Ryanair random seat Allocation

B

Black Sheep

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Has anyone been the victim of the random seat allocation and seating couple/families at either ends of the plane in middle seats?
Went to print boarding passes yesterday (four days ahead) for flight on Sunday next. Myself and OH were seated at either end of the plane -middle seats. Checked every other vacant seat on the plane ans "Surprise Surprise"there was not a single other free seat available
 
Forgot to mention I've been travelling with them for many years several times per year and have never come across this before, so there appears to be a change of policy
 
I like Ryanair. I fly all the time with them. But having seen at first hand this clear philosophy of seating people who booked together in separate seats it is clearly done to make people pay for seats.
 
I got an email today prompting me to book seats. I am traveling with a friend to Birmingham in September, but we booked separately. It doesn't matter to us whether we sit together or not.

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Row 1 is €16
Rows 2 - 5 are €13 to €14
Rows 24 to 29 are €4.

The return flight was €40.

On balance, I would prefer a €40 flight with the option of paying €32 for a seat at the very front than paying €80 and being allowed to choose my own seat.

I'm in no hurry and as it's a short flight I will sit where I am put. On longer flights or if I want to get off the plane quickly, I have booked the front row.

Disclosure of interest: I have shares in Ryanair.

Brendan
 

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panindub said:
Long time ryanair traveller here too, and recently been affected by this randon seat policy change. I have change and book a seat to keep family together :(
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I agree with this, however an hour's peace away from the kids might be nice!. Of course if the kids need anything or are causing mayhem, then push the button over your head and ask to air hostess to sort it out!
 
Given the fact that they never issued seats up until a few years ago what exactly has changed ? Before if you wanted seats together you had to queue very early and hope they were available or else pay for the priority boarding. Nothing to see here.
 
elcato said:
Given the fact that they never issued seats up until a few years ago what exactly has changed ? Before if you wanted seats together you had to queue very early and hope they were available or else pay for the priority boarding. Nothing to see here.
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What has changed is that up to recently if you booked a number of seats, they would randomly allocate you a block of seats beside each other. For example a family of four could expect window, middle, aisle and aisle seats on the same row. Now they allocate for random seats anywhere on the plane, but not necessarily near each other. So the same family of four could find themselves at four different ends of the plane. Which is unsustainable if the family includes young kids.
 
T McGibney said:
What has changed is that up to recently if you booked a number of seats, they would randomly allocate you a block of seats beside each other. For example a family of four could expect window, middle, aisle and aisle seats on the same row.
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Point taken but the solution is the same if not actually easier now given that you can book seats rather than priority boarding.
 
Hi Tommy

The system is better than the previous system of free seating where families were often separated if they did not queue for ages.

If a family of 4 wants to sit together now, they can pay for 4 seats. On my flight to Birmingham, they were available at €4 each.

Of course, the intermediate system was better for families where they were allocated seats together. Presumably though that if there were not 4 seats together, they could not have been put together.

But I prefer to pay a lower overall price and get allocated a seat at random.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
On longer flights or if I want to get off the plane quickly, I have booked the front row.
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Last time, I did this and paid the fee for the same reason, we then exited the aircraft onto a bus and had to wait anyway. So much for paying extra. It has also happened to me recently with Aer Lingus Priority Boarding too.
 
T McGibney said:
So the same family of four could find themselves at four different ends of the plane. Which is unsustainable if the family includes young kids.
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Hi Tommy

I was telling a father of three children this and he said that they ask the age when you are booking or checking in. Children under a certain age are not separated from their parents. I don't know what they do if you are last to check in and there are not two adjacent seats left.
I suppose the system tries to put them close together.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Hi Tommy

I was telling a father of three children this and he said that they ask the age when you are booking or checking in. Children under a certain age are not separated from their parents. I don't know what they do if you are last to check in and there are not two adjacent seats left.
I suppose the system tries to put them close together.

Brendan
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Ryanair have changed their policy, and it's now mandatory for parents travelling with children under 12 to book a seat, but they then get free seats for up to 4 children. From their website: "Get free reserved seats for up to 4 kids aged between 2 and 12 with every adult seat booked. As part of our Always Getting Better programme it's now mandatory for adults to have a reserved seat when travelling with kids, this means you don't need to worry about being separated on board."

I just flew back from France with 2 very young children on Saturday, and I've no complaints about the system (I had booked seats, and taken advantage of the half price 2nd bag).
However the issue that's been highlighted is that Ryanair seem to have changed their random seat allocation but are denying it.

I witnessed the impact of this - Our takeoff was delayed specifically because there were too many children sitting in rows without any adults, and the captain had to ask for volunteers to swap seats so we could leave.
 
Hi Red Onion
Thanks for that.

So you can book one €4 seat and get 4 free seats.

They should have some means of enforcing this when a person books the flights. If there is a child under 13, then they should be charged the minimum price for one reserved seat so that they can reserve seats.

Or better still, allow adults who book with young children to reserve the cheaper seats free of charge.

Is 12 a bit low for the limit? Should it be up to 16?

Brendan
 
I think they enforce it now, but can't remember for certain from when I booked. I'm not sure if this is a recent change as it was my first time flying Ryanair with the kids.

A higher age limit wouldn't work for example with large groups on school tours, etc.
 
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