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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not want to have to pay RYANAIR yet another £40+ to avoid my family being separated?

132 replies

ElizaPickford · 04/07/2014 15:38

Oh how I have hated dealing with this airline recently. They have conned me out of £30 which it took me 2 weeks and a lot of aggro to get back, they ripped me off with some stupid scratch card game at the time of booking and now if I don't pay a minimum of £40 my whole family could end up scattered across the plane. I hugely resent having to pay yet another trumped up fee, but my children have never flown before and are very young and obviously I don't want them to end up on their own or sat with strangers. (The kids will be fine but god help the rest of the plane. Wink )

What would you do, anyone been in this situation?

OP posts:
DoJo · 04/07/2014 16:15

They are low cost for a reason - if you can get to a foreign country for less than it costs to get the train to the next town, then they have to claw the money back from somewhere. Annoying as it is, I believe that their transparency has been improved significantly over recent years so it should be possible to work out the full cost of the flights you want before booking anything. However, as others have said, they will not allow small children to fly on their own (depending on their ages) and they do positively encourage you to check in yourself when the time comes, so you can save yourself the money if you are prepared to leave it until closer to the time to make arrangements.

trixymalixy · 04/07/2014 16:19

thye give you a seat number now. check in as early as you are able to and there should be no problem about you sitting together. if you're not it says in their travelling with children policy to ring them and they'll see what they can do.

Maryz · 04/07/2014 16:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Delphiniumsblue · 04/07/2014 16:29

I was quite reasonable until I started reading MN on the subject and now I shall not move- neither will I bother about the threat of having to sit next to your children- I will sit next to them.
The only way I would move is if you hand me the cash that I paid out to book my seats- BEFORE I move.
Airlines should charge the higher price and then take off money for those who will sit anywhere etc.

Numanoid · 04/07/2014 16:33

I've just booked with another airline, and paid extra to reserve seats. I'm just travelling with DP but would rather not have to sit separately, and since we're both tall I reserved the exit seats for the extra leg room. Grin

I won't be moving seats because others didn't pay to sit together. I'm not saying so to be nasty, but if you have kids and you want to sit together - pay. If you don't, it's no-one else's problem.

chosenone · 04/07/2014 16:34

My dc were seperated from us !! Ds 7 Dd 5. We were stood in the aisle looking dumbfounded as the 4 seats were all over the plane. I had never flown with ryan air before and was totally naive avout it. The air stewards were askinh people to swap and no one would. I was crying DD was crying then an older teenager swapped so that DD wad about 5 rows down from me. Luckily the people with her were lovely. Would never bother with Ryanair again tbh

hamptoncourt · 04/07/2014 16:35

I flew with my DC when they were 1 and 4. I prepaid to have us sat together. The airline messed up - First Choice - and said we had to sit in four different seats.

Seriously, they said DS, aged 1, had to sit on his own, as well as DD, 4.

It took nearly an hour of me pleading and crying before they would agree to move people, who were very reluctant to do so and I think only moved because they were concerned how late our flight was getting. We were still only 2 together at one end and 2 together and another end.

I am sure the other passengers well those out of earshot thought I hadn't bothered to pay but I had - WAILS!!!!!

And the bastards refused to compensate me in any way, and even refused to give me back the money I had paid for us to sit together because I didn't have the boarding passes that proved they had given us separate seats!!

Joysmum · 04/07/2014 16:36

If you want to book seats together, you pay. If you chose not to pay extra for this then you run the risk of not being sat together.

It's not rocket science and it's up to people who chose to take the risk to suck it up if they aren't seated together as a result.

paxtecum · 04/07/2014 16:36

I think airlines should have a Duty of Care to keep families together.
It would be good if someone sued them about this.
There are cases in the USA of kids being molested or shown porn by the strangers they are sitting next to.
I would greatly resent paying the extra charge, but I would pay it.
One of my 6 year old DGC would be distraught if she was trapped in a seat next to strangers.

flipchart · 04/07/2014 16:39

Blimey! Does it need to be spelt out to you how things work on low cost airlines.

The basic fair is the entry price. I usually just pay this as I am happy to sit anyway.

Then you factor what else you want. In this case it is a group to sit together or it could be luggage or meals or whatever else is going.

I bloody love Ryan air because I use hand luggage only, my own insurance, sit wherever and py by debit card and don't buy scratch cards. I am able to go way on week and weekend breaks at least 8 times year.

When my children were younger and needed to sit with us we old factor everything in and look and other airlines for comparison in cot.

That's how it works.

paxtecum · 04/07/2014 16:39

If I was travelling on my own I wouldn't book a seat and I would be quite happy to move for anyone.

Delphiniumsblue · 04/07/2014 16:39

There are countless stories on MN of people with small children being separated so don't rely on being put together. Pay and make sure.
The more people like me read these regular threads on MN, the less likely we are to move!

Chippednailvarnish · 04/07/2014 16:40

You pay for what you get, if you don't like it fly with someone else.

Bearbehind · 04/07/2014 16:41

There are cases in the USA of kids being molested or shown porn by the strangers they are sitting next to.

Is that really true or just an urban myth? Hmm

ProudAS · 04/07/2014 16:41

I've got severe anxiety and a Dr's note to say that I need to sit with DH. Despite this we always pre-book, we don't simply turn up with the note and expect people to move out of their pre-booked seats to accommodate us and we would be very angry if expected to move for a family.

I'd rather get the ferry than use Ryanair though!

Nanny0gg · 04/07/2014 16:42

If you got on a bus and there was one seat upstairs and one down, you wouldn't someone to get up and go upstairs so that you could sit with your child. Would you?

Because low cost airlines are the flying equivalent imo.

Maryz · 04/07/2014 16:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

funnyossity · 04/07/2014 16:43

I wouldn't want to be between a parent and child in an emergency. They might block my exit trying to get to one another!

So from a purely selfish point of view I'd enable parents to sit with children.

SinglePringle · 04/07/2014 16:44

I'm tall and want a window seat with legroom. I often travel alone and pay to pre book my seat.

I wouldn't move to accommodate someone who hadn't.

Numanoid · 04/07/2014 16:44

we would be very angry if expected to move for a family.

Same, ProudAS. They can't make you move, can they?

Fortysomethingwinelover · 04/07/2014 16:47

We were asked to move going on holiday last year after we'd paid to reserve our seats. We refused. The mother was not happy that my DH nor I would move, no others moved either so her kids had to sit separately from her. She was pretty vocal which didn't particularly help her case.

We did move half way through the flight as another mum was travelling with a child around 2 and a baby. DH noticed her struggling to feed the baby and the old git next to her was humping and grumping at both the mum and her squirmy wee toddler. We were sat at the very front of the plane so offered to move to give her more room. I'd normally always swap seats for anyone to allow kids to sit with their parents but not when they're a mouthy 'I'm entitled to' cow.

OcadoSubstitutedMyHummus · 04/07/2014 16:49

I have to fly Ryanair soon for the first time. Not my choice but the only flights that work. Yes it is galling to pay the extra but really not worth the stress to be worried that it will be a problem.

Delphiniumsblue · 04/07/2014 16:57

Everyone should now see it is a problem - you only get the low fare for basics - you pay for options.

Delphiniumsblue · 04/07/2014 16:58

If you think they might be molested then pay the extra!