Ryanair worries - could me and dh realistically be split up from our small dcs?

[clutterqueen]

Evening all,
We are flying to Italy on Wednesday with RyanAir. Have not paid for priority boarding as all their extras annoy me too much. I was under the impression, perhaps wrongly, that they would never let a 2 yo and a 5 yo sit unaccompanied by their parents - is that right?!
Have heard something to the contrary and am now worried that this could happen. Am not bothered where in the plane we sit as long as one dc is next to one dp!
Anyone any experience of that?

There is no bloody way that someone is going to agree to sit next to your unaccompanied dcs - not a hope in hell

Seriously, don't spend a second worrying about it - can you imagine the rush to swap seats with you if it was suggested for a second that someone might like to keep your 2yr old company for the flight?

Have a good trip

THe priority boarding is a joke IMHO - they let them through first, then call families with small children. You go along to a door and then there's a scrum for a transfer bus and then everyone elbows to get on the plane first

And suzi is right, noone in there right mind is going to want to entertain your 2 DC (gorgeous though I'm sure they are) for a whole flight anyway!

yeah, I agree with suzikettles. nobody is going to want to sit next to an unaccompanied 5 year old. specially if you usher them on clutching a sick bag & looking green...

I always like to wind mine into a frenzy in the waiting bit just to ensure people will be absolutely clear they won't want to sit next to them

haha sick bag is a good idea and I'm sure they'll clear their own path with their, er, charm.
I couldn't believe it when my sil told me they had to have a big row with the stewardess when she suggested they site in 4 different places on the plane tho and none of the passengers gave up their seats....

The cabin crew will help you find seats together if you need to, just ask them:)

They would rather you were all together for the duration of the journey too:)

We flew Ryanair last year for the first and last time and they didn't let families board after the priority boarders then.

I was really worried about seating as we ended up virtually the last people on the plane (due to the way they sent the buses from the departure gate to the plane).

We were very lucky though as we found 2 lots of 2 seats so each adult sat with a child.

I must say though that as we walked down the aisle of the plane everyone was very much heads down, engrossed in the newspapers etc for fear of catching the eye of someone who might want them to move! The cabin crew were basically telling people to just hurry up, get on the plane and sit down as all they care about is departing/arriving on time.

Just do your best to get on the plane asap!

With Ryanair, there's no family boarding, just priority then everyone. It's conceivable you'd be split up if you got there last. However, that wouldn't end up being the case as if the cabin crew didn't sort it out for you, people would agree to move to help you out. If in doubt, get there on time and get to the gate as soon as gate number announced.

keep an eye on the board and as soon as they give you the boarding gate get in the queue and make sure its not the priority one. then you will be fine. don't get on the full flight at the very end and expect to magically find seats all together. i've seen this happen so often. yes my children are older than yours, but i want to be near them still in case of any issues

you will be fine, just use some common sense.

families have not got priority on the flights i've seen unless they have paid for it.

We flew with them in April to Ibiza. I did not realise that they do not allocate seats at all, it's a free for all once on the plane. It was fine though as I made sure we were some of the first in the que and there was no hassle on board either. Enjoy your trip :)

Also have the correct weight luggage and dimensions of hand luggage. if you need to sort that out, you'll be put to the back of the queue.

God, WHY do people do it? Push to get on, I mean. Budget flights are usually fairly short, so surely people without children can bear to sit apart for a while. It's not even as if there are good and bad seats - they're all shit! And I say that as one who has never flown with kids, but has happily sat apart from my DH for a two-hour flight. You read a book or listen to your iPod anyway. We always used to board last, if we could. Saves being pushed up the stairs and lets people who need to sit first do so.

I can see why people would get the hump. It's so demeaning for everyone not having allocated seats. We will definitely be at the gate early and luckily it's only a tiny airport. Assuming one of the dcs doesn't need a last minute poo and the other one wants to copy. Aarrghhh! I say this every time but never again with Ryan Air!

Cabin crew not overly helpful in getting peoploe to move, in fact downright rude.

Its not always possible to ensure you're not last on the plane though.

As I mentioned in my last post we were in the last handful of people on the plane this is despite being on one of the first buses at the departure gate. After filling our bus, rather than drive to the plane, they filled another bus and sent that off first.

When I have flown with Ryan Air, they have let families board after priority boarders. However Dp once flew with them and the very last passengers to get on were a family of 2 adults and 2 small dc. They then continued to complain very loudly about the 'rude' people who would not move to let them sit as a family.

The only way to be sure is either fork out for priority boarding, or get to the gate early and start queueing immediatley!

Totally agree Brian - people get so weirdly territorial. On another flight we got, a couple deliberately sat across the aisle from each other, leaving the other two seats next to them both empty - so odd. (To be fair the bloke did offer to move but I thought that was strange).

Get there early. my DH works in aviation. Ryanair passengers are known for not giving up their seats. For anyone. He has even hear cases where no one will move so a carer can sit with a disabled person.

That said, I can't imagine anyone wants to sit with an unaccompanied child.

Best of luck

I'm not sure about the 2 year old but the 5 year old could be yes, it happened on a flight I was on a family of 4 got 4 single seats including 2 young children no body would swap with them (I couldn't as I was alone with DS who was only 3 at the time) the dad was directly behind one of the kids, the other kid about 4 sat next to me and DS and eventually the mum managed to get a seat across the aisle. Since then I have always paid for priority boarding - it is usually cheaper at the airport but be warned even with priority boarding it is very very busy and still a race for the plane.

Never had a problem sitting with family on a Ryanair flight. As people usually travel with family or friends they want to sit next to, the plane naturally fills up with people sitting together, so as long as you are prepared to sit as a two and a two you will be ok.

MsGee - what fckers.
Bloody Ryanair. I hate the fact it's now turning me into a stressy queuer worrying about the process when otherwise I wouldn't give a sht on a flight like this. I don't care about where we sit, just basic safety.

Something I witnessed on a flight we were on was that one member of a family (with teenage children so not even little ones) had Priority Boarding and once they were on the plane they 'saved' seats for the others.

The funny thing was the rest of their family took ages to get onto the plane so the Priority Boarding family member had to fend off other passengers for ages -I could see them getting quite flustered!