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

[ElizaPickford]

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. )

What would you do, anyone been in this situation?

Didactylos beat me to it! I LOVE that clip!

And anyway, if you made a new booking after June 17th didnt you get the new family discount? Discount on checked bags, priotity boarding etc?

www.ryanair.com/da/terms-and-conditions/regulations-familyextradiscountoffer/

but I didnt realise it moves onto one of their even more profane songs: so sorry if it offends anyone!

I always fly Ryanair. Great airline, great price, never late.
It always amuses me to hear people on the plane complaining about them and here they are flying with them again. Why? Because they are the cheapest.

We paid to sit together as a family and got split up as they had cocked up on the bookings.

I've flown loads of times with Ryanair, with and without the DC and never had a problem. Really don't know what all the fuss is about. Treat it like the bus trip that it is. And spend the savings on something fun.

We're flying next month with Ryanair (me, DH, & 3 DCs aged 9,6,3) and we've decided not to pay extra for the allocated seats.

I don't expect my entire family to sit together and I don't expect anyone who has paid for prebooked seats to have to move, but I don't think the entire plane will be booked in advance and I expect that we will be able to get 2 seats together so that either DH or I can next to our 3 year old. The older 2 will be fine for a couple of hours on their own.

I understand that it's a no frills service and that having seats together is an extra. But Ryanair know the age of my children and they know that a 3 year old cannot be expected sit on their own. I think they are massively taking the piss to expect anyone to pay extra to sit with their small child.

I would rather not fly with Ryanair, but unfortunately where we live they are the only option for a direct flight where we wanted to go.

After paying for seats together with Ryanair a year after separating from my XH and kids were still young, I made sure we checked in early to the Southern French airport. Following the rugby scrum to board there were no seats left together (we didn't make it past the brawling men to get on first...) we got on the plane and no one gave a fig about the fact I'd prepaid or that we should be together - until I calmly stood in the ailse and asked the stewardess for lots of sick bags to be given to the people sitting next to both dc's along with spare clothes. They soon moved us into the 'reserved' first 2 rows... Never flown with them since. Customer service was appalling!

We fly with them a lot. I actually think their new seat allocation system is more reasonable than other low cost airlines or, for that matter, so-called luxury airlines who still charge for allocated seating. With ryanair the choice is pay to book seats more than 7 days in advance or check in online (and choose your seats) 7 days or less in advance for free.

How old are the children? They will not split young children from their parents, I think. I flew a few times with them, have not paid and always been with them. It is for safety. They'll certainly split the parents. What we did was book our three flight then book dh separately amd just pay one seat.

If you read up thread you will see they split mine when they were aged 1 and 4.

And I had paid to seat us together.......

Shouldhavemarried - yes, they DO allow young children to sit separately. We flew Ryanair when DCs were 5, 3 and 1, and were horribly late for the flight. We were given two seats together at the back, and two single seats several rows apart at the front. We put the two oldest together, and DH had the youngest on his lap.

I spent the flight running up and down the plane looking after the two oldest, sorting out their food, and sitting on the floor in the aisle next to them when I could. The DCs were good as gold, thank goodness, although at one point, the 3yo needed the toilet rather urgently, and my pathway was blocked by the drinks trolley, so the lady sitting next to her had to take her.

I didn't feel I could make a fuss, seeing as we were so late for the flight. It wasn't ideal, but we managed. But don't think you have a Golden Ticket to sit together, just because you're a family.

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.

LOL

I wrote that BadLad and it is one way that MN has influenced my behaviour. I dislike the fact that we pay to sit together, because the flight us part of the holiday, and then a family get on with children with the assumption they are different and don't need to pay because they will be put together for free. I am doubly determined when people then think mention of sick bags and spare clothes will move me- just hand me the sick bags!

No need to explain. It was an admiring L OL.

Might have missed this bit but how old are your children OP and how long is the flight?

BadLad.
I have never experienced it- boarding always seems smooth and trouble free. I avoid Ryanair because of the stories I hear.
Having said that we were once booked into seats that didn't exist! We had to sit separately, but close, and the children were older. We got complimentary drinks because it was their mistake.

Don't fly Ryanair then. After a terrible experience 3 years ago I vowed to never fly with them again and I haven't.

Cointreau not now with the allocated seats they don't. At least that is my experience.

Tiggy - don't they believe that in the row in front or behind counts as 'sitting with' too? Or across the aisle.

ARTICLE 6 - CHECK-IN, BOARDING & SEATING

6.1 All flights operate with allocated seating, we reserve the right to assign or reassign seats at any time, even after boarding of the aircraft. This may be necessary for operational, safety or security reasons.

6.2 All passengers are required to check-in online on www.ryanair.com/ and print out their boarding passes.

From the 8th April 2014 onwards online check-in will open 30 days before each scheduled flight departure time for customers who purchase an allocated seat. Customers who do not wish to select and purchase an allocated seat, can check-in online between 7 days and 2 hours before each booked flight and will be randomly allocated a seat free of charge. Once a passenger has checked in online they can reprint or download their boarding pass up to two (2) hours before each scheduled flight departure time. Each Boarding Pass must be printed and presented on an individual A4 page. Customers who fail to check-in online within the above deadlines will be charged an Airport Check-In fee at the rate set out in our Consolidated Table of Fees. Customers who do not present a boarding pass at the airport will be charged a Boarding Pass Re-Issue fee at rate set out in our Consolidated Table of Fees

All sounds reasonable to me.

I never pay to reserve seats - seethe in resentment at the thought of paying an extra £60 (£30 each way to reserve seats) Most recent holiday we were sat together going out, but coming back DCs were row behind me. However air stewardess sorted it as soon as everyone was on board and seated. That was Jet2.

makemineapinot, as far as I know, and I have flown Ryanair at least 8 times a year since they started, in the past you couldn't pay to guarantee seats together, you could simply pay for priority boarding which gave you first dibs on the seats. If you were late getting on the plane, that's hardly the airline's fault.

Unless you are talking about the last couple of years when you could pay to reserve seats, in which case, you got your reserved seats so what's the fuss?

STDG- yes that's right. Rows behind, in front of, or across the aisle count as "near". As they should.

I have just booked a flight for dd and I with Lufthansa. Had to pay for seats together with them too, but funnily, it's only ever Ryanair who get slagged off.

It is funny really. How many threads every year do we see? As others have said, do you ask for free butter with your loaf? A paintbrush with your pot of Dulux?

I suppose it's the package holiday mentality....in which case, book a fucking package holiday and stop whinging.

I opened this thread as I was more curious about the "conning" and "ripping off" to do with the scratchcard but see that's all been sorted. I was wondering if the OP was complaining that she bought a scratchcard and then didn't win dammit!