Ryan Air - What the hell??

[FlioFlopsAndIceCream]

Just checked in for our flights on Monday and Ryan Air have allocated 3 seats next to each (me, and 2 DCs), then husband has to pay extra for his seat (apparantly this is a thing now, that one parent in every family has to pay for a seat(??wtf?) - except there aren't any seats near the rest of us???

What is this Ryan Air??? Surely you can seat families together?

A complete joke. I'm fuming.... we've been looking forward to this trip for ages.

Ryan Air - thanks a million for getting our holiday off to a shit start

(I can almost let them off making DH pay, but surely they can at least allocate families to sit together??? CRAZY times)

(Sorry, I know we r lucky to be going on holiday! first world problem.)

People should stand up and challenge these things.

It's allocated from cheapest and earliest etc. The adult and children were allocated immediately on booking in a system afaik to ensure they are together. He wasn't. Because it's just for an adult and children.

My DH and I never end up sitting together, unless we pay. I don't care since it means I can fly for £30 return🤷 I only sometimes pay for window seat. The flights are short.

Depends on where you want to fly from. We have next to zero service to European holiday destinations from BA within a 200 mile radius, so it'd be a bit of a trek to use them.

Our choice from the 6 airports within an hour or so's drive is Ryanair, Jet2 or Easyjet.

When I said it is a scam - what I mean is this.

So take away meals and charge less - fine, great idea. We get less but we pay less.

Charge for luggage - fair enough. It costs to process luggage and in fuel to carry it. Make it cheaper for people with none.

Leg room seats - charge more for them, fair enough. They’re bigger and the customer gets more.

But the seat thing is simply a form of blackmail. There is no reason not to seat people together at least until seating is too full for it to be logically possible. They lose nothing by filling it in groups. It costs them nothing. But they charge us. It feels sour and spiteful. We will make you less comfortable unless you pay.

In the event of a crash the investigators would use all means available to them such as DNA, dental records etc, not just assume that if a pax was still strapped into a seat

This reminded me of:
"A plane is in the middle of turbulence
The flight attendant comes to the main cabin and says: "Everyone please take your passports out."
Everyone takes their passports out.
"Now please find the page where your picture is and rip the page out."
Everyone rips the page out.
"Now roll up the paper and shove it up your ass."
Passengers murmur and one shouts out
"Fuck off! Why the f should I do that?"
"So it would be easier to identify the bodies later."
I think about this joke every time I look at my biometric passport😂

Having lived in a reasonably remote part of the the UK, you get used the on cost of getting to a decent hub.

People should stand up and challenge these things

Yes! Arise, citizens - challenge the tyranny of the cheap flight! Demand your right to pay more!

There are some dim people on this thread. Budget airlines keep their basic fares low by charging for extras that people want, e.g. to be seated together. If they didn't do this, the basic fares would go up. If you don't like it, pay more, but don't try to stop the rest of us from benefitting from low basic fares.

We flew jet2 yesterday. Mine and ds seats were allocated for free. We even got window and middle as requested.

There was a group of older teens/early 20's. for some odd reason behind us they had been given seats A and C and B was left empty. Their mates was alone 5 rows back. CC just said move when we've taken off - and shrugged.

The thing with the pre booked to sit together though is that it still doesn't garuntee seats ABC. You could pay £10 a head and get seat 20C, 21C and 22C. Then then when you check in you can move to 20ABC fir another £20pp.

I would pay from the off if I thought then would be adjacent seats.

However, I just say I'm travelling as a carer to my disabled son. I've never had a problem yet.

IAmALazyArse my pilot friend always wears cargo pants so that he has his passport, phone and wallet in his pockets.

You have to pay for seats now or they will separate you on purpose.

If you can prove this they are breaking CAA guidelines.

That’s interesting.

When there's faffing around because passengers haven't paid for seats, it delays a take off slot which would piss me off given I pay for a seat.

Just bear in mind the low cost of these flights. In 1983 I flew to Alicante and paid £186. That included luggage, a meal, and a specified seat. £186 in today's money is over £500. I don't want luggage or a meal but I am happy to pay for a seat. You have to pay extra for a meal, you have to pay extra for luggage and if you want a particular seat, pay for it!
I prefer this flexibility so I can pick the bits I want, and discard and not pay for what I don't want.

