Ryanair made 4yr old sit alone

I booked our last holiday through a travel agent so the flight was paid for, I attempted to book seats together on check-in but couldn't, luckily I got 3 close by each other and some people offered to swap so my 3 yo wasn't on her own.

If you hoped for random seat allocation in order to sit together, yyou've massively miscalculated.

A full flight is a full flight. If 80% of the passengers booked & paid for their seats, there isn't much the staff can do about it.
Yes, you can appeal to the kindness of strangers, but you cannot demand that they swap their seats with you.
Lesson learned, if it's to good to be true, it's probably not true at all. (Especially if it involves Ryanair!)

Ryanair are a nightmare even if you play by their rules. We flew with them last year and pre booked and paid for seats next to our four kids. When we got there they’d split us all up and put our two youngest (both under 5) in the emergency exits so obviously they had to move them before the flight took off. On that flight it seemed as though all parents had been separated from their children, it was a nightmare for the air hostesses trying to juggle everyone around when they were already on the plane. Total shambles. Just don’t fly with them.

It’s tricky isn’t it because other people will have paid to sit together so probably won’t want to move 🤷‍♀️

I can't believe this is real, I fly regularly with Ryanair and I'm fairly confident that they give you a free seat for kids and force an adult to pay to sit beside them- or visa versa. To ensure that people with kids seats pay for reservations.

For medical reasons I always pre-book and PAY FOR an aisle seat with my husband next to me.

I wouldn't move from my paid for seat to accommodate a family that had not booked and paid for allocated seats.

Many people do the same, plenty of people aren't refusing to move to be mean, in many cases it's because they've paid for specific seats for a reason.

Then you'd be removed from the plane by security eventually.....

The Ryan Air website says you must pay to reserve a seat and the child will get a free reserved seat next
to you, if you choose not to pay to reserve
your seat then that’s on you.

They don't care.

Or possibly you would have been removed from the plane. During your protest in the aisle what would you have said to the other passengers you were pissing off a out why you hadn't booked a seat?

I’ve had a similar experience with them. Awful company. I paid for my seats and when I got on the plane the seats didn’t even exist. I was separated from my 10 year old. I complained and complained and it took 6 months to get a poxy £40 refund for the seat or something. No apology or anything. I would never fly with them again. I’m so sorry for your experience. Please leave negative feedback with every forum going.

If you pay for specific seats, then you pick them at the time of booking!

I can't stand parents like you who won't pay for seat reservations then expect other people to give up their seats.

We tried to swap with people ourselves but only managed to get the two youngest together,

One of the adults could have sat with the four year old, which seems to be the main issue.

If everyone traveling with kids did what you did it would be complete chaos trying to relocate everyone.

When you need to sit together you book a seat.

God I hate all this money grabbing bollocks that these awful airlines have created. People who book together want to sit together and not pay for that. Sitting with the people you book with is just a basic. It never used to be difficult but they have turned it into an unpleasant charade. I was really pleased to see Ryanair lost a case in Italy about this recently.
I think the model they use us perfect fair and ut has opened up travel for more people.
Last week I flew to Germany , return for less than£35. Ipaid for what I needed and nothing else. No cabin luggage, don't care what seat I get even if it's the middle, no hidden extras, it's all made clear.
I'm flying with them next month I'm paying priority because I want to take a bigger bag and I'm happy to pay for a particular seat because my friend is a nervous flyer. When I'm with other friends we don't bother about sitting next to each other.

Sitting with people used to be basic , sure,but it was a lot more expensive to fly

I have been on an easyJet flight where they have said unless people switch seats we can’t take off (because of the rule that a child should be next to each orher

but I always prebook seats find it much less stressful than before when it was when you turned up

If there was an option to book seats when you booked your tickets then then you should have paid to ensure it happened. Too many parents rely on the “parents get to sit with their kids” and think they can cheap out and not pay for their seats to bully others out of theirs

exactly! It is slightly more complicated in OP's case because it appears she didn't bother to check this before she got to the airport, whereas if she'd deliberately chosen not to pay the extra because she saw the policy at the time of booking she'd have a stronger case.

Everyone saying pay extra for seats together - why would anyone choose to pay extra when they don't (or shouldn't?) need to?

It's like castigating someone who didn't pay for hold luggage because they had a cabin sized bag, and the policy is to allow a cabin sized bag for free, but RA then made them check the bag and pay for it. If the policy is to allow a bag for free then who would voluntarily pay to check in a bag they don't need? If the policy is to allocate under12s seats next to their parents then why would anyone pay extra to choose their seats?

This was entirely of your own making , it is not Ryanair that made your child sit alone , it is her parents .

I assume you knew the fact you could have paid to ensure you were seated together at the time of booking. You took the risk and it didn't work out - you know for the future.

If you want to complain, do. The cabin crew may be sanctioned if they follow up on the report via email however any compensation you can forget about it.

If this is not your return flight, I suggest you log in now and ensure you have seats together and pay for it.

You need to consider the seat reservation fee as part of the ticket price.
Exactly

You're unlikely to secure others' cooperation through either overt or passive aggression. This kind of attitude only makes people double down. The person sitting next to your child doesn't assume automatic responsibility for them; it's very strange parenting to imagine - much less openly suggest - that they will.

It's also pointless complaining about Ryanair being a heartless airline who operate on a nasty, cutthroat business model. That's what they are. They don't care who knows it, nor what people think of them as long as they keep on coining the profits.

People can still opt to fly with them in the full knowledge of what they're getting, or they can take their business elsewhere. They've made this stance unapologetically and very publicly clear on numerous occasions.

Personally I voted with my feet many years ago.

If you can't afford to book seats together then you can't afford to take your family flying

Gosh this gave me a good giggle. Excellent! It’s been a long day today and I really needed this, thank you!