I travel we'll just risk it and if we don't end up sat together it's annoying but not a big deal. There's no way I'd take that risk with young children. Ultimately people have no obligation to swap. You're at the mercy of other people and hoping they'll be kind which I'd say 90% of the time they probably would be. But it's a risk. And it's really entitled to expect people to move when you haven't paid to ensure your family are together.

It's wrong of airlines to do this because it puts prices up a lot but that's how it is.

downwindofyou · 13/10/2024 22:04

JanefromLondon1 · 13/10/2024 21:55

You made your DCs sit alone because you didn't rebook and prepay for seats. Your actions or lack of them caused this issue and nothing else.

If it is the airline policy to seat under 12s with an adult then no, the OP did nothing wrong.

FrancisSeaton · 13/10/2024 22:03

Wow what a surprise op hasn't been back

mitogoshigg · 13/10/2024 22:02

I choose not to reserve seats as I refuse to pay, that means I may be seated apart (all adults so not a problem) that's our choice. If you want to sit together then just book seats. It's cheap on Ryan air (unlike Virgin who want £36 per person each way!)

Full marks to easyJet who have a really early check in and always seat together in my experience if you check in at the beginning of the window

Garlicnaan · 13/10/2024 22:01

pleasehelpwi3 · 13/10/2024 21:56

It's exactly the same. At present you don't have to pay extra on a bus to stay with your family. Until recently you didn't on planes. It was just normal practice that airlines would sit families together. Some American budget airlines are first come first served- saves a lot of faffing around.

Seating families together is much safer as well in case of plane crashes. I don't understand how on MN, people are quick to defend a profiteering charge that endangers human life.

Also bizarrely on MN, people seem to think this extra charge, made up only to screw passengers over, is sacrosanct and must be paid, and anyone who doesn't is a BAD parent and should be reported to Social Services. There is no extra cost to airlines in seating people together. If no-one paid it, they would not be able to keep charging it. I've never paid it and I am almost always seated next to my family.

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Agree with you. People sneering at OP for not paying to book a seat like she's a cretin for not doing so need to STFU. She booked her seats in advance and was told they would be sorted.

Thecleanersings · 13/10/2024 22:01

Pay for your seats so you can sit together. I wouldn’t swap when I have paid for my seats. Why should you get something for nothing?