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?

I think you're taking a big risk and if you want to sit together, should look at priority tbh. Its not fair to ask other people who have paid for it to move just because you need to sit with your children.

Sorry, if that sounds unfair but its the truth. There's no such thing as equality and fairness on a buget scare-line, short flight or not.

I am DEFIINITELY getting a ferry to Spain this year after reading this!

Why the jeff do people use Ryanair?! I'd rather walk and swim than use them quite frankly. Wouldn't want my hard earned cash to go anywhere near that twat who owns them either.

You might be right there travail. We just need to lots of PB to sort the problem (each way). Then it will probably be empty - ha!

If you want to be sure of sitting together, pay for the priority boarding. It's not worth the worry! And yes, we always pay because I worry enough about all the things that could go wrong when going on holiday without worrying about something that is entirely preventable!

Priotity boarding is no guarantee. In fact, if you have small children and can't join the scrum wholeheartedly, it is next to useless. We paid for it once, but were elbowed out of the way by passengers without it and were almost last on the plane. I would never pay for it again. Having a child in full tantrum scream mode, however, REALLY moves people out of the way.

.. even if you have to [ahem] precipitate the tantrum yourself..

Pay for priority boarding! Seriously. Yes, I know it's a scam and it's shit but we regularly fly ryan air and have often seen families split up. It's a scary free for all with people litetally pushing and running to the plane.

I've flown with Ryanair twice a month now for the last few months, just me and two DCs aged 7 & 9. It was ok when it was earlier in the season but I get stressed that we could be separated and have in fact paid for priority boarding for our next few flights. They have at no time taken families with young children straight after boarding.

You can pay for priority boarding at stansted they have Ryanair staff at the gates selling tickets, in holiday season I wouldn't take the risk not to.

This is why I will not fly Ryanair (well, that and they lost my bag, then acted like I'd asked them for the keys to the plane when I went all the way to Gatwick to ask for it back, they had no intention of actually delivering to me)

Go with finding a seat for your 2 year old, sit them in it, then say to the person next to them, "are you ok looking after DC? They are a little bit travel sick and might throw up on you, or if you like I can sit in that seat [point at their seat] and you could sit in the spare one over there." smile sweetly. Get your DH to do the same with your 5 year old.

It's not that bad! We always just go straight to the gate - right to the desk - when we get to the airport. As long as you're not in the last quarter or so of people to get on you'll be fine. We are 5 and have always sat together. The cabin crew are completely unhelpful though, it's true.

I've never paid for PB since once when they sent all the PB down onto the bus to the plane, then left us in there - stationary - while they put the others on another bus, and sent the other bus to the plane first . I also only fly Ryanair if there's no other sensible choice. You do really feel like animals being herded. Even Easyjet is much less horrible.

We have the (dubious) pleasure of flying with Ryanair a few times a year, and they don't tend to allow families to board directly after the priority boarders anymore -their answer is that families should pay the premium for priority boarding if they want to guarantee the possibility of sitting together.

Before kids, DH and I would always board the plane last and not worry about whether we sat together or not, but as other posters have said, you don't always get a lot of courtesey during boarding, especially as people need to secure the precious overhead locker space as they're also avoiding paying ryanair's baggage charges :). However even on very full flights I think you'd be very unfortunate to be in a situation where no one would relocate for you.

My advice would be to either stump up the priority boarding fee, or be prepared to get to the gate ASAP and queue (one of us usually does this while the other entertains DS) for what can sometimes be over half an hour, depending on the airport and how soon they call the gate. Hope it all goes smoothly.

We flew with them recently and I found it a but stressful even though mine are older , I did explain to them that we might be split up but it was fine. With little ones like yours I would pay for priority boarding I know it's a pain but worth it for less stress !
Apart from that aspect of it we liked ryanair, planes were fine and on time !

We flew Ryanair.

Had no problems whatsoever.

We did walk across the tarmac to the plane though. We just made sure the Ds's were in front of us to get a seat each on the outside with a seat on the inside spare for DH and I. But actually it was fine. Although DS2 does get air sick... so if we were split up, then they would have to deal with him.

