If you are booking Ryanair for a group, book the seats individually!

[Premos]

I am trying to book Ryanair return flights and I have just noticed a new trick that I find very deceiving.
If I put 1-3 passengers, I get a price with a note mentioning that there is 5 seats left at this price. However, if I put 4 passengers, I get a higher price with the same note. Did anyone encounter this before?
I am used to check the price for individual tickets and book separately if better but this one is new to me.

 

[ClubMan]

According to Google/Gemini that's a not unexpected feature of their dynamic pricing policy.

Key Mechanics of the Algorithm

• Tiered Seat Buckets: Ryanair divides the seats on each plane into hidden, pre-assigned price buckets. Once the allocated tickets at a lower price tier sell out, the next ticket is automatically priced at the higher tier.
• ...

Tips for Booking

• Search Individually for Groups: If you are booking for a family or group, do not search for all tickets at once. The system often bumps all tickets to a higher price bracket if there aren't enough left in the cheapest tier to cover the whole group. Search for a single passenger first, book those, and then make a second booking for the remaining passengers.
• ...

 

[Premos]

According to Google/Gemini that's a not unexpected feature of their dynamic pricing policy.

I am aware of that and I have been checking and doing this for years. My issue is that the website actually said that 5 seats were available at this price. I never encountered this previously. When seats were said to be available at a price, they were available.

 

[ClubMan]

My issue is that the website actually said that 5 seats were available at this price.

Because the dynamic pricing algorithm changes/increases the price if you try to book 4 of the 5 remaining seats versus booking 1, 2 or 3 I guess?

 

[Fortune]

According to Google/Gemini that's a not unexpected feature of their dynamic pricing policy.

Airlines have been doing this since the days of travel agents and call centres.

 

[Premos]

Because the dynamic pricing algorithm changes/increases the price if you try to book 4 of the 5 remaining seats versus booking 1, 2 or 3 I guess?

Perhaps. But it's misleading. If 5 seats are supposed to be left at that price and actually the price changes for 4 seats. As the price changes can be a few euros, it might not be that noticeable but add 20/40 euros to each leg of the journey. I absolutely never noticed this before.

 

[patfert1]

Also a new one for me, and like you I was always conscious of this "x seats left at this price" and splitting up.a booking if necessary to keep the cost down. If it would be the case they are now making false claims it would strike me as a similar practice that booking.com got penalised for - i don't recall exactly, but it was "just 2 rooms left" type of statements when it wasn't the case.

UPDATE:

Booking Claim – Consumer Competition Claims - EN

www.consumercompetitionclaims.com

 

[Premos]

it would be the case they are now making false claims it would strike me as a similar practice that booking.com got penalised for - i don't recall exactly, but it was "just 2 rooms left" type of statements when it wasn't the case.

I got something similar to that in another search. 3 seats apparently at a price, put 4 adults in. Same price given but higher basic price with a red promotion added.

 

[patfert1]

If I put 1-3 passengers, I get a price with a note mentioning that there is 5 seats left at this price. However, if I put 4 passengers, I get a higher price with the same note. Did anyone encounter this before?

On my own regular route I saw many dates saying "5 seats at this price". Up to 5 adults I got this prices, and it increased if I put in 6 adults. I tried multiple dates with the same result. However the prices went up only by 1-2 Euros.

Notably, I also tested a date where it did NOT write "5 seats at this price" but the price also went up with 6 adults.

 

[patfert1]

Here's a nice one.

With 4 adults:


With 5 adults you would expect the price for the second flight to increase, but it doesn't. Instead the "4 seats left" message disappears and the crossed out "full fare" increases, ha!


And look what happens when I change to 6 adults. Now both fares increase and the "full fare" for the first flight increases.
Obviously some trickery and arguably not dissimilar to the practice for which booking.com was penalised ("misleading statements about room availability") as I noted with in my previous comments.