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 am very surprised that people think it is a reasonable policy to have toddlers seated away from a parent.

You learn something ever day

coconutty people have pointed out that "priority boarding" does not actually guarantee you being amongst the first onto the plane.

Also hahaha at this "I would sincerely hope that everyone would help a child get off before they did."

If people get off anything like they get on then clearly they aren't going to be stopping for anyone!

I nearly went down the stairs with my 7mo in my arms as everyone was shoving so much - and that was just getting on the damn plane!

I still don't get what the problem is with "giving up your seat". Nobody is being asked to stand all the way to Naples, everyone will get a seat, so why would you want to sit next to a lone child, or a parent continuously getting up and down to take new toys to said child, rather than swapping f seats and sitting next to another adult?

I think that the reason for not doing it, is to do with being contrary and smug, and probably getting a certain amount of pleasure out of watching others struggle.

Unfortunately flying with companies like these really does bring out the absolute worst in people.

coconutty if people are willing to shove a woman with mobility issues in the back, on a flight of stairs, while she is struggling down carrying a 7mo baby, in order to beat her to the plane, then yes I think there is a reasonable chance that they will look after themselves in the event of an emergency.

People who are not prepared to move in order to let a 3yo (say) sit with a parent, are by definition not reasonable, so where on earth does the idea come from that in a situation of even more stress they will suddenly have a total change of personality.

It is a stupid policy, for the safety reason alone. How much longer would it take?

I read that Ryanair don't allow car seats in the cabin or buying an under-2 their own seat either, which after reading this makes me

It isn't about entitlement. It is about decency and safety.

My 5yr old has ASD. He woukd SCREAM and never stop if seated on his own. If he didn't scream at tat it would be because the plane was taking off in the 'wrong' direction or because his seat belt was the wrong colour. He woukd spend the flight when calmed, flicking the in-front table up and down and NEVER get bored of this. If the passenger in front complained agressively he would probably urinate in fright. He may masterbate openly. He'd almost certainly drop something and climb all over the other passengers trying to retrieve item.

With enough going against him/us, why should we have to pay a disabled tax as well? Ryan Air told us to pay for PB even when explaining with copy of Dx.

Sorry starlight, I do feel sympathy for your situation but it is not a disabled tax.

A young children tax?

Either way, it is a way of ensuring those IN NEED have to pay more and it is uncivilised.

Agree Starlight. Although I hadn't thought about the turnaround time being quicker with unassigned seating - I guess they want to discourage people from having assigned seats. Plus, I suppose they will get away faster if people run for the plane and push and shove to get on board.

Uncivilised.

Yes that sums the whole thing up, entirely.
The system is uncivilised.
And it encourages uncivilised behaviour in the people using it, which is just really awful.

I'm quite happy to have a sense of entitlement about this. It is never a problem on Easyjet, they have a sensible policy.

How is Ryan air actually cheaper now though (for families and holiday makers rather than someone who pops over all the time)

£70 (!!!!) for a bag there and back is included free with BA. You don't need speedy boarding, admin fees etc etc and you get a drink and a snack. They start from £54 each way. That's got to be better?.

We have used Ryan Air a few times - and Easy Jet who have a boarding system. We have never paid for early boarding and never been split from DD. Infact we have always been able to sit all 3 together .

The only people who may have issues are those that get on the plane right at the end. But if you arrive in decent time and station yourself near the desk and be ready to join the queue once it's called - ime you will have no problems as all.
Just don't get there last minute and hang around in the shops, et. Seriously - we have never had a problem.

We've never had the bus situation.
If that was to occur then speak up. Ask the air stewards to sit you in pairs, or one adult with both children. If that doesn't work - ask people direct, look for people without children - they will find it harder to refuse if you and a young child are stood asking them politely.

We are flying with Ryan air next week with 2 other families. We have paid for priority boarding but my friends haven't they reckon their kids will sit with us if we get on first I'm a nice person though so I may try to bag seats for all of them!

Hope you're not travelling from Liverpool, rookie, they'll tear you limb from limb for that!

I don't know why you don't check flight prices with other airlines. Websites like Tripadvisor will email you with updated prices. When I was looking for a trip (which ended up not going ahead) once all the "extras" were added up the budget airlines worked out to be anything but.

Instead I was ready to book with KLM, no scrum for seats which I think would stress me out if dts (10) were younger, decent baggage allowance and seat numbers. People can be mercenary in these situations. Not a nice start to the holidays.

Two - we always check all the options and the tota costs. Ryan Air has still come out cheaper for us int he past, although this summer Jet 2 has been lowest for our holiday.

Unfortunately it isn't always about cost. We have no choice, both our closest airports fly ryanair. To fly BA we would have to drive the 5 hours to Paris first.

I have seen ryanair split up families even when there are rows and rows of empty seats that they won't let anyone use. It is even more amusing when they try to explain this to the French families who don't speak English - and heaven forbid that ryanair might have a French speaker on their French flights. I nearly always end up moving and translating.

I've just checked flight prices to where DP is staying currently and ryanair are the only airline which have flights under £100 return, they charge about £40 return whereas the next cheapest flight even taking into account travelling to a different airport is £122 and that's nowhere near him.

It's ridiculous :( I can't afford a price difference of £100!