Can you have a seat on a Ryanair flight and book another to same destination on a different date (intending not to fly on original one)?

[Maggiethecat]

Booked family holiday 2 days ago (not checked in yet though) and dd realises that she has an event on departure date that she can't easily get out of.

It would cost more to change her flight date than just booking new one for the next day.

Would this cause any issue at booking (presuming not since there is no information other than name linking specifically to her)?

Hoping that her return flight would not be affected by her being considered a no show for the outbound.

Ryanair has had issues with their website/app recently and so seem to be quite busy as I cannot get through to them on phone.

A no-show I'm sure would not cause an issue with Ryanair. Sorry to read you have not been able to use another airline.

I would check as ive heard that the return flight might be cancelled.

Yes, the return flight will likely be cancelled.

When DH did similar (different airline) he turned up for his flight home to find it had been cancelled and he had to buy another one

Definitely check with them if you booked the original flights as returns because airlines often cancel it if you don't use the outbound leg.

Ryanair is the one airline where this is unlikely to cause a problem as on their system the outward and return flight are not connected, they are 2 single journeys. Simon Calder has mentioned this in articles as a good thing about Ryanair.

Yeah, don't do that as they'll almost certainly cancel her return.

A mate of mine was flying short haul for a hen do weekend. She got stuck in traffic on the way from work to the airport, missed her outbound flight.

Somewhat pissed off at herself, she bought a walk on flight for a few hours later, reasoning that yes it was turning out to be a jolly expensive weekend, especially as she was now going to miss the first night of partying, but bff's hen do so had to be done.

Except when she arrived back at the airport two nights later, her return had been cancelled because she'd no showed the outbound.

Plus there wasn't another flight that night, so she ended up with an expensive hotel bill AND a bollocking from work for missing a day, in addition to a second pricey flight to pay for.

She's still salty about it 5 years later...

Ryanair will not cancel the return flight (double check with them on the phone though for reassurance).

I had this exact same situation last week, also with Ryanair. Had a flight A->B on the Wednesday, then at the last minute had to re-route and fly A->C on Tuesday and then C->B later on.

I simply booked a new flight (it was cheaper as well) and there were no issues. I've done it quite a few times with them.

It's always worth her checking in for the unused flight regardless, and you can always explain at the airport that she's travelling tomorrow instead, and double-check again the return will not be affected.

Ryanair are actually the one airline who won't cancel your return when you don't show up, it's one of their few good things

Thanks for feedback- was away from the thread trying to sort it.

I forget what a headache it is dealing with ryanair generally. but the person on the other end of the chat was very helpful.

we could have done a no show for the outbound and booked new ticket without it affecting the return flight but it worked out cheaper to pay the fee to rebook (wouldn't have had to pay anything had she told me a few hours earlier than she did!!). the new flight was cheap but by the time you added on luggage it would have cost more than the fee for changing original booking.

bear this in mind for future. also note that doing the change online (£45) is cheaper than if you ring call centre.