Priority boarding with Ryanair from Stansted

[littlemissgrumpy]

Do I realistically need to book this if we are taking a young child? I dread the idea of him having to sit by himself - could that happen if we didn't pay for priority boarding? (We don't need to board a bus to the aircraft, so that shouldn't be an issue.)

They used to let people with kids on first - do families still get put on before everyone else ie. after priority boarders but before the general rabble? Or is it just priority boarders first and then everybody else at the same time later?

No, families don't get to board first anymore - you have to pay the delightful Mr O'Leary the priority boarding fee.

On my last Ryanair trip, there were way more priority boarders than not - which meant that it was a complete scrum for those people and they were only slightly more advantaged than the rest of us.

It is possible you could end up without seats together but it's reasonably safe to assume people would move to let you be together - they have with me in the past when DS2 ended up a "spare".

I travelled with Ryanair with 3 dc in late 2007. Families boarded at the same time as everybody else after the priority boarders. In 3 months we did 5 flights with them and never had a problem with the children being separated. Other people were very considerate and made sure we had our dc sit with us. I think they are just as reluctant to be straddled with a stray child as you are to have your dc separate.

You should be able to get a seat with your children on a flight, as nerve-racking as it is actually claiming seats - I seem to recall reading a thread on here where someone mentioned it was actually illegal for a minor to sit unaccompanied on a flight. You can either pay for everyone in your party to have PB, do two bookings where one person has PB to bag enough seats with everyone else in the other queue or take your chances. I tend to queue at the gate as soon as I get there so I'm reasonably forwards in the second queue but you probably won't want to do that with young LOs. The policy stinks IMHO.

I have had the same experience as others. Loads of people pay for priority boarding and it is a bit of a fight to get on board first with DC. The other passengers take very little consideration of families.

IMO O'Leary missed a golden opportunity. I would pay extra for someone else to sit next to my DC on a flight.

how old is your lo? if they are 4 or under they cant sit alone|< also if a girl has to sit alone they wont let her sit next to a male.my sister had the whole plane moved around because of this< she didnt mind but they did.

ryanair are the pits.

We are due to travel to spain with them in August, we paid for priority boarding...

As I am visually impaired we are obliged to tell them (even though I don't need assistance from them as travelling with dh), but failure to do so means they would refuse to allow me to fly

So, dh rang to tell them that I have a disability but don't need assistance. So they have cancelled our priority boarding, they will reserve a seat at the front for me and for my dh (as he is my "carer" ), but have said that they cannot reserve a seat for 6 yo ds which means it is unlikely he will be able to sit with us.

To say i am fuming is an understatement. I wish I could just tell them to stick their business and not travel, but once you book with them you cannot cancel so we're screwed.

This is the same airline who made it into the news for throwing off a group of disabled passengers as they exceeded their quota for disabled travellers, and who wanted to charge customers for wheelchairs.

DS is 7. I suppose it's only £12 so I might as well do it... LOL at paying to have other people sitting next to your DC - I can empathise with that! I'm thinking of bribing the air hostess so that DH can sit with DS and I have to sit several rows away

Priority boarders are now in the minority.

It used to be that if you checked in online you automtically got priority boarding, this was what led to the ridiculous sight of priority boarders outnumbers us normal "rabble". When Mr O'Leary realised he was effectively giving something away it was of course stopped. Since the change in policy I have noted that priority boarders are usually 1 - 2 dozen as opposed to 1 - 2 hundred.

Re assisted boarders, (i know you don't need assistance but this is how you will be classified), what I generally see (and I fly Ryanair more often than is good for my health) is that a block of 3 seats in row 2 is saved for an assisted boarder and "carer" on all but the fullest of flights, you should be OK, I would have a word with the gate staff when you get to the gate, they tend to be human beings (as opposed to the automata at the call centre reading Leary newspeak from the screen) and should be able to see you OK.

We did PB from Stansted 2 weeks ago. The plane was full but PB was only about 15-20 people (both there and back) so no scrum and no problem sitting together. If your son was younger I would say chance it without as people would move, but as he's 7 I would do PB to ensure - people might be less inclined to shift around than they would be for a toddler.