Apart from one knob head, it was one of our best flights. He complained - he was on his way to the toilet and there was an announcent asking all passengers to return to their seats. 5 mins later he sees the captain coming out of the toilet who then spoke to the stewardess. Blimey, this man was mad. He called the girl over and gave her a right bollocking. I told him to bloody well sit down and stop showing himself up. It wasn't the girls fault the captain needed the sodding loo.

But why do people a) refuse to move b) fight? It's not like a train where you'd end up standing all the way or not get on at all (surely even Ryanair don't bump you on the tarmac? Surely?)

If you don't have small children what's the worst that can happen?

If you are separated from your dc, just make a big thing of telling the person they are next to about all the sweets/snacks/drinks they will need to give to them, remind them not to let dc have free access as there is the whole trip and you don't want them to be sick all over their clothes if there is turbulance, don't forget to remind them to go to the loo, point out where their sick bag is if they need it, give the unsuspecting person half a dozen rainbow fairy books to read or boy equivalent (no actually boys like fairies too, keep to the rainbow fairy plan) and thank them profusely as you clutch a travel book for your destination and say you are off to plan some excursiions.

My 5yr old would probably be quite up for playing along with this game and might be taught to do a few extra things, she has a disgusting lovely habit of regurgitating into her hand half chewed biscuits mid chomp, that might move them. If not, try to relax and enjoy your child free flight, although do be aware that you may be begged to swop after takeoff!

As long as my children (well not the 2 yr old) knew in advance this might happen (and our little plans to reunite), I don't think they would be too bothered. Oh also if your 5yr old is into questions then do warn their minder, ours can ask very embarassing questions if encouraged not closely supervised.

It's crap isn't it though - priority boarding is just a way of making families with small children pay extra!

When I was flying on my own I made sure I was the last person to board. I then used to have great pleasure is asking to sit in the middle seat of a couple who had purposely sat themselves in the aisle and window seat so they could have a bank of 3 to themselves. The one in the aisle seat would aslways move to the middle to sit next to their beloved ...result....last on , first off!

I'm one of four kids and not having to sit with any of my family was always the best bit about flying ryanair!

Now we fly back and forth to Ireland a lot with them. We never do priority boarding and I can't abide to queue either, so we're invariably last on the plane. Smile at the stewards and they will shuffle people for you, but I find that if you only have the choice of middle seats and sit in it with an enormous toddler (nearly 2) people move pretty fast. Also sometimes I employ a tactical breastfeed!

Am I the only person who thinks it's crap to make people who have paid PB because their seat matters to them (however strange this might be) move by dumping your kid next to them? You're travelling Ryanair - you know the rules, pay PB if it matters.

I always fly easyjet, never pay for priority boarding and get to sit with youngest or there is hell to pay.
It is safety issue - any sudden need to disembark and I want yo be bear my three young DC. I don't have to be next to them but I want them within grabbing distance.

I have never had a problem. Easyjet always board families after priority and the kids are always near me. Next to me in fact once I have remarked loudly about DD2's motion sickness..

agenda I like your style

I am in the minority (of one perhaps?) of those who actually like Ryanair. Well, I like that it enables me and DP to travel as frequently as we need to without selling off children/body parts/etc.

Get to the gate early, you should be fine.

I couldn't give a toss what other people have paid for - thst's up to them.

We flew with ryanair last august and like you i was pretty stressed about dd (who had literally just turned 2) being separated from DH and I. We did pay for priority boading and tbh it was money well spent.

It was just as bad as I feared, possibly a tiny bit worse actually(!), with poeple pushing and shoving. A boy of about 7 did have to sit on his own about 3 rows in front of us and his Mum kept coming to check on him every 10 mins or so. He looked a bit unsure and lonely.

On the way back it was similar and for no apparent reason the stewardess wouldn't let anyone sit in the first 4 rows (balancing the plane?) but a big family with about 5 kids waltzed on at the last minute and got told to sit together in the empty rows - it did not go down well. People were doing that loud whispering talking about them thing. Made for a very uncomfortable flight for everyone.

I will not fly wih them again, as even with the PB it was still very stressful. I have paid just a little more to fly with Thomas cook this summer.

Sorry this is probably not what you want to hear - I'm a very positive person generally but I don't like stress!

About, then you shouldn't expect them to move.