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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:
teenagetantrums · 04/07/2014 17:05

if you want to sit together then pay, if you don't then you don't have to pay, I refused to move on my last easy jet flight so a family could sit together,if I had young kids I would pay.

Groovee · 04/07/2014 17:05

I always pay. Would rather not take the risk.

Original poster
ElizaPickford · 04/07/2014 17:08

I get what you're all saying. Smile

I didn't care when I was younger and used to travel alone, but what has really galled me about this particular booking is that you really have to be on your mettle to not get totally ripped off by them.

When I booked I was asked if i wanted the opportunity to win my flights. I was in a hurry, I ticked yes - not until I came to pay did I realise that they'd charged me £3 for the privilege, because they don't make it clear. It's wrong that you have to opt out of the masses of extras they automatically tick for you, but what really pissed me off was when I called to make an amendment (which I was entitled to do, and was free) and they told me that my flights had since gone up and I needed to pay the difference or lose them. So I paid, then went back to check the price, and lo and behold, the price hadn't changed at all. It then took 2 weeks of emails and faff to get the money refunded.

So I probably will pay, it's just that the whole experience has left a very bad taste because they don't come across as upfront and the whole thing has been hard work. I'm a reasonably savvy traveller but if I wasn't I could have ended up paying a fortune by default for lots of unnecessary crap and I think that's wrong!

(I also think it's incredibly cynical of them to make it so that you have to check in 7 days before the flight if you want to avoid paying the allocation fee; it means that if you go away for more than 7 days you either have to faff about finding a printer wherever you are, or just pay the fee for convenience!)

OP posts:
SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 04/07/2014 17:13

ElizaPickford - do,you think someone who has paid the extra to sit where they choose should move because you don't want to pay?

We have travelled a number of times with Ryanair and Easijet. We go in with the attitude that we want or need certain things, we know these will cost us extra, and we budget those into the cost of the flight.

If you don't want to pay the extra, don't pay it - but don't then expect everyone else to be put out so you can have for nothing what others have paid for.

Delphiniumsblue · 04/07/2014 17:14

They advertise the cheapest price possible and most people want more.e.g my last flight with Easyjet was about £25 which looks good until you realise that your luggage will cost £28.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 04/07/2014 17:14

Sorry, Eliza - cross posted. Blush. I think you are making the right decision, for peace of mind.

Frontier · 04/07/2014 17:15

I don't know about Ryan air but on easy jet you just need to check in, it doesn't matter if you have printed boarding pass

FlimFlamFloo · 04/07/2014 17:16

we are flying to spain and we have prebooked our seats and we WILL NOT be moving for families that havent prebooked.

Bearbehind · 04/07/2014 17:16

paxtecum all of those links were for children 12 and above and travelling alone.

whatever5 · 04/07/2014 17:16

I didn't think that Ryanair allocated seats. I thought that if you had children you had to pay for "priority boarding" so that you could get on first and get a seat. We avoid flying with them at all possible (DH will even drive to a different airport) as I can't stand the way they try to rip you off at every opportunity.

Original poster
ElizaPickford · 04/07/2014 17:20

whatever - the allocation thing is relatively new I believe (last couple of months.) Which I suppose is good when you realise that you no longer have to get into some sort of scrum to get on the plane together, but a bit crap when you realise that you have to then factor in another £10+ per person.

OP posts:
Original poster
ElizaPickford · 04/07/2014 17:20

To be honest if I'd have known a month ago what I know now we'd have bloody driven!

OP posts:
Romeyroo · 04/07/2014 17:31

I don't get the holier than thou attitudes on this thread, tbh. I have flown Ryanair once and hated it, so would never do it again (it was the safety instructions printed on the back of the seat or some such crappy price saving thing, or maybe you only got half a life jacket, I can't quite remember), but I recently flew with a reasonable and recognised brand on holiday and they wanted £60 for me to book seats with my two dcs. It wasn't a cut price holiday by any means and at the end of the day, the airline has a responsibility to seat children with a responsible parent. I am sure legally it is not your responsibility to ensure this; they can't take off with a three year old seated next to a random stranger, surely.

As it turned out, they were able to seat us all together without disturbing anyone else, though a kind couple did offer to swap seats.

tiggytape · 04/07/2014 17:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 04/07/2014 17:57

Romey -'yes, the airlines are supposed to sit children with a parent or accompanying adult, but 'with' can mean in the row in front or behind, or across the aisle from the parent/adult.

Is it 'holier than thou' to ask why people who,have paid to choose their seats should move to accommodate someone who hasn't?

It hasn't happened on this thread yet, but on so many others like it, I have seen parents say, "If you want to sit next to my screaming, puking toddler, be my guest" - basically suggesting it is OK to blackmail people into moving seats - by threatening them with a badly behaved/travel sick child - is that acceptable?

Maryz · 04/07/2014 18:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 04/07/2014 18:08

You are scary, Maryz - I think people will hand over their chips and socks etc without a murmur! Grin

Maryz · 04/07/2014 18:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MyFairyKing · 04/07/2014 18:20

You can turn up on the day and hope for the best but you might end up seriously pissing off your fellow passengers and they don't have to seat their children next to you, just near you.

Pay up!

500smiles · 04/07/2014 18:42

This comes up several times a year. If you want to be sure of sitting together you have to pay up.

Last year we were on a flight where two boys ended up on the row behind us and their Mum at the other end of the plane. The cabin crew asked people to move but no-one would - why would they want to move away from their own children to allow someone to sit next to their own?

Delphiniumsblue · 04/07/2014 18:42

Do not rely on handing over the sick bag and telling the person how difficult the child is. I am CRB checked, have a current first aid certificate, have been a mother for a long time and regularly work with children- you will not scare me enough to swap seats!

Original poster
ElizaPickford · 04/07/2014 19:04

Maryz- so long as you're ok when M&S tell you the price of your socks have gone up after you've bought them and they won't let you out of the shop til you've paid them £50! Grin

OP posts:
emark · 04/07/2014 19:24

Ryan air now do allocated seating from 7 days before flight with no extra charge.
you can book seats earlier for a fee.

we, as a family of 6 recently flew to Portugal and back, didn't pay but checked in 7 days before flight online.
we had a full row of 6 seats on both flights.
as a bonus they also put our luggage in hold at the gate free of charge Grin

Bearbehind · 04/07/2014 19:40

so long as you're ok when M&S tell you the price of your socks have gone up after you've bought them and they won't let you out of the shop til you've paid them £50!

OP, you don't seem to be getting how this works. Hmm

In the example above, the price of the socks hasn't gone up- you could walk out with just the socks- if you want additional items to make the socks more comfortable you have to pay extra........

grumblepuss · 04/07/2014 19:52

Don't bother.
Check in the first day you can do so. They'll seat you as a group together.
The single/pairs of people will check in much later as they don't care so much.

I'm flying to Vegas with DP later this year. I don't care if I'm sat next to him or not - I'll be reading my kindle he'll be listening to his iPod.