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.

Your own stupid fault for being too tight to pay for seats together

It’s the risk you take when you don’t pre-book your seats unfortunately. 🤷‍♀️

I fly with cheap airlines a lot (to visit family abroad) and always prebook my seats. I want to sit with my small children and not take any risks. They are all clear with their policies, no sympathies for people who want to save but then complain.

So you would stand and read the policy that clearly states that adults with young children are required to reserve seats. Do you not think it would be a bit embarrassing to stand there and point out to the whole plane that it was your own fault for not having followed the instructions?

Do you really think that they wouldn't give you a final choice of sit down and shut up or you'll be removed from the plane.

You need the plane, the plane doesn't need you.

Ryan Air didn't make your kids sit alone. You did. You chose not to book seats together and then funnily enough, you didn't sit together.

If you can afford to go on holiday abroad then you can afford to reserve seats.

I assume the policy means its the adults responsibility to book correctly to ensure they are sitting next to their young child, not that the airline has a responsibility to arrange through their systems that anyone under 12 sits with their adult. I assume the policy is to remind parents they have to sit next to their child not book their child in far away from them.

Well you made the four year old sit themselves by not booking seats together. Then you sat them beside a 7 year old instead of an adult beside them which is madness.

And you would have been offloaded and not gone on holiday at all. The behaviour you outline is not polite or firm. It’s rude and entitled.

You caused the problem.

Who are these people that don’t realise you have to
book to sit together? Have they not flown for the past 20 years?

Gosh this gave me a good giggle. Excellent! It’s been a long day today and I really needed this, thank you!

If you can't afford to book seats together then you can't afford to take your family flying

You're unlikely to secure others' cooperation through either overt or passive aggression. This kind of attitude only makes people double down. The person sitting next to your child doesn't assume automatic responsibility for them; it's very strange parenting to imagine - much less openly suggest - that they will.

It's also pointless complaining about Ryanair being a heartless airline who operate on a nasty, cutthroat business model. That's what they are. They don't care who knows it, nor what people think of them as long as they keep on coining the profits.

People can still opt to fly with them in the full knowledge of what they're getting, or they can take their business elsewhere. They've made this stance unapologetically and very publicly clear on numerous occasions.

Personally I voted with my feet many years ago.

You need to consider the seat reservation fee as part of the ticket price.
Exactly

I assume you knew the fact you could have paid to ensure you were seated together at the time of booking. You took the risk and it didn't work out - you know for the future.

If you want to complain, do. The cabin crew may be sanctioned if they follow up on the report via email however any compensation you can forget about it.

If this is not your return flight, I suggest you log in now and ensure you have seats together and pay for it.

This was entirely of your own making , it is not Ryanair that made your child sit alone , it is her parents .

exactly! It is slightly more complicated in OP's case because it appears she didn't bother to check this before she got to the airport, whereas if she'd deliberately chosen not to pay the extra because she saw the policy at the time of booking she'd have a stronger case.

Everyone saying pay extra for seats together - why would anyone choose to pay extra when they don't (or shouldn't?) need to?

It's like castigating someone who didn't pay for hold luggage because they had a cabin sized bag, and the policy is to allow a cabin sized bag for free, but RA then made them check the bag and pay for it. If the policy is to allow a bag for free then who would voluntarily pay to check in a bag they don't need? If the policy is to allocate under12s seats next to their parents then why would anyone pay extra to choose their seats?

If there was an option to book seats when you booked your tickets then then you should have paid to ensure it happened. Too many parents rely on the “parents get to sit with their kids” and think they can cheap out and not pay for their seats to bully others out of theirs

I have been on an easyJet flight where they have said unless people switch seats we can’t take off (because of the rule that a child should be next to each orher

but I always prebook seats find it much less stressful than before when it was when you turned up

God I hate all this money grabbing bollocks that these awful airlines have created. People who book together want to sit together and not pay for that. Sitting with the people you book with is just a basic. It never used to be difficult but they have turned it into an unpleasant charade. I was really pleased to see Ryanair lost a case in Italy about this recently.
I think the model they use us perfect fair and ut has opened up travel for more people.
Last week I flew to Germany , return for less than£35. Ipaid for what I needed and nothing else. No cabin luggage, don't care what seat I get even if it's the middle, no hidden extras, it's all made clear.
I'm flying with them next month I'm paying priority because I want to take a bigger bag and I'm happy to pay for a particular seat because my friend is a nervous flyer. When I'm with other friends we don't bother about sitting next to each other.

Sitting with people used to be basic , sure,but it was a lot more expensive to fly

If everyone traveling with kids did what you did it would be complete chaos trying to relocate everyone.

When you need to sit together you book a seat.

We tried to swap with people ourselves but only managed to get the two youngest together,

One of the adults could have sat with the four year old, which seems to be the main issue.

I can't stand parents like you who won't pay for seat reservations then expect other people to give up their seats.

If you pay for specific seats, then you pick them at the time of booking!