Ryanair made 4yr old sit alone

It says adult, not parent. Pretty shit for the adult left randomly sitting next to a four year old though (if indeed this happened).

You are prompted constantly when you go through the booking so there's really no excuse. All for the sake of saving about £20.

It's ridiculous but their policy is actually that jt is mandatory for kids under 12 to sit with adults but customer must pay to reserve the seats. Parents of young children should sit with their child. I think they should offer free seat reservation of one parent with the kids during booking. Unfortunately making money comes before passenger safety so we always book seats together just to avoid the stress.

Is this your first time using ryanair OP?

Did you not know that you have to pay for seats?

Yeah exactly this. This is what I would have done although I'm a serial seat booker so would actually not be in this situation.

Actually they can, if they use the line that it's for safety reasons. This is written into the policy of most airlines.

A passenger who refuses an instruction to move from crew can find themselves disembarked.

Did you miss I am talking about what I would have done, not what everybody should have done? There would definitely be people who chose and paid for a specific seat for a specific reason, there would have definitely been others who wouldn’t have been affected a jot by swapping, yet their arse was too heavy to lift for a good reason.

I'm a nervous flier and therefore pay to sit next to DH so I can crush his hand on take off rather than some poor stranger's hand! I'm not giving up a seat that I have specifically chosen and paid for to make my flight easier because someone else hasn't bothered.

It's in breach of the Civil Aviation Authorities guidelines:

Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults. This is because the speed of an emergency evacuation may be affected by adults trying to reach their children.

While not binding, RyanAir should be compliant with this. If they aren't, it absolutely gives the OP grounds to complain.

yes, it’s ridiculous but those are the rules – if you don’t like them don’t fly with Ryanair. I don’t for this reason

People would probably be a lot more inclined to move if the parent said “look I’m really sorry. I didn’t realise I had to book seats. Will you take the amount it cost you to book the seat in cash, and trade with me so I can sit with my child”

I know I would

They will allocate the child for free if you pay for the adult

Their policy is clear - this is on you

Somebody did agree to swop but the OP chose not to have an adult sit with the 4 year old but made her 7 year old look after them! So the outrage about the 4 year old not being looked after is totally faux. In fact, had the OP or her husband sat with the 4 year old, as any sane parent would have done, then it would have been a 7 and 9 year old sitting by themselves on a short haul flight. That obviously doesn’t tug the heart strings in quite the same way though!

But sure why would they swap if they've paid for their seats!!!

Whn you book a seat on ryanair, you have the choice to pay more for a better seat.

For example it says "if you want an aisle seat with extra leg room it is 40 pounds"

Why would someone who has paid for a good seat, then swap seats.

OP should have paid for seats.

This doesn’t surprise me at all. I’ve had horrible experiences with Ryanair. They don’t care about their customers and don’t care about causing children to suffer. There’s also no real way to complain about their staff’s appalling behaviour. All you can really do is make sure you never fly with them again.

You need to pay the extra fee to sit together.
I think it’s CF for parents to think airlines will sit them together, book your seats and don’t expect others to exchange with you. Very entitled behaviour.

Could have just asked the parent if they would pay though at that point tbh. I'm sure if I was in that situation with my 4 year old I would happily pay someone at that stage if that's what it took.

If the rest of the passagers had paid for seats what kan Ryan do then? Nothing. They can't force prople to move.

Theyre not a restaurant though.

It's their rules. No one has to fly with them.

They are a lot cheaper than other airlines

I know!!!

Weird just flew with them and booked seats when booked flights which obviously we paid for........

The policy does kind of read weirdly, because they’ve essentially said you need to travel together AND there must be a seat booking. Wondering if they basically reserve the right to not let you board if you don’t comply?

I’ve got young children though, and I am heartily sick of people just chancing their arm that someone else will swap with them - including other people with families. No I will not swap with you, I paid to sit together with my family, I don’t care what needs your children have because I clearly booked mine together for a reason.

I can't understand how the OP missed that you have to pay to sit together.

There are so many things when you go on ryanair. It say "if you want to choose any seat you have to pay'

If you don't want to pay, you will get randomly allocated seats.

This is also it! We all just accept this nonsense it persists! It's not even that much cheaper in the end that some competitors. ....

How do you know it supercedes it. Are you just coming out with that?

You can book seats with children flying Ryan. OP didn't. Her choice.