Ryanair made 4yr old sit alone

Don't be a weirdo

Hi I also tend to pay for a seat because I hate the middle seat but if you read the thread parents with kids under 12 HAVE to pay for a seat - it’s automatically charged when you book and then when you get to the seating part of the booking it shows which rows you can choose to sit. I am saying people are mean because OP would have paid for a seat to sit with the kids - it’s automatic - so if there were no seats left together it was up to Ryanair to sort out! 90% of the time I am asked I change seats for people as it’s not always someone being too cheap to buy a seat, sometimes it’s the system! The only times I’ve said no is when I am sitting with my family - though now I am older and more confident I would not change to a middle seat. I got a separate seat to my child on a sold out aerlingus flight before as I booked late and the seats together were gone - they sorted it for me before take off though so it isn’t that hard, it’s also breaking the law to fly with unaccompanied minors! My kid is mad hyper so would literally run up and down the aisles if we weren’t there to get her to stay sitting.

The airlines have done OK over the last year or two (having had an horrific time during Covid…)

“Done OK” means many of the. making a profit of as much as maybe £10, plus/minus or so per average passenger over the season..

If they stop charging for seat choice they will claw back the lost revenue elsewhere.

TBH the travelling public had a choice about thirty years back of either sticking with those airlines that charged high base prices but didn’t nickel and dime for things like meals and checked baggage i.e. the legacies, or going with the newly liberated LoCos who did have some form of menu pricing.

The public by and large chose the LoCo, low base fare option- even the legacies have had to adopt that approach to survive and IMO it’s too late to put that genie back in the bottle.

Mayve your own three puking children were seated across the aisle from you - you just don't know what any other group is having to deal with

To whoever said all airlines ask you to pay - true to a point but I do know British Airways have a policy of not seating kids under 12 away from their accompanying adult. And you can check in and choose any free seat for free 24 hours before take off. Qatar that PP mentioned is actually notorious for seating dc away from adults so beware!! It's all a big scam but it is a scam that keeps prices low and ppl would complain if those base prices rose. And Ryanair do ask at every turn if you really are sure you don't want to reserve a seat ...

So if you were sat next to the four year old - who gets travel sick - you'd have refused to move? Surely it would be in your best interests to sit elsewhere, rather than risk being sat next to a puking small child who's crying for their mother.

Deleted.

Don't worry we were editing at the same time.

only managed to get the two youngest together

So it wasn't your 4 year old on her own then?

I'm sorry, this isn't a new thing, and the website is very clear when booking - you chanced your arm and lost. Sure it would be nice if there were others who didn't mind moving - but most people will pay to book a seat.

The flight was under three hours, now you'll know for next time not to be so cheap. I mean, I paid the extra for a 45 minute flight to Amsterdam as I knew my 8 year old was a nervous flyer - why wouldn't you?

Thank you. Finally, someone who actually gets Ryanair policy. Furthermore, their policy indicates that when the adult pays for their seat (mandatory) then children are entitled to FREE seat allocation next to the paying adult.

Either the practicalities of their policy aren't well-thought out, or their staff need more training. That being said, if it's a full flight, and most people pay for assigned seats, I can see why the crew on board wouldn't want to faff around making an announcement and encouraging others to move when they've got a limited time to get everyone in their seats for takeoff.

Something should have been sorted as soon as you showed up at the airport. What happened was unsafe and I can imagine very stressful for you, OP, but consider the fee for assigned seating part of the ticket price and pay the extra when you book next time.

You should't have to pay extra when Ryanair have a policy that all children under 12 need to be seated with an adult. If that is their policy then it applies whether or not you pay to choose seats. Children under 12 should be automatically allocated seats next to accompanying adults.

No they didn't. Ryanair have a clear policy that children under 12 need to be seated with an adult. Ryanair violated their own policy by separating them.

So if airlines stopped charging g...

• they put the base price up.
• no one chooses their seat, an algorithm does it. That algorithm will still need to split groups, as passengers don't come on groups of 3, or which ever seating configuration the plane is.
• people will still be unhappy, but would have paid more than before to have the middle seat on the back row next to the toilet.

People pay because they do care about their seat basically.

I understand Ryanair do have such a system... but I think all airlines should have to have a pop up that makes the guidelines clear... that together means across aisles or behind/in front, its not whole party together and if the seats aren't available they can be bigger distances

So sorry OP. Even if I'd paid for my seats I would have definitely swapped with you in this scenario. A 4 year old being terrified is just bloody awful.
Shame on Ryan air and shame on the other passengers.

People shouldn’t have to pay extra to be seated with whom they booked with. It is a gimmick money making scheme but since it is in existence- I now have to pay extra to ensure that we have seats next to our children. If I had paid that extra money then no I would not move unless the person asking me to move refunded me.

airlines just need to stop charging

Surely if it's going to be an issue you pay to sit together? Which is probably why everyone else had done and hence why they wouldn't move .

expecting too much from those on this thread to care for a 4 year old over some £££

OP wasn't sitting on the pavement in the rain begging for £5 to buy food for her child. She was going on a foreign holiday with DH and 3 children, on return flights that won't have left much change from £1000 by the time you include luggage. She thought she could save £20 or so on seat reservations for her and DH with a bit of moral blackmail of other passengers. That's CF behaviour right there. (If the entire story happened at all, which I am increasingly doubtful about.)

OP wrote "we check in online in advance, and I notice nobody is sitting together". If she had actually paid for 5 seats next to each other I think she would have told us that nobody got the seats that they had paid for. Also, for all their faults, Ryanair never, ever double books. If OP had booked and paid for seats, she would have got them (except perhaps for an IT failure, which would have caused everyone on the plane to be in the wrong seat, so people wouldn't have all been saying "I paid for this one").

Next up, Ryanair's policy that people sit with their kids under 12. What this means is, "it's our policy that you sit with your kids, and to do that, we're going to ask the adults to buy a seat". It's not "We will ensure that adults always sit with their kids, no matter how many they are, how late they check in, and how many other people who chose a seat, perhaps for medical or MH reasons, we have to move while trying to get the plane off on time". This has been the case since 2016 and it's all over the pop-up messages when you book. Indeed as some PP are saying it may not even be possible to book the way OP described (I notice she hasn't come back to tell us).

The far more likely explanation is that OP made it up, it's telling that she hasn't been back.

Ryanair don't tend to randomly reassign seats that have been paid for.

I once had a woman just take my seat without asking, so she could sit next to her partner.

She said "oh other people can move for you it s no problem"

I said "I want my seat!"

She rolled her eyes at me like I was the problem!

The air hostess made her get up

You mean you didn't pay to book seats together for the benefit of your young children and expected everyone else to sort it out for you - passengers and Ryan Air.

Ffs you chose to fly with 3 kids under ten on a budget airline and not prebook seats wtf would you do that

With Ryanair there is no choice but to pay for the adult's seat when travelling with children under 12. It is their policy. If OP was travelling with her children, she HAS to pay. There's no way around it, it's not her choice. The booking will not be complete without it. Ryanair will then seat the children next to her. That is in their policy which I have copied and pasted in another previous post.

Did you miss the part of the story where when they did get 2 seats together OP put the 2 youngest kids together rather than an adult sit with the youngest? Surely no one is really that stupid

@LiquoriceAllsorts2 the flight was busy. The staff couldn’t help. How do you think it was an easy fix? I suspect you’re getting mixed up with another comment who said their flight was empty and they moved themselves to have full rows each. This is completely on the OP. Let’s hope she learns from it. It’s really not fair to her children and other passengers.