Ryanair priority boarding with 2 year old?

Siemo

Hi
Travelling with Ryanair for first time next month and a little nervous about it as so many people seem to have had bad experiences. However, it cost half the price of any other flight we could find for half term week so we're prepared to grit our teeth and bear it! I'm hoping it won't be anywhere near as bad as i'm expecting!!

Anyway, as we're keen to save money as much as possible I'm wondering whether it's worth paying for the priority boarding...I know lots of people say it's a scam, but as we (hubby and I) will be travelling with our 2 year old son, we don't want to risk being split up. Thinking about this though, surely it's against the law, or at least very bad practice, to sit a 2 year old apart from at least one of his parents? I can't imagine they would let him sit on his own, surely?! In which case if we're guaranteed that one of us will sit with him, we could probably manage without the PB.

If we decide to do without the PB, how long before take off should we be queuing to ensure we get near the front?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

malkie76

You are correct - airline rules state that one parent must be sat with the child. However, parents with children are allowed to board immediately after those who paid for priority boarding, meaning you'll have absolutely no problem sitting together without the need to pay. The priority boarding folks are typically those who want the extra legroom seats, or a seat right at the front for a quick get-away.

melb

I've never come across that on any ryanair flights I've used - apart from priority boarding it's every man for himself. I had to laugh on our way to board our flight to malaga recently as a man pushed past my son who was using crutches in order to get in front of us as we boarded the plane and dropped his paper he was in such a rush and had to come scambling back to pick it up. We were all priority boarding so it really shouldn't have made any difference but he was determined not to be held up. One advantage with priority boarding is if like us you're hand luggage only and are therefore using biggish cases that need to go in the overhead locker - if you get on fairly near the head of the queue you can usually find plenty of room to store your cases near where you're sitting. I think it's worth the bit extra personally.

Mr_Lahey

The bad experiences relating to Ryanair in comparisson to the amount of passengars carried is relatively low.

I have travelled with my 2 year old several times on Ryanair and never had a problem and really the only people who run to the aircraft are the gimps who never get out and are just so excited they need to get to their seat before they ejaculate at the thought of going somewhere.

I am flying out to Tuscany (Pisa) with Ryanair in a fortnight and will be taking my 2 year old and really the thought of not getting a seat next to him hadn't even entered my head. That said if it did happen, id ask someone to move and i doubt it would be a problem.

poet123

We were boarded after priority when our son was 10, so I would not worry about it. There will always be 3 seats together if you are there reasonably early, of course if you are a last minute arrivee then you may have more of an issue, but not with a child so young, they are not allowed to sit alone.

terryya

I've never seen people with children given any priority on a Ryanair flight.

I'd be tempted to do a dummy booking for 25 people a couple of day before your flight to see how full it is before considering priority boarding. Another thing to do is check that the airports you are using doesn't bus you to the plane, as if they do you'll get no benefit.

I never normally buy PB but when we travelled with kids in the summer hold we bought it and have to say it was money well spent as it took all the stress of wondering away and we knew we could just stroll up to gate when they announced boarding.

Plus, the looks on the faces of the people who have been stood as the gate for hours just to be first on as you walk past them is almost worth the cost alone.

Mr_Lahey

terryya wrote: »

I've never seen people with children given any priority on a Ryanair flight.

I'd be tempted to do a dummy booking for 25 people a couple of day before your flight to see how full it is before considering priority boarding. Another thing to do is check that the airports you are using doesn't bus you to the plane, as if they do you'll get no benefit.

I never normally buy PB but when we travelled with kids in the summer hold we bought it and have to say it was money well spent as it took all the stress of wondering away and we knew we could just stroll up to gate when they announced boarding.

Plus, the looks on the faces of the people who have been stood as the gate for hours just to be first on as you walk past them is almost worth the cost alone.

The look on their faces was probably the fact they were embarrassed for you paying extra to sit in a seat you have already paid for.

Do you think if you get on the plane first you get there before everyone else? Its an absolute waste of money and O Leary is laughing all the way to the banks with all the muppets who pay for priority boarding!

terryya

Mr_Lahey wrote: »

The look on their faces was probably the fact they were embarrassed for you paying extra to sit in a seat you have already paid for.

Do you think if you get on the plane first you get there before everyone else? Its an absolute waste of money and O Leary is laughing all the way to the banks with all the muppets who pay for priority boarding!

No mate, it was pure anger! How dare these people get on in front of me after I watch the monitor without blinking and ran to the gate as soon as it announced which one.

As mentioned in the post I never usually buy PB and don't mind being split up from the rest of my party. You'll normally see me stood at the back of the queue laughing at the scrum. However when travelling with a 3 and 4 year old we decided that a few quid on PB was money well spent - it meant we could choose where to sit. how to sit (3 and 1 or 2x2) and also meant our bags where over our seats so if (when) the kids wanted something out of them we could easily get it.

I can assure you I'm no muppet and when booking with ryanair just pay the fare - no hold luggage, no insurance, no card fees etc and 9 times out of 10 see PB as a waste of money. However on this occasion, even with hindsight, think it was worth it.

jeanniebeanie_2

I may not have your eloquence Mr Lahey :rotfl:, but I have to say when I do fly it's usually long haul and can't think of anything worse than being boarded with the Priorities- I get stir crazy after 9 hours on a plane as it is -I always hope to be last on! Should add I do know where I'll be sitting though.

Also this is taken from the CAA site:

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1770&pagetype=90&pageid=9855


Family Groups
CAA guidelines ask airlines to develop procedures for the seat allocation of family groups, particularly when a group includes children. It is probable that family group members would seek each other out should an emergency evacuation be required, an action that could adversely affect the passenger flow rates towards emergency exits and might seriously affect the outcome of an evacuation.

Additionally, children and infants should be seated where they can be adequately supervised by an accompanying adult in the event of turbulence or a decompression in the cabin.

Airlines procedures should take into account the following factors:

Children, accompanied by adults, should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. In wide-bodied aircraft, children and accompanying adults should not be separated by more than one aisle. Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults.

Seat allocation procedures for family groups and suitable seating arrangements for large parties of children should reflect the above criteria.

poet123

terryya wrote: »

I've never seen people with children given any priority on a Ryanair flight.

I'd be tempted to do a dummy booking for 25 people a couple of day before your flight to see how full it is before considering priority boarding. Another thing to do is check that the airports you are using doesn't bus you to the plane, as if they do you'll get no benefit.

I never normally buy PB but when we travelled with kids in the summer hold we bought it and have to say it was money well spent as it took all the stress of wondering away and we knew we could just stroll up to gate when they announced boarding.

Plus, the looks on the faces of the people who have been stood as the gate for hours just to be first on as you walk past them is almost worth the cost alone.

It used to be the case but seemed to have finished, but recently in Spain and Italy we were ushered to the front because we had a child with us. Maybe it is because they like kids there?

malkie76

The look on their faces was probably the fact they were embarrassed for you paying extra to sit in a seat you have already paid for.

A few extra quid for unlimited legroom on a 3hr flight is sensible spend to many people.