Ryanair made 4yr old sit alone

@youheard
Family Plus does include reserved seating

I refuse fly ryan air. They are fucking shite.

Family Plus doesn’t reserve seats though … it just says free seats for kids. Think the OP got confused as to what she bought

@LHGL

So you bought Family Plus and you were still seated apart?
That sounds like they cocked up. I guess the learning from this don't wait until the airport/ plane to sort it out.
I would go absolutely mental at them.
TBH whenever I have bought Family Plus on Ryan air, we have always been sat together.

This. You need to book seats together.

To everyone saying if you want seats together to pay for them, I just have to let you know that isn't a guarantee. I'm an anxious flyer so we always book and pay for seats together. Coming back from Frankfurt last year we were told we were in different rows and when I asked why when we paid to sit together they told us they "were fully booked" which shouldn't have mattered considering our seats together were booked and paid for (this wasn't Ryanair, I can't actually remember airline). Luckily the person in one of our paid for seats was happy to swap and I complained and received our seat money back.

If this hadn't happened to us then I would be fully agreeing that it wasn't the airlines fault and it's on the parent to ensure they sit with their child.

Sometimes it's just not that simple.

Why not? If they have more passengers than seats then they shouldn't have sold the extra tickets. There is always a way to arrange it so that people are on the same row or if needed in the row before or behind. They have the AI technology to make it work. They would have to if everyone bought the "upgrade" to sit with those they booked with. They deliberately make sure that they don't.

Thanks for the update OP. Good that you have the boarding passes in order for the return journey and hope all goes well. Ignore all the ridiculous comments from those who don't understand the first thing about the Ryanair family seating policy, and how it actually works during the booking process, and the troll hunting posts.

Restaurants can change the size of their tables by rearranging chairs.

You can't rearrange the seats on an aircraft.

Not everyone can sit together on a dull booked plane.

Maybe restaurants should then charge extra for a party to sit together on a table instead of randomly scattered around the restaurant? No? Because it's a stupid idea and so is doing the same in a plane. If they actually gave something that was genuinely an extra, rather than taking something away until you pay, then people wouldn't mind paying the extra.

Normally I’m firmly in the ‘want to sit together, pay for the privilege’ camp but expecting a 4 year old to sit on their own is completely unreasonable 😵

This has been done to death.
Ryanair didn’t make your 4year old sit alone- you did. To guarantee this privilege you have to get your act together and pay for it. If the booking confirmation comes through as random seating it is your job as a parent to sort this out at the time of booking. Not assume cabin crew or all the other people who have already paid up will be willing to shuffle and accommodate you.

thank you for returning OP

If you booked the seats and paid for them then that is completely outrageous – but I doubt you’ll get anything from Ryanair except eventually (hopefully) the booking fee back

Other airlines may have these kind of charges, but Ryanair is always the most contemptuous of its passengers, which is why I avoid them

Because if you remove seat choice fees the airline suffers a loss in revenue.

Margins are too tight to allow that loss simply to be ignored, so the lost revenue will be recovered by increasing charges on other items on the menu such as checked bags or food or the base fare itself.

Confused @LHGL if you had the family option did you pick the specific seats from the ‘free included’ selection when booking, or skip that bit until later? If so then yes, they should reimburse. But if you didn’t and left it until close to departure to actually choose then in a full flight you can only pick from what’s left which could be none together, which is on you.

I think it’s a fake post to wind us all up.

Why would anyone be made to pay more? It doesn't cost them anything not to pick names out of a hat and sit people randomly. It's a fake add on and they should be held to account for it.

Exactly. As a solo traveller I already have to pay single supplements for all sorts of things and I don't want to subsidise couples and families further by this being included in the base fare.

And then everyone will pay more for their tickets.

@EasternEcho @elderflowerspritzer There's nothing wrong with the Ryanair booking process, which won't allow you to proceed without paying for at least one adult seat and reserving the children's seats in the same row.

It's quite obvious that this is an imaginary situation, probably posted by a journalist looking to get people wound up.

You are right, but their booking process does not let you check out and purchase the tickets until the adult has chosen and paid for their seat. You cannot move on to the next screen until this process is completed.

Yep, the policy is very widespread now, even amongst the traditional/full service/legacy carriers, even on Long Haul flights.

All (or pretty much all IME) do it now. DH and I fly to the states, usually at least once a year. Went to Hong Kong a few years ago. Flew Premium every time, still had to pay to reserve seats.

So they shouldn't have allowed them to buy tickets for children under 12 without pre-booking seats.

Ryanair is at fault either way.

If it's in their policy that children under 12 need to be seated beside an adult, then they shouldn't have allowed a situation to arise where that hasn't happened.

Their booking process is at fault.