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?

Isn't the possibility of being split up from your children a good reason to fly Ryanair

It happened to me on RyanAir. DD was 7yo at the time and hysterical. Me, dh and dd were all seperated. Noone would move to help us. Flight was 4 hours from Tenerife. DD did obviously calm down but I had to physically push her into the seat and belt her in and leave her.

I posted about it at the time and got a bit of a flaming with lots of people saying they wouldn't have let it happen, etc. But the air stewadess was properly shouting at me as the plane was due to start taxiing. I was really flustered (have a phobia of flying anyway).

We'd been the first to check in, so there lovely and early. But dd needed the loo urgently and while I took her to the loo they announced boarding so we ended up been the last on the plane.

I complained afterwards as CAA rules suggest that families should not be split up and there needs to be a responsible adult to assist a child with oxygen masks, etc in an emergency. Never heard from RyanAir after I complained.

Frankly I think it is only a matter of time before something goes drastically wrong on a flight and Ryanair is forced to either give allocated seating and everyone bear the cost or implement a policy of families/ carers/ elderly people being priority boarded and allowed to sit together.

WE fly Ryanair regularly with 3 children and never pay for PB. DH and oldest boy queue first, then go as fast as possible to the plane and save seats. I potter on at my leisure with the babies and buggies etc and we all sit together.

I just flew RyanAir last week with DS (4.5). We had a last-minute change-of-heart at the airport and paid for priority boarding at Stansted. It was well worth it.

A family with 2 children boarded from the very end of the line, had massive problems finding anywhere to sit, and cabin crew did nothing to help at all. They were more concerned with having everyone put bags under seats despite the fact that overhead space was relatively empty (I was wondering if they were making room for additional passengers to sit up in the overhead compartments... Ryanair only cares about getting people on the plane and away from the gate ON TIME. They could care less where they sit (unless unauthorized in the exit rows)

So do yourself a favor and pay for priority boarding. Otherwise you'll have to plan to get to the airport hours and hours in advance to get to the head of the line.

But as others have said, paying for it doesn't always mean you get it!

I'm flying ryanair in July on the first day of the school holidays with a 4 year old and a 5 month old. I refuse to pay for priority boarding. It's a con. I am going to print off the caa guidelines and if we can't get seats together (within the recommendation of the guidelines ie separated by no more than 1 row or the aisle) I will be waving them around and making the stewardess sort. They are there for safety onboard and must operate to caa guidelines.

you don't need to get there hours in advance to get to the head of the line, they won't announce the gate until 40 mins before boarding anyway, so that would be a bit pointless.

Swedie - the important word in your last post is guidelines. Its not the law, they can't be made to follow it. I tried that with the stewardess and she threatened to kick me off the flight if I didn't sit down. Maybe I should have called her bluff. The flight would have been a lot later leaving if they'd done that.

The only budget airline I have ever used is Jet2 and they have always been great, apart from two hour delays on both journeys the last time I used them.

After reading this, I will never ever use Ryanair! I think that if they are taking people's money for priority boarding, then they have a duty to ensure that the passengers actually get priority boarding.

Honestly, those who are doubting it ....all the steward/stewardesses care about is that plane taking off on time.

RyanAir prides itself on the (IIRC) highest percentage of flights that arrive on time/early out of all the airlines. Thats why they play that bloody stupid fanfare when they land within time.

If they have to sit you and your family at opposite ends of the plane, remove you from the plane etc they won't care as long as they don't miss their slot.

My husband works for Ryanair, cheers for all the positive messages.

They load the plane the way they do because they get away quicker.
He has 35 minutes turn around to load the passengers and get going.

If a plane is on the ground it's not making money.

Pay for P boarding, we have to with two small children of 1 and 4. c

He used to work for BMI baby before ryanair and we used to pay for seats because I like sitting in certain seats!

We just came back from a long haul 24 hour flight - and my 2 y.o. DS was ticketed to be sitting 8 rows behind us alone - until I kicked up an almighty almighty almighty fuss! The 'family friendly' airline: "oh, did you want him sitting with the rest of your party then?". Bloody hell, I know not everyone has kids but surely families should be priorities as rule - for the sake of everyone!

happywheezer Tue 19-Jun-12 14:00:55

"If a plane is on the ground it's not making money."

Mr O'Leary? Is that you?

i don't see why people are complaining. you can have priority boarding and all sit together if you want - you just have to pay for it. ryanair is all about choice - if you want it cheap you don't pay for any extras. if you want lots of specific things you can have them and pay extra.

you all want a no frills price and deluxe service from what i can see.

Halbanoo, were you also on the Sunday evening flight to Gothenburg?! Family with 2 tiny DC sat separated. I felt so sorry for them .

