Ryanair made 4yr old sit alone

[LHGL]

We had a really stressful experience recently and I don’t know if it’s just me who finds this completely unacceptable but I just feel the need to get this out there.
Family of 5; DH, myself, DD 4 and 9, DS 7. Both DD’s get very travel sick.
Just under 3 hour flight to Italy and we check in online in advance, and I notice nobody is sitting together. I mean nobody is even on the same row - 5C, 32F,19B etc. We click ‘change seats’ but there are no options. I read up on kids sitting alone and am relieved to hear that Ryanair policy is that anyone under 12 needs to sit next to an adult.
We get to the airport and tell the Ryanair woman at baggage, she’s says not to worry and they’ll make sure we’re sitting together at the gate. Get to the gate, same story but the cabin crew will sort us out.

we board the plane and the two flight attendants tell us the flight is busy and they can’t help. DH reminds them of the policy of kids and adults sitting together, and they shrug and tell us we’re blocking the aisle. After a little more polite protestation we’re told they’ll sort us out once seated.
They don’t. We tried to swap with people ourselves but only managed to get the two youngest together, people weren’t terribly helpful and luck was against us with language and some odd folk.
The long and short of it was that the flight was a very distressing experience for all, not least the kids, and I was really taken aback by how uncaring the Ryanair attendants were. They put more effort into trying to sell us scratch cards than attempting to stop my kids being terrified of ever getting on a plane again.

Ryan Air are total scum
Complain all you like - it wont make any difference and you won't get anything from them.

YABU because you didn't pay the fee to pre book your seats together when you bought the tickets.

But the OP didn't follow policy. She would have looked pretty stupid spouting a policy that she hadn't followed.

It is mandatory for an adult travelling with children under 12 (excl. infants) to reserve a seat. A maximum of four children for every one adult on the same booking will receive a reserved seat free of charge

Totally agree with you, you'd expect the airline enforces the booker to pay the reservation fee and then allocate the kids seat.

I'm not going to weigh in on whether on not Ryanair honoured their own policy (I don't know), or whether you should have paid for pre-booked seats if you were able to (the thread has that covered).

However, your opening post makes me wonder just how much of your children's apparent distress is being transmitted to them by you. I'd have a think about that. Are you sure you're not deflecting your own upset and guilt about the situation your actions created onto Ryanair and your fellow passengers? Flying doesn't have to be instrisically scary, nor does sitting next to someone who is not a parent.

We always pay to ensure our kids are seated next to us and not frightened. You can’t blame the airline, if everyone else has paid for their particular seats what are they supposed to do?! Turf them out and give you their seats when you haven’t bothered to pay?! Honestly don’t be so entitled, if you are so concerned about your kids welfare then be smart and pay for it ahead of time instead of leaving it to chance,the kindness of strangers etc.

The onus isn’t on the stranger though… the onus is on the parent who chose not to sit next to their kid and therefore cannot help the kid (so it’s the parent’s choice that the kid doesn’t have a mask or get help to evacuate….). And this is why I would always always pay to sit next to my child.

Whenever I've travelled with Ryan air the kids and one adult gets a free seat so you have no one to blame other than yourself as to why your poor 4 yr old was on their own. This is your fault alone

Thing is, for them to accommodate you all sitting together once you reached the airport, they would have had to ask others who had prob paid to sit together, to move for your family. As others have said, just pay to sit together. That’s why Ryan Air is so cheap, because of all the add ons.

Surely any child sitting on their own becomes an " unaccompanied minor". In which case Ryanair becomes responsible for them.

But you're not being particularly empathetic. Especially not in the way you use this point as an implicit rebuke to someone else.

People might have booked their seats because they have a medical need for them. They might have a phobia of flying. They might have any one of a myriad reasons, which frankly are their own business and for which they owe no entitled stranger an explanation. They've paid for that seat. It's theirs.

Whenever a CF tries to pull this stunt, if everyone's answer were an emphatic 'no' then the CFs would stop asking. They might even be willing to take responsibility for the wellbeing and comfort of their own children and book seating, thus avoiding this tiresome scenario playing out on so many flights ad nauseam.

If so, the world wouldn't exactly be a better place but flying would be just a little less fraught and uncomfortable. That won't happen as long as people persist in humouring this nonsense.

No. They don't.

There’s no onus on the stranger next to them to do anything. Why on earth do people think this?

Sorry I didn't make it clear I booked and chose our specific seats together when I booked however we were not allocated these specifical seats or sat together!!!

Has anyone brought up why ryanair is wrong? If there is an emergency situation a parents first reaction is too look for their child. This will probably endanger the lives of others - blocking the escape routes. This is why the guidelines are for children to be seated by their parents (presumably not for noise control.)

The reason why ryanair splits up parents and children is financial. Get pissed off with ryanair for putting profit before safety.

I always remember flying back from Egypt (not with Ryanair but some charter) when dc were about seven and five – the plane was delayed for hours and we left about midnight but was pretty empty and you could basically sit where you liked. Dh who’s tall got an extra legroom seat. I put my sleeping DC in an aisle and the window seat with the middle seat separating them and I sat in my own row in the middle aisle across from them - attendant gave me an absolute bollocking for not sitting bangi next to my children and told me “as a mother“ she could never live with herself even though they were literally across the aisle from me . Don’t think Ryanair would’ve had this issue!

Pay to sit together ! It’s so annoying when people expect others to accommodate them bc they have a child… and so… pay to reserve your seat. Simple.

Yes, that is precisely what those parents expect.

I'm sorry but I wouldn't have swapped with you as I usually choose my seat and pay for it

Why should paying customers be expected to move for those who don't pay?

It's not worth the risk, especially Ryanair's reputation

Just pointing out to those who are saying Ryan Air are crap for charging extra for sitting together, this isn’t exclusive to Ryan Air. Many of the other airlines do exactly the same.

No sorry, book your seats while you are booking your ticket and dont count on luck. If most of the people paid for their seats and there was no easy solution to put you all together they literally couldnt do anything…not their fault at all. Yabvu

And I would laugh at you for trying this pathetic tactic.

im sorry but I’m not sure I could be the sort of person to let a 4 year old die from lack of oxygen or leave them strapped in their seat while I ran past them. Maybe you could do it but I’d never live with it.

That's a very odd comparison. For a start, you don't always get a seat on the bus. I've never seen people demand others give up seats so they can sit in a group. On a bus it's very much first come first served.

If Ryanair policy is to seat under 12's with an adult, it is ENTIRELY reasonable not to pay and to expect to be seated together.

This is absolutely disgraceful, and I'm amazed at the comments telling you that you should have paid. The policy specifically stipulates you do not need to do so.

Sounds like a system glitch to me. You should automatically have been assigned seats together, and it sounds like the staff were stumped at what to do and kept passing the buck.

Sorry about your experience, and I do hope your LO's don't feel too afraid of flying in future.