Paid for seats on ryan air and kids still sat separately

It happened to me once that I paid for front seats but they were changed before boarding. I was told to fill in forms online and after endless calls and emails for weeks, the claim for a refund was denied. £120 down the drain.

Ryanair claim there's something in their small print that says they can sell you a chosen seat but you may not get that seat if it doesn't suit them. But we already know they are immoral.

I bought a chicken sandwich on Ryanair a few months ago. Paid for it etc and then she started taking the next order … a few minutes later they were heading off down the plane so I got their attention and said we hadn’t received my chicken sandwich yet. She looked in the trolly and said “we don’t have any left now, do you want bacon instead?” No fucking apology. I was livid.

Actively trying to help a disabled passenger to the point he has to be adamant he doesn’t need help is not a good thing and shows a lack of training.

The simplest answer here is, you make sure you or your husband is sitting next to the ten year old. Fair enough you made a snap decision when you got on board, but that could have easily been changed once the plane was in the air.

There is a reason they board families first. Being so late to the gate you were being rushed to sit down was the issue here.

I wasn’t. You can follow the quote thread to see the post I had in mind.

@sposabagnata

The previous poster has made the very common MN mistake of thinking that ‘safeguarding’ is a synonym for ‘safety’.

If you are referring to me, no I don't.

Just to be clear I was pointing out you can't assume all the legislation people are used to dealing with in day to day life (school, buses etc) automatically applies everywhere,.and I was using H&S as one example.

Unaccompanied minors are pretty much the definition of a potential safeguarding issue. That’s why some airlines don’t permit them at all, and why it is a service which costs more on those that do.

The previous poster has made the very common MN mistake of thinking that ‘safeguarding’ is a synonym for ‘safety’. I can’t believe how many people don’t understand the difference tbh. A ten-year-old sitting away from their parents on the same flight might be a safety issue depending on the circumstances. It is not a safeguarding issue.

I'd be wary of assumimg safeguarding regulations automatically apply here...

They may well do, I don't know, but FWIW a lot of legislation that applies to ground based activities doesn't apply at times in the aviation industry (e.g. some facets of H&S regulation), or is embedded in a modified form in industry specific legislation..

I am amazed people didn't want to swap seats. Being sat next to someone else's lone child on a flight is not ideal

Hope you get decent compensation but I wouldn't hold my breath

Ryanair does not permit unaccompanied minors. Those airlines who do have very clear policies and procedures, precisely because of the potential safeguarding implications.

School public transport generally doesn’t involve crossing borders.

The issue here is perhaps consent.

Unaccompanied minors could be a safeguarding issue. It is a bit of a historical throwback. However, parents/guardians will have given their permission for this and air crew will be aware - it should be flagged on their boarding pass, just as anyone with a disability or mobility issues is flagged on their boarding pass. Even the crew in this instance knew that a family of 4 was being split.
The difference lies in that the family here did not give their consent.

Travelling to school on public transport is an interesting one. I don’t know if bus drivers have to have a DBS or PVG. They probably do on school coaches now. Everything is being tightened up. Football coaches, talent scouts etc all have to be checked now because they have “influence”. There is a growing recognition that you don’t have to physically do something to someone to cause them harm.

Back to Ryanair. They have a duty of care to ensure travellers are safe. Arguably sitting a child or vulnerable adult next to some random for a number of hours does not guarantee that. They are supposedly providing a service and therefore have responsibilities. But it is Ryanair and well …

Correct, it's one factor that gets a mention in places like the UK Civil Aviation Authority guidance to airlines on passenger seat..but in the UK case the authorities offer the info as guidance, not as a set of rules.

I imagine that one of the reasons against splitting parents from children is that in an emergency, those parents are going to instinctively make their way to their children, possibly against the flow of everyone else trying to get off the aircraft?

BBC breakfast doing a piece on this today. Contact them they may air your problem.

But what about children who have to fly completely alone as unaccompanied minors? Is that a safeguarding issue? Should it be banned? 11 years olds often get public transport to school alone. Is that a safeguarding issue as well?

Yes, I would complain to the airline about that. Not just about the initial seat-switch but also for the poor way the staff spoke to you.
But it’s Ryanair, so don’t hold your breath that they will even reply.

Same happened to me (also with Ryanair) but I was like a dog with a bone and got the compensation nine months later in the end! It was about £800 so worth pursuing, and they are legally obliged to pay so even Ryanair can’t wriggle out of it forever. I can see them chancing their arm with the seat fees though as it’s only £10 each or so and therefore people are more likely to give up. I guess small claims court if you really want to take it all the way?

Splitting children away from their parents is a safeguarding issue. That’s probably the point you need to make again and again, and loudly!

Regardless if they had changed the aircraft, there should be code imbedded in the system to ensure that minors sit with their own grown ups especially if they have paid and paid for seats together. That’s not an excuse.

Also, how on the grounds of safeguarding minors that’s unacceptable to be honest.

You should absolutely get a refund. I’m a bit surprised at the level of panic about a ten year old sitting on their own for 2.5 hours though - at that age I would have found it exciting and been mortified my mother was making such a fuss about it.

Not entirely relevant to this conversation but if everyone on a Ryan air flight pays for priority boarding , who gets priority? To me all this preferential treatment for a few extra pounds is a con.

If you do fly Ryan Air ensre it's above £100 then you can just apply for a CC refund if it goes wrong. Add seats if you need to.

Absolutely appalling. But that's Ryan Air.
Consumer Law in UK, yes, you can just get a refund via your CC (generally you threaten to do that as it's costs them more and they repay you).
Otherwise you can take them to small claims and it adds even more more money for the company you're claiming off. (I've done it twice and it's annoying, but. I've won and got lots back. .

Exactly. I've never actually had a real problem with them. Sometimes a flight has been delayed but not through their fault. Staff as friendly as any other budget airline. Last flight, they were actively trying to help a disabled passenger but he was adamant he didn't need any assistance. Them going bust would seriously fuck up a lot of people's lives.