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.

You should't have to pay extra when Ryanair have a policy that all children under 12 need to be seated with an adult. If that is their policy then it applies whether or not you pay to choose seats. Children under 12 should be automatically allocated seats next to accompanying adults.

Either the practicalities of their policy aren't well-thought out, or their staff need more training. That being said, if it's a full flight, and most people pay for assigned seats, I can see why the crew on board wouldn't want to faff around making an announcement and encouraging others to move when they've got a limited time to get everyone in their seats for takeoff.

Something should have been sorted as soon as you showed up at the airport. What happened was unsafe and I can imagine very stressful for you, OP, but consider the fee for assigned seating part of the ticket price and pay the extra when you book next time.

Thank you. Finally, someone who actually gets Ryanair policy. Furthermore, their policy indicates that when the adult pays for their seat (mandatory) then children are entitled to FREE seat allocation next to the paying adult.

only managed to get the two youngest together

So it wasn't your 4 year old on her own then?

I'm sorry, this isn't a new thing, and the website is very clear when booking - you chanced your arm and lost. Sure it would be nice if there were others who didn't mind moving - but most people will pay to book a seat.

The flight was under three hours, now you'll know for next time not to be so cheap. I mean, I paid the extra for a 45 minute flight to Amsterdam as I knew my 8 year old was a nervous flyer - why wouldn't you?

Don't worry we were editing at the same time.

Deleted.

So if you were sat next to the four year old - who gets travel sick - you'd have refused to move? Surely it would be in your best interests to sit elsewhere, rather than risk being sat next to a puking small child who's crying for their mother.

Mayve your own three puking children were seated across the aisle from you - you just don't know what any other group is having to deal with

To whoever said all airlines ask you to pay - true to a point but I do know British Airways have a policy of not seating kids under 12 away from their accompanying adult. And you can check in and choose any free seat for free 24 hours before take off. Qatar that PP mentioned is actually notorious for seating dc away from adults so beware!! It's all a big scam but it is a scam that keeps prices low and ppl would complain if those base prices rose. And Ryanair do ask at every turn if you really are sure you don't want to reserve a seat ...

The airlines have done OK over the last year or two (having had an horrific time during Covid…)

“Done OK” means many of the. making a profit of as much as maybe £10, plus/minus or so per average passenger over the season..

If they stop charging for seat choice they will claw back the lost revenue elsewhere.

TBH the travelling public had a choice about thirty years back of either sticking with those airlines that charged high base prices but didn’t nickel and dime for things like meals and checked baggage i.e. the legacies, or going with the newly liberated LoCos who did have some form of menu pricing.

The public by and large chose the LoCo, low base fare option- even the legacies have had to adopt that approach to survive and IMO it’s too late to put that genie back in the bottle.

Hi I also tend to pay for a seat because I hate the middle seat but if you read the thread parents with kids under 12 HAVE to pay for a seat - it’s automatically charged when you book and then when you get to the seating part of the booking it shows which rows you can choose to sit. I am saying people are mean because OP would have paid for a seat to sit with the kids - it’s automatic - so if there were no seats left together it was up to Ryanair to sort out! 90% of the time I am asked I change seats for people as it’s not always someone being too cheap to buy a seat, sometimes it’s the system! The only times I’ve said no is when I am sitting with my family - though now I am older and more confident I would not change to a middle seat. I got a separate seat to my child on a sold out aerlingus flight before as I booked late and the seats together were gone - they sorted it for me before take off though so it isn’t that hard, it’s also breaking the law to fly with unaccompanied minors! My kid is mad hyper so would literally run up and down the aisles if we weren’t there to get her to stay sitting.

Don't be a weirdo

it’s also breaking the law to fly with unaccompanied minors!

Yet again they are not breaking the law!

I have never paid for seats when with the kids when they were under 12 and NEVER have we been separated, ever. Ever. Always at least once of us right beside them, with another adult maybe infront or across aisle. We fly a lot as both sides of the family are abroad.
But I have also never flown Ryan Air.

RA are a disgrace, and their computers should have allocated an adult with the kids because the LAST thing anyone needs on a plane in an emergency is adults trying to reach their children and slowing down an evacuation. It's why children ARE seated next to a parnt/carer.
Sounds like the staff were too lazy to sort it out.

As well as that I as a lone adult traveller DO NOT want to be responsible for someone else's child on a flight!

I haven't refused yet, but I HATE it and really hate the parents who put people in that situation. My main problem is being next to my hand luggage. If you have to move when everyone is on the plane you have very little chance of finding space for your cabin bag above your head.
I've been expected to move so two parents can sit with their child so no unaccompanied child anyway.

Unless there’s something odd about the IAA/Aer Lingus very much agree.

That claim has been made a few time so as a general point it’s maybe worth emphasising that if people are going to start causing problems on boarding because of seat allocation on the grounds they “know their rights” they’d better be darned sure they really do know their rights…

I agree entirely that this whole issue can be PITA for many people (passengers and crew)… I do wish seat allocation hadn’t been transformed into being another source of ancillary revenue but it’s that’s genie again and the demand for low base fares.

Never in a million years would I refuse to swap seats for a family unless I was with a child myself. I just don't understand this mindset.

I’ll happily refuse. I need certain seats and often have to sit beside my traveling companion due to disabilities also sometimes because I’m traveling with another disabled family member so I’m certainly not giving up my seat that I always pay a reservation fee for in addition to the price of the flight. I don’t expect people to pay for my (involuntary) disabilities so why should I pay for the child they chose to have? I really don’t understand why other passengers are expected to care more about some random child than the parents themselves do. Plus personally I’m not in the habit of randomly giving out my money to other reasonably affluent strangers which is exactly what I’d be doing by swapping.

When I pay to make sure I sit with my family, why should any of us move to make way for people who didn't pay?

When they were under 12, when I paid for my seat reservation, I was then able to select theirs for free on Ryan Air. But i did have to pay for my own reservation. There isn't a chance I would ever risk not booking a seat if I wasn't flying alone.

Well then you should know that on Ryanair, you have no choice but to pay for the adult seat and the children get free seat allocation. Paying for the accompanying adult is mandatory. So I can't understand people still berating the OP for not paying, despite Ryanair policies repeatedly pointed out in the thread. She wouldn't have been able to book the ticket if she didn't pay. In this case it seems like Ryanair messed up.

I don't pay for my seat, but I still don't want to move somewhere else because parents don't want to pay for their own seats, and what should I have to?

You can book without it being forced. The free kids allocation comes in once you select to book an allocated seat for yourself.

I have a very good reason for always booking an aisle seat. I am quite sure if I was forced into middle or window I would annoy the absolute hell out of the people I would be forcing myself past regularly.

YABU. If you're travelling with DC, then you choose your seats when you book, not when you check in. I can't believe you then had your 4 year old sit by herself next to strangers on the plane. You should have gotten off the plane and not travelled. You are totally unreasonable. If you're travelling, ensure your DC are sat next to you. If no seats are available at the time of booking, book an alternative flight.

What if there'd been an emergency mid-flight? And your 4yo is on her own? Ryanair are not the problem here, the 4yo's parents are.

Doesn't "with" an adult mean next to, across the aisle or directly behind/in front? It doesn't necessarily mean in the seat right next to the adult. Happy to be corrected as I haven't flown Ryanair in donkey's years but this is the case for most airlines.

No you can't proceed with the booking and pay until the adult chooses their seat. It is spelled out in their policy, and I just tried a mock reservation to be certain.

As so many pointed out this simply didn't happen, but it has got the "they are just entitled " "choose to have children" and "everyone is so selfish nowadays" all nicely riled up.