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.

This.

I'd swap if the price was right I guess but yeah I booked my seat for a reason

Surprised how many people pay for the pre booked seats. Booked many flights with low cost airlines (including Ryanair) and never had a seat away from whoever I’m travelling with.

Yeah, they do it on purpose to make you pre book. They tried to it my 2 year old alone! I asked the man next to her - middle of mid row - to swap with me - aisle seat, he refused so I handed him DDs teddy and said "well good luck to you, good luck" and he blanched and swapped. WTF is wrong with people. I couldn't book seats because i was a last min booking due to a close relative dying.

I used to fly with Ryanair a lot when younger/pre-kids, some destinations it used to be just them.

But essentially - for me that’s it. They are not a nice company to interact with ever and I can’t believe everyone is saying OP should have paid without acknowledging that Ryanair hate humans (but OP should have still paid).

If sitting together matters to you-do what the rest of us do. Pay extra for seats together. Sorry (not), it's harsh but true.
And if you fly with the cheapest airline around don't expect them to treat you as anything more than cash generators.

Something must gone wrong booking end. I took 10 dlights with Ryanair this year and you have to pick seats next to each other when having young kids. In fact they automatically assign us 5 seats across row normally. Maybe the late check in as you can check in ages before flight?

@FeatherBoat what would you pay for something that is mandatory. Ie the plane technically shouldn’t take off unless you are have paid to be sitting together? or you leave the plane.

Don't forget that the plane taking off without them is Option 2. Not forcing others to move.

YANBU. All the 'if you want to sit together pay for seats' riles me up no end. It's ridiculous. It's just a fucking way to scam you out of more money. 15 years ago, this never happened, you didn't have to pay for seats. You shouldn't have to now. YOU'VE ALREADY FRIGGING PAID FOR THE SEAT.

And it creates a bigger problem with the expecting others to move and be accommodating when they have probably paid for the seat. If I've paid extra for that seat, then I'm not likely to move for someone who hasn't. I've paid for it because I want to sit with my family.

Saying that, this time I've not. It would be a blessed relief for someone else to be sat next to my four year old. If they offer to swap I am saying no 😅

@Drfosters it's mandatory to have a passport as well but they won't pay for that either. There's loads of policy things that airlines do that can cost customers. They're basically saying you must sit with your child therefore you must reserve a seat.

Exactly. Why would they have to pay when the airline says they’ll put them together regardless? Why pay money when you don’t have to? It’s stupid to do so.

The fact is that in this situation the airline did not do what they said they would on their website. If they say an under 12 will be sat next to an adult, I’d damn well expect to be able to hold them to this. Why not?

I can’t work out how the Op managed to book without reserving their seat. We have just booked a flight and were pricing up the different airlines. My two will be 14 and 11 when we fly. Ds (the 11 year old) was not at all bothered about reserving seats (in fact quite hopeful we wouldn’t - random strangers don’t stop him eating his packed lunch at 10am or make unhelpful comments about how maybe he has had enough screens now so perhaps he could read a nice book! 😂) Ryanair insisted that we did though as he is U12.

This. Book your seats!

The magic question is ‘can you explain to me how this seating arrangement complies with CAA regulations? If they fob you off ask for the captain to answer the same question.

People are ridiculous. As long as the OP and her partner were happy to sit separately each with a child, there is no need to pay. She isn’t complaining she couldn’t sit with her husband, it’s young children FFS. Some people on here are just hell bent on making sure the OP is always in the wrong no matter what.

@Mumofteenandtween that's why I think it's made up. I don't know how they managed to book the seats in the first place. You have to pay for one adult. You don't even need to pay for both. I actually think it's very reasonable.

I had a similar experience with Ryanair in 2009 and for that reason have never flown with them again, even when their flights have been significantly cheaper than other carriers.

No they don't. I fly with them all the time and have never paid to pre book seats, and we've never been seated apart.

Sorry OP looking at this from another point of view as someone who has kids and just flew Spain this week with them all but did pre paid seats together so dhd sit with her kids. A parent decided not to pay to pre-book seats together with there kids. The parent was then unhappy as there poor young child wasn't sat with them even though they knew that was a risk they took when they failed to book seats in advance.

Other people on the flight (probably a lot of families due to it being school holidays) didn't want to give up there pre paid booked more expensive seats. Ryanair knew this and didn't want to upset customers who had pre paid for seats together. Ryanair policy and UK law states kids need to be next to an adult but actually that doesn't mean there parent so they can legally sit the child in different rows on the plane from a parent.

The moral of the story is if you want to guarantee seats with your kids you need to pay for them.

Bollocks .
Plane safety surely means that children must be seated next to responsible adults.
It's not about choosing specific seats which us what booking seats is about. It's just putting adults and their kids on one booking together. Not tricky. Been done for years.

Ryan Air is a flying bus, don't expect anymore from them especially when you listen to their CEO.

This is such an odd MN quirk, and an area in which humanity has gone backwards.
Since the dawn of flying, airlines have seated people who book travel together, together. A decade ago, or whenever it was, someone had the 'bright' idea of charging people to sit together for no earthly reason other than screwing customers out of more money.
Now here's the really really odd bit. Many people, like me, think that this charge is mad and don't pay it. And around 85%+ of times I've always been seated next to my family. But it seems to make some people who are willing to pay whatever outrageous charge airlines create BATSHIT crazy to see that some people don't want to pay said charge to pay, and then have the audacity to ask often people travelling alone, to swop seats.
However, there is also a safety element. A parent should NEVER be forced to pay to sit next to their own four-year old, for all the obvious reasons.
What people don't realise is, is that in a plane crash, if families are split up, this will hinder safe and quick evacuation of planes, and endanger lives. If I haven't paid to sit next to my teenager, I'll begrudgingly sit apart from them. But if the plane goes down, to hell with everyone else, I'm going to get them. And if you have a plane load of people looking for their kids (worst case scenario) that will cause more deaths.

OP- complain to your MP and the CAA, and the Transport Secretary (who has the right idea about P&O). Ignore the haters who seem to think it's normal to pay next to your family. It isn't!

Absolutely your own fault, majorly being unreasonable, and CF too!

You could have paid a small fee to specifically book seats together, but you decided it wasn't worth the cost to do that, and just winged it based on their policy. That bit you in the arse, and then you bugged others who may well have paid to select specific seats, to swap with you for your benefit and their detriment. Probably with some sense of entitlement too from the sounds of your post.
Entirely avoidable and on you, if your kids are traumatised thats your doing, don't go blaming or complaining to anyone else. Next time don't be a cheapskate.

This 100%

It's YOUR 🫵🏻 fault not Ryanair's.

The magic question is ‘can you explain to me how this seating arrangement complies with CAA regulations?

Again they are just guidelines and not legally binding in the UK.