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.

If you are just joining this thread, don't bother, OP hasn't returned after her initial post.

Either an MN post for clicks and advertising, or a Ryanair employee seeking some free advertising. Didn't the owner once say ‘any publicity is publicity!
🤔😆

Their policy is that children under 12 need to sit beside an accompanying adult.

I'm not sure why so many people on this thread are adamantly defending Ryanair when they are obviously at fault here.

Ryanair's policy is that children under 12 must sit beside an accompanying adult.

That is very clear when booking. Children under 12 should be automatically allocated seats next to adults. They weren't. Ryanair are at fault, not OP.

Are you purposely attention seeking?! Calling OP unreasonable for not pre-empting that the flight attendants would BREACH CAA Regulations?! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I’m really surprised at the posters saying the OP should have paid for booked seats! I’ve flown Ryanair with my DSD upwards of ten times with her ranging in age from 3-9 and we’ve never pre booked or pre paid - she’s always been assigned a seat next to either myself or her Dad as per the under 12s with an adult policy. DH and I either swap seats half way through the flight or one flies next to her inbound and one outbound. Granted we only ever do short haul on Ryanair. The point is the airline states clearly that under 12s will be seated with an adult and are in breach of their own policy! I’d complain very loudly and recurrently until someone listens @LHGL!

Next time tell your four year old in a very loud voice that you're sure the man/woman sitting next to them will be happy to cuddle them while they're being sick. And if they're worried just scream as loudly as they can
Idiotic comment.
Besude which any parent would ( hopefully)freak out if they saw a stranger cuddling their child.

When my kids were under 16 (2 years ago) the Ryanair check in process always forced me to buy a seat next to them. Doesn't that happen anymore?
Anyway if you want to sit besde your child you just pay for a seat. Why should another person who has paid for the seat they want have to swap with you.

Looking at the Ryan Air website is states that under 12s must be seated with an adult so it is mandatory for the adult to reserve the seat.

Not that Ryan Air will seat you together. The rule is that it is the adult's responsibility to reserve seats so the child is seated with them

@elderflowerspritzer
You have interpreted their policy incorrectly

They are stating that children must be seated with an adult so the adult must reserve seats not that Ryan Air will automatically allocate one free

That’s interesting! I’ve never pre booked a seat and we’ve always been assigned seats where child is beside an adult.

I think that any airline that charges people who have paid in 1 booking to sit next to each other are money grabbing leeches. It should be the default option unless you request not to.

So they shouldn't have allowed them to buy tickets for children under 12 without pre-booking seats.

Ryanair is at fault either way.

If it's in their policy that children under 12 need to be seated beside an adult, then they shouldn't have allowed a situation to arise where that hasn't happened.

Their booking process is at fault.

All (or pretty much all IME) do it now. DH and I fly to the states, usually at least once a year. Went to Hong Kong a few years ago. Flew Premium every time, still had to pay to reserve seats.

Yep, the policy is very widespread now, even amongst the traditional/full service/legacy carriers, even on Long Haul flights.

You are right, but their booking process does not let you check out and purchase the tickets until the adult has chosen and paid for their seat. You cannot move on to the next screen until this process is completed.

@EasternEcho @elderflowerspritzer There's nothing wrong with the Ryanair booking process, which won't allow you to proceed without paying for at least one adult seat and reserving the children's seats in the same row.

It's quite obvious that this is an imaginary situation, probably posted by a journalist looking to get people wound up.

And then everyone will pay more for their tickets.

Exactly. As a solo traveller I already have to pay single supplements for all sorts of things and I don't want to subsidise couples and families further by this being included in the base fare.

Sorry all - we’re now on holiday and it’s slightly chaotic (city break with 3 kids…)
Regarding booking seats, I did book them all sitting together when I bought the flights. The return journey has those on the boarding passes correctly, but the going-out was random seating.
We used the ‘family plus’ option which includes free seats.
Regarding complaining, I did begin, but just thought ‘what’s the point?’ So I posted on here, because I thought it might make me feel better!

Why would anyone be made to pay more? It doesn't cost them anything not to pick names out of a hat and sit people randomly. It's a fake add on and they should be held to account for it.

I think it’s a fake post to wind us all up.

Confused @LHGL if you had the family option did you pick the specific seats from the ‘free included’ selection when booking, or skip that bit until later? If so then yes, they should reimburse. But if you didn’t and left it until close to departure to actually choose then in a full flight you can only pick from what’s left which could be none together, which is on you.

Because if you remove seat choice fees the airline suffers a loss in revenue.

Margins are too tight to allow that loss simply to be ignored, so the lost revenue will be recovered by increasing charges on other items on the menu such as checked bags or food or the base fare itself.

thank you for returning OP

If you booked the seats and paid for them then that is completely outrageous – but I doubt you’ll get anything from Ryanair except eventually (hopefully) the booking fee back

Other airlines may have these kind of charges, but Ryanair is always the most contemptuous of its passengers, which is why I avoid them

This has been done to death.
Ryanair didn’t make your 4year old sit alone- you did. To guarantee this privilege you have to get your act together and pay for it. If the booking confirmation comes through as random seating it is your job as a parent to sort this out at the time of booking. Not assume cabin crew or all the other people who have already paid up will be willing to shuffle and accommodate you.