to expect priority boarding for infants and young children on even the tightest airline

[SebbysMum]

We flew with a well known budget airline last week. Not sure if MN allows me to say which but no doubt many of you will be able to guess.

We found that it no longer boards children and babies first. Instead those who pay an extra charge get priority. There were two young babies on the flight (mine aged 4 months). The staff were extremely rude and insisted on sending us to the very back of the non priority queue, despite other passagers offering to let us go first.

As a result of this policy we saw a mother sent to the back of the queue separated from her two under-10 children on the plane (until other passengers kindly offered to move).

Is it just me or is this truely the triumph of corporate greed and mindless bureaucracy over common decency?

i haven't flown in 7 years and threads like these make me all the more reluctant to do so.

ryannair's been named and shamed for how they treat disabled people at boarding time, so i can only imagine how they treat people with young children.

i'm with Buda, vote with your feet and your purse.

don't fly them.

oooooooh, MRcsws... you are masterful... how's yer good lady? we adore her.

all fine and dandy expat but if they're the only airline offering the route you want then you have to risk it for a triskit.

DH also flies Ryanair weekly and has few complaints. Of course, he doesn't take the children with him...

YANBU

I refuse to fly Ryanair too. It's a false economy as you pay so much extra in added charges that you rarely save any money.

The rudeness of the staff would appear IME to BE company policy. It's not a one off, that's for sure.

If you fly Ryanair you pay a lot more money than it initially seems you will to be treated like you're less than human.

There's always another way to get where you're going.

ReallyTired - of course it's a safety issue, and it's not the one you suggest. If there is any kind of emergency a small child needs to be near the adult responsible for them. You cannot be sure that the person they end up sitting next to will know how to deal with them in a crisis.

So basically if you're a parent and you fly with an airline that doesn't give you free "priority boarding" when flying with children under 10, the airline is effectively charging you more than other people as the charge is not really optional. Unless you want to put your children at risk you have to pay.

I always board last anyway. Even when they ask for babies and children first. All that waiting in a confined space.

i'd go out of my way to avoid it, aitch.

seriously, i hate to fly because it is such a pain in the arse.

it's fine if i'm on my own, but with little kids, nah.

aye, but as i say, no-one but them is flying from glasgow to rome any more.

how about another city and then a train, aitch?

god, i bloody hate flying.

Mine did, when I made it clear that at 7 mths pg with screaming toddler,no way was i walking aNYWHERE.

see, that sounds a great deal more horrific to me than having to fanny about with meanie staff and a kid in an airport...

mind you i like flying, although i haven't been on a plane in about five years, it's exciting and the start of a holiday. and yes, i do plan to carry antihistamines with which to knock dd out if necessary. yes i fooking do...

I'm going to Dhaka alone with two kids next month.
Gawd help me.
Will be last on every flight.

Star but you can book for extra assistance beforehand-one of those little electric cars.
They are not solely reserved for ancient Indian ladies in white saris and 1950s style glasses.

that's totally my Holiday Look, moony!

last time I flew Ryanair (admittedly a couple of years back) they did do priority boarding for children and disabled/ old people. The problem we had was that there was a large group of mostly-pissed neds (more than 20), which included a couple of younger neds (about 12 yrs old, I guess). Presumably because they were all on the same booking, they all got priority boarding, which caused havoc.

The trick, as other people have said, is to pay for priority bording, or take only hand luggage and check in online, in which case you get it free. Otherwise turn up early and get to the front of the queue.

I got refused extra assistance disembarking from a BA flight at Gatwick. I was 7m pg and by myself with DS1 who was 22m old at the time. It seemed like miles to the luggage bit, and was in the middle of the night so he was fast asleep. To add insult to injury, I'd taken his car seat on the plane as they told me I could get the electric car thing. They had space on it, but still wouldn't allow me to use it as they didn't have my details. Have had much more assistance from First Choice flights! I felt like just sitting there and crying. Eventually somebody on the buggy took my carseat on their knee, although the driver advised them not to (I obviously looked like a dodgy drug dealer! ), and I carried DS1 and our bags the whole way. I've managed to get my P&T on as handluggage a couple of times though!

Laura, that is outrageous!!