We had a puking toddler on that flight and cabin crew were really arsey when we asked for a plastic bag to put her (and poor DH's) clothes in.

I totally appreciate that the staff are put under pressure to do only things that are revenue generating. It must be very frustrating indeed.

One of my relatives is a pilot. He says that he would happily fly with any UK airline except Ryanair... I think that sums up the view of the airline within the industry. Everything is done to save money. Customer satisfaction and safety come a poor second.

No, it's the first time I've ever been compared to Michael O'leary.
Ryanair are like sleeping with the devil, you don't want to but when it comes to price, you compromise.

Airlines are commercial businesses they aren't charities and it's even harder these days with the price of fuel.

Just get there early in the queue, if you don't want to pay priority boarding.

Are you sure you even get sick bags with Ryanair?! There's no place to put them!

Happywheezer.....I fly with Ryanair about 8 times a year and love them.

I have never had a problem with the staff, either on the ground or on the plane. dd is now 8 and the first time I flew alone with her she was 10weeks.

I do pay for priority boarding.

You pays your money you takes your choice. You want an allocated seat,fly BA.

Ryanair (and Easyjet, and most of the other budget companies) give you a choice. It'sup to you to pay the 8 euro or not.

We are flying on Saturday from Italy. It will cost me less than £100 for both of us. Which makes the allocated seat on the BA flight I could have taken come in at £229. Each.

OP- you'll be fine. The Brits will help you as the Italians trample on you with their great lummocking 19 yr olds. ("but he's still a chiiiiiiiiiiild") Get on the back of the plane, for some reason everyone heads to the front.

Selfish?
Well one day you may need to evacuate and be sat next to a steanger's terrified five year old. What do you? Take responsibility for the child, manhandle them off the plane jeopardising your own escape? Or leave them there, thinking well ma and pa should have paid for priority boarding, bad luck kid.

Ryanair's policy on this is a joke. And it is responsible for passenger safety.

Do RyanAir give you seat numbers on your boarding cards? Or is it a free for all everytime.

It is so long since I flew with them and won't do it ever again. I paid for P Boarding with my two kids (little at the time) and had a similar experience to Carrots where the P Boarding didn't help - crowd surge and running to the flight over the tarmac lead by those without children. Pathetic. Applied for a refund online when I complained I'd paid for a service I didn't get, got refund. But we did sit together in the back half of the plane.

If you do get split up from your kids, ensure you mention in a loud voice that your little ones get air sickness and ask the steward for a sick bag ... I 'm sure people will consider moving. My friend has done that before, it worked.

Yes the CAA is the Civil Aviation Authority, they tell the airlines what to do.
the link is more than guidelines, it is "Information on how an airline may allocate seats and what restrictions may apply" so yes quote it.

And even though many airlines offer the facility to pre-book a particular seat (seats together) they will not guarantee the seat request. Some airlines invite passengers to pay a fee to pre-book a seat. But even this is not a guarantee (though if you pay for an allocated seat and you do not get it, then you should get this fee back).

Other than Ryanair (because they do what they want) - for other airlines, my advice is to get to airport early, speak to the check-in staff nicely and don't be late to the boarding gate. Most airlines keep a proportion of seats back that can't be allocated in advance online, and only by the check-in staff can allocate them (ie some seats aren't given out to select online and looked booked) so getting to the check-in desk early means you can sometimes get better seats than those that have paid for them.

We're not flying this year - staying in UK

DH attended some training (witnessed rather than took part!) with an airline on emergencies. He said it was terrifying and the staff were amazing and totally in control. They clocked the passengers who could cope, those who'd help, those who needed help.

Gave him much faith that in an emergency you wouldn't be left behind - I doubt even in Ryanair they'd not have instantly noted the child needing help. It also made him to scared to ever sit in an emergency exit.

FWIW he has told me we shouldn't go Ryanair for all the reasons outlined in this thread unless we pre book a seat (although we used them a lot pre DD). I am at all the cries of 'they just want money' though. It's a clear business model - a no frills airline - cheap and cheerful and you pay for extras.

You can also look out for Mr and Mrs Beigeslacks. They buy 1 priority seat,which Mrs takes, and spreads her Woman's Weekly and boiled sweet horde across the entire row. She glares at everyone else getting on in a WI kind of way and then Mr Beige appears and they sit comfy,one at the aisle,one at the window, with their wet wipes between them.

I always sit over the aisle fromthem because I love it so much when the harassed single parent and screaming 18mth old sit between them.

Just ring the steward call button every 2 mins and ask them to check you child has their seat belt on/ hasn't been sick/ whether needs loo/ to get his book out of his bag overhead/ put his bag back/ pick up his toy car.