Ryanair seats

[mrshadders]

Hi all
I've don't remember the last time I flew with Ryanair but am about to book a trip. If I don't pick and pay for seats right now, when it comes to online check in can I pick seats then? When we went away with Tui last year that was what we did but if I'm reading it right, when we check in with Ryanair we will be randomly allocated one rather than being sat together. My husband doesn't want to pay the extra £40 when he thinks it's likely we will be sat together regardless?
Thanks!

@YesYou It's preferable to the alternative which is family members spending half the flight standing in the aisle chatting to their family/friends to the annoyance of other passengers in the aisle seats nearby. And yes I've seen plenty of that too. FWIW the cabin crew didn't seem to give two hoots about the seat swapping. If they did they'd have stopped it surely?
I will add that I am neither a seat swapper or an aisle stander. DH and I are of the opinion that we can manage to be apart for a few hours and just read our books. We can also handle our own money to buy refreshments. In fact on one flight where I had a window seat and a man had the aisle seat, the middle seat was left empty. I said to him "my DH is 4 rows in front". He said "my partner is near the back". We just smiled at each other and put our coats and bags/books on the spare seat!

"FWIW the cabin crew didn't seem to give two hoots about the seat swapping. If they did they'd have stopped it surely?"

As soon as the doors closed? Whilst the plane was taxiing and they had around 5 minutes max to do their pre-flight checks? And half the plane was playing musical chairs?

After take off yes, I can't believe they didn't give two hoots about everyone getting in the way of their job as soon as the doors closed though.

Some of the Ryanair tickets include seat reservations - if you're buying a ticket that includes checked-in luggage or a ticket that allows the wheeled case size cabin luggage you will get a seat reservation included.

So if you're doing that then it's fine for you, but if you're going hand-luggage only then be aware most people will have the tickets with seat reservations and you'll be allocated whatever's left.

It's worth paying the £5-ish for a seat you want. Ryanair's model is to cut all the extras off the ticket price to give very cheap tickets. Cheap ticket means you need to pay if you want those extras.

I pretty much only fly Ryanair and I never seen the seat swap shuffle, and everyone I know pays for their seats. I am old enough to remember when flying was truly expensive so don't begrudge paying a few pounds for extras.

they will not allocate you seats next to each other. We always sit apart on Ryan air as we’re not fussed about sitting together if there’s a spare seat we will let each other know if one of us goes to the loo and then probably won’t move anyway. The stranger next to me can just witness me having a small panic attack instead of my partner on take off 😂

It's generally a requirement to be in your allocated seat for both take off and landing.

For identification should the worst happen.

No you will absolutely not be sat together- even for an empty flight you will be seated in a middle seat at opposite ends of the plane.

Easy jet generally sit you together if you don't choose a seat but Ryan air are very pigheaded about it. Please also don't expect people to move from the seat they have paid for to accommodate you.

"No you will absolutely not be sat together- even for an empty flight you will be seated in a middle seat at opposite ends of the plane."

Never found DH in a middle seat so far. We never book for him. He was by the window on an empty row last time and in the aisle seat 2 rows ahead of DC the time before.

The reason people who don't reserve a seat in advance find themselves in middle seats is because of the newish (selfish!) trend of two people travelling together reserving the window and aisle seats in the hope of no one choosing the middle seat and them ending up with the whole row to themselves.

I didn’t realise that if I don’t reserve seats, they HAVE go put me near my child.

That’s great news as I tend to have to book priority boarding and cabin luggage in order to sit beside them which increases the cost substantially!

I always choose the middle seat, SHOCKER! On Ryanair the underseat storage is much bigger in the middle than in window or aisle seats, and that works for me as I just take a backpack most of the time. Even if I have a cabin wheelie, I prefer the leg room, and I only have to either disturb one passenger, or disturb myself for one passenger who needs the loo.

@newname12345 I say ripped off because the cost of choosing your seat in no way reflects the expense it actually represents for the company (which should be basically none).

If the cost to operate the flight is 40 pounds more then they should charge that as part of the fare. Not pretend to have a cheap flight but then find any ridiculous excuse to charge you more.

"Seating together does cost airlines effort where entitled passengers who maybe checked in late want the plane re-organised because they expect to sit together and haven't paid for it directly or expect it as part of their standard ticket."

It would cost them nothing if they just sat people together as they should in the first place. And people expect it as part of their tickets because it is for literally any other company.

For what it's worth I don't give a damn about sitting next to someone if they're adults. But when they are minors I do expect to sit next to them for no charge. For obvious reasons.

@Jadviga you will be sat in a seat next to (maybe over the aisle or directly behind) a child at no extra cost. You want to sit in seats of your choosing then pay for it.

It really is very simple and it is a tried and tested way of keeping fares low. I don't want to pay to sit near DH, I don't want to take big suitcases with me, I don't want extra legroom or to board the plane before everyone else.

I want cheap flights. I'm happy that those options exist for others that do want to sit in specific seats and opt for extras.