I got onto a flight and two people were sat in our seats. So my partner proceeded to ask the people in the rows behind who they were with- turned out that out of 8 people in 4 rows they were all together but had been separated - so we all moved to sit together- steward texted to tell me not to, so I said he’d better get the woman out of my allocated seat then ( she’d almost got hysterical when I’d shown up) he declined and said sit wherever

Just have a shifty round and sit wherever

I flew with Flybe last week on a midweek city break, fairly cheap airline but not as cheap as Ryanair. Checked in online for the two of us (adults) and seats were allocated together, I could deselect the seats and choose other seats if I wanted to at no extra cost. Same for the return journey. Not sure why other airlines are so bad. For our main family holiday we do generally pay at the start to choose our seats as we don't like to risk being separated but I think it's bloody cheeky of them.

So, OP, how long is the flight?

Rousette you should have gone to cefax much cheaper than that for a flight

It's what Freda said above.

Luggage weight and meals cost money.

Seats cost a fixed rate to fly passengers. Based on basic cost of fuel, air traffic charges, overheads etc. Each basic seat cost covers this and their % of profit per flight.

It's a business model based on fear factor that makes extra profits and is done by this allocation of parties of 4/5 and greater in random pockets of 2/3 and split up.

In fact, it's the separating families and 'forcing' them to lay that's keeping the price down for couples who don't care.

I've spent enough of my life working in the travel industry to know how it's done.

Hence why I say it needs challenging.

Profits have risen yet flights have got cheaper. It's not a co incidence

Not sure why other airlines are so bad.

It’s the Ryanair business model. You start with a very cheap base flight price and then add the extras.

I’d be more than content being the parent scampering off to the seat away from the kids.
When booking It gives you the option to book seats together. You have to work pretty hard to avoid the determined upselling on the site.

Assuming the OP is travelling from the UK, the longest flight Ryanair operate is Edinburgh to Gran Canaria, which takes 4 hours and 40 minutes.

ivykaty44 maybe so but this was a last minute thing and flights were much more expensive then anyway. You rarely got anything under 100 (equivalent to over 400 now)

I don't think people realise how cheap flights are compared to years ago. But they're unbundled and lots of posters can't seem to get their heads round it. If we go back to allocated seating, you will be paying more so you take your choice

It's not a massive deal really is it? Were flying with Ryan air and I'm sat on row 21 with dd1 and dh is sat on row 29 with dd2. Were not paying to have us sat neither together, it's a 2 hour flight and it wont ruin our holiday. If we wanted to sit closer, we'd pay but the most important this was that the kids were sat with a parent and that has happened.

@imnottoofussed I just checked FlyBe prices to where I regularly fly. Well once a year.
600! They can keep their free seats😮
And with 1 stop as well. Bloody hell. And people call Ryanair cheeky 😮

Actually return came to 1200😮

There is no reason not to seat people together at least until seating is too full for it to be logically possible.

And theres no reason too seat them together. The kids will have a parent with then.

It's the business model. Charge the cheapest you can for absolutely no frills. You want to pick your seat? Pay for it. You want luggage, pay for it.

Ats in minimum you get a seat on a plane. That's all they offer unless you CHOOSE for extras.

OP moaning they have been looking forward to the trip for ages. Is their trip just a flight? I very much doubt it.

Having the dh sat somewhere else, where he can swop with pp, for a few hours is not ruining a trip.

As an aside, I have been loved on virgin flights. When ds was little (18 months) we were sat at the back on the middle row of 3. There was me, dh and dd, the ds on my knee. The rest of the plane had 4 in the middle. Further down the plane an older couple had 4 seats to themselves so staff asked if they could swop with us.

They had 3 seats between 2 and we ended up with a seat each.

@poolblack
There are no rows of 4 on Ryanair.

That's what I was thinking.
Also that anyone who has checked in more than 48 hours before they travel with Ryanair has definitely already paid more than the basic fare... If you go for the rock bottom fare you can only check in within 48 hours of take off... which means that you will have to check in for your return flight while you are away. It sucks, but that's how it works.

Easyjet, on the other hand, give you much longer to check in.... but IIRC you still have to pay to sit together.
Incidentally, DH was at the airport this morning checking in a group of schoolkids and Easyjet informed him that as of 1st September no under 16s will be able to fly unaccompanied on Easyjet. I was surprised as I thought it was already the case, but apparently not yet.