To be annoyed about Easyjet seating?

[OhJoyOhJoy]

Took a flight last week with DC, who are 4 and 7. Chose not to pay extra to select seats, but checked in early enough to ensure there would be quite a lot of unallocated seats and I could go back and pay the extra to change if necessary. Got given two seats together (window and middle) plus the window seat in the row behind and decided that was good enough.

But when we got on the plane, the flight wasn't full and the seat next to my kids was empty, along with several other entire rows.

Same thing happened on the way back, except that this time the flight was pretty full. But the guy who had the seat next to our two was delighted to swap, as it meant he could be next to his girlfriend in the row behind.

Now I realise that if I wanted to be sure we would be together, I needed to pay, but it feels as if Easyjet we're just deliberately making everyone's life difficult, presumably in the hope that we would pay the extra the next time. AIBU to be annoyed by this?

Well obviously they're doing that to make your life difficult; so next time you pay more to make it not difficult. That's literally the whole strategy so they make more money off you next time.

Yes Ryanair do the same. My partner and I were separated on a flight last month yet there were plenty of empty seats together.

Obviously I can't explain what happened this time but pre-covid the company I work for sold hundreds and hundreds of easyJet flights a year and it was almost unheard of that people were seated separately. I used to work in the groups department and even then they'd largely all be sat together if we did check in as soon as it was possible.

Not sure if they've changed their policy or system recently but now we're booking more and more I will keep an ear out for complaints (I monitor all our feedback).

I do know that Ryanair have always done this as a money making exercise matter of course.

Hmm I suppose it isn't officially an unfair business practice, but does feel a little disingenuous

On balance I think they probably shouldn't be allowed to do that, I agree with your assessment it is being deliberately obstructive to sell a product, not dissimilar to apple slowing down phones to sell the next one, for instance

The randomised seat allocator uses algorithms to allocate what it knows to be the least desirable seats to those who aren’t paying to choose - which is the aim of the game.

Ryanair do the same.

My aunt wrote them a letter to thank them. She said her holiday was much more relaxing not having to travel with her husband!

The flight wasn't even 1/4 full and they were allocated opposite ends of the plane.

It’s a business and seating isn’t organised by a malevolent person in an office somewhere: it’s an algorithm. If you want seats together you pay for it. ‘EasyJet’ has no feelings for you or any other customer. It wants to maximise its profits, especially after the last 2 years.

And if the flight has spare seats, it’s fine to move. We flew back from the US last night on a flight so empty that DP and I found ourselves an entire row of three seats each and thus managed to get a lie-down sleep home.

If you think about their revenue model it’s all about keep the flight price low and make money through the add ons. If people don’t buy the add ons they’ll end up increasing the price of the flights so it’ll all come out in the wash eventually.

I find that strange. We have never paid for seats on EasyJet and have always been seated together when we check in online -in a row.
Their policy is to keep under 12s seated within at least one parent for safety and practical reasons. It causes more work for cabin crew if a kid is left without a parent.

It can be due to the weight and balance of the plane on take off and landing. That’s why you should only move seats after takeoff and move back for landing.

There is the possibility that someone - a family/a grp had those seats booked but we’re no shoes or changed flight last minute.

Its a choice.

If you want to be guaranteed to sit together you pay a premium
If you are not bothered/happy to roll the dice then you don't

Ruthless business practice but Ryanair do it and people booking the flights know this so Ryanair will get more money from a flight by more people paying this charge. Then Ryan air can set their headline ticket price even lower than the competition and attract more customers. If easyjet dont do this they will lose out to Ryan air and go the way of flybe, Air Berlin etc.

Alternatively they have to sell themselves as an airline with good service with prices to match etc but then they are competing with mainstream national carriers which is seriously cut throat.

Interesting to hear the policy may have changed - we fly with EasyJet a lot and have never had this before as long as we checked in early enough.

I do realise that the algorithm is set up to prioritise those who pay, but I'd be pretty annoyed if I'd paid extra to sit in a "desirable" aisle seat, only to find myself next to somebody else's children!

How do you know the people due to sit in the other seats hadn’t had to cancel their trip. 9 of us were due to fly to Orlando but one got covid so we didn’t go. There would have been at least 9 empty seats on that flight. You can move after take off anyway.

We flew with Easyjet recently and got 4 seats in a row i.e. 3 together and one across the aisle. It's possibly influenced by people switching flights so seats that were reserved become available again.

I was recently on a quite empty ryanair flight. Refused to pay so obviously got a middle seat out in the back. However it was so empty that most people traveling alone got their own row and people traveling together who hadn't paid extra got to sit next to each other. There is no other reason than to encourage people to pay extra next time.

Just flown with easyjet, had seats together even on the rearranged flight back.

You made a choice, it did not work out for you as you had hoped. Ryanair and other low cost airlines (or should it be low headline fare airlines) have been the same for at least 15 years. If the policy had been hidden, then grounds for complaint, but not otherwise.

OhJoy I’d definitely pay extra for the guarantee of NOT sitting next to someone else’s kids, or behind/in front of a baby!

It sounds to me as if it could be to do with the weight and balance of the aircraft.

I went with Ryanair recently, didn't pay to reserve seats, but they did sit me next to my youngest child. My other dc were seated separately (but are old enough to be ok).

Well, the aim of the game with "budget" airlines is to get you to pay for as many extras as possible.

So they want you to pay for food, drinks, hold baggage, allocated seats...

It's often cheaper nowadays to fly charter where everything is included.

You chose not to pay extra. That's your issue