Your way means scrapping the cheap flights for people like me just because you expect everything included from the outset. Bit selfish.

@newname12345

"you will be sat in a seat next to (maybe over the aisle or directly behind) a child at no extra cost. You want to sit in seats of your choosing then pay for it."

Seating me in the row behind my 2yo child is ridiculous and no benefit to the poor sod who'd be expected to sit next to him. I wouldn't have to request a swap because that person would probably beg me to swap with them. I guess I could say no and enjoy a quiet flight with no young child stepping all over me !

This isn't about what I want, it's about the (fairly basic and obvious) fact that young children can't be expected to sit alone, even if their parent is in the row behind. And the company knows this, otherwise they'd just tell me to sit where my seat was assigned. They're taking the piss by expecting people to pay a whopping fourty bucks for something that costs them nothing.

"It really is very simple and it is a tried and tested way of keeping fares low. I don't want to pay to sit near DH, I don't want to take big suitcases with me, I don't want extra legroom or to board the plane before everyone else."

But these are all options. I don't have a problem with better seats costing extra (though the prices are ridiculous), and boarding in advance does require extra organisation which I'm fine paying for if I want it. Hold luggage costs in terms of handling fees and fuel. But these are all options. Not sitting next to my child isn't an option though - it is not something I can just suck up and say "never mind". It is a necessity.

And seating people together in any case costs the airline absolutely nothing. They are not better seats, we are going to have to be seated somewhere. So why go out of their way to seat us apart ?

What gets to me the most is that the company is getting out of their way (purposely seating people apart) to create an artificial need that they can then make you pay to solve. That's just plain dishonest.

What's next, paying for the air I breathe onboard the plane ?

"I want cheap flights. I'm happy that those options exist for others that do want to sit in specific seats and opt for extras."

As I said I'm happy to pay for extras that are actual extras. Things that are in short supply or that create additional costs for the company should rightly be charged. Seating together people who book together isn't an extra though. Charging anything for that is ridiculous but charging fourty bucks is just laughable.

" Your way means scrapping the cheap flights for people like me just because you expect everything included from the outset. Bit selfish."

Your way means that I'm essentially subsidizing your flight by paying for "extras" that aren't actually costing the company anything. Bit selfish.

"This isn't about what I want, it's about the (fairly basic and obvious) fact that young children can't be expected to sit alone, even if their parent is in the row behind"

You pay to sit next to a 2 year old because you choose to travel with them. My 10 year old is perfectly fine sitting in front of me. When he was 2 I paid. Making these things "extras" means that when you don't have a 2 year old you'll be able to travel cheaper.

"Your way means that I'm essentially subsidizing your flight by paying for "extras" that aren't actually costing the company anything. Bit selfish."

Give over. It doesn't mean that at all. There is significant data analysis undertaken by the airline which helps them understand how to provide the cheapest flights whilst still maximising profit. Sitting together is an extra when you travel on budget public transport.

And I've no idea where you're getting "40 bucks" from. It's £6 on Ryanair for the adult that sits with the kids (they get free seats) and you can select your own then upon booking. If you want other adults to sit with you then you pay accordingly.

The rules on sitting children beside/near/behind their adult aren't made by Ryanair. They apply to every airline here.

Jadviga I completely agree with everything you have written.

I am very tempted to let my child sit in a different row as they will cause a lot of problems getting in/out of their seats, taking on/off seatbelts, spilling food and dropping pencils.

I’ve a good mind to do it. The airline are NOT seating kids separately for any reason other than to make extra money.

I recently had a discussion with somebody whose attitude was because she had to pay for her kids when they were younger, then everyone should have to pay for theirs. The only person who benefits is the airline,

What happens if one parent travels with two kids? Does anyone know?

Tell me you don't understand the Ryanair pricing model without telling me you don't understand it. 🙄

"What happens if one parent travels with two kids? Does anyone know?"

On Ryanair? Yes, you pay £6 (total price for all 3 of you) and then you are directed to the aircraft seating plan where you select your preferred seats.

Not sure why you'd "completely agree" with a pp who is simply wrong in what they're writing and then go on to admit you don't know how it works yourself. Weird.

So as you can see it's cheaper for parents travelling with kids since they get their seats free. A lot of hot air over absolutely nothing.

I will try it later as I’m pretty sure the last time, I was directed to choose seats, I was pushed to book priority boarding in order to get seats beside one another.

I've sat across the aisle from my 4&6 year olds before and it was absolutely fine. No choice... it was a 2-2 seat configuration.

But always paid to sit together on budget airlines as it wasn't worth the stress of worrying about it.

Remember though - next to your child can mean across an aisle or the seat in front/behind. It doesn't always mean the seat directly next to you.

I just tried to book a flight. One adult and two children. I was given the choice of certain rows of seats and I had to select the adult to sit in the middle seat and a child at either side.

I presume they have to give me the allocated seats on arrival then?