Ryanair new preboarding policy

waterbaby

elisebutt65 wrote:

Last year when I went to Crete with parents and littlies, we went with some dodgy greek airline that issued our seats to us pre-boarding but then it was a free for all when we got on board!!! So I just stood there until they moved some people and insisted we had the seats on our boarding cards!!!

Good for you. I'm impressed that you have the backbone to make them stick to what they said in the first place.

maxiscot

good thread - I have an ethical objection to ryanair - travelled with them once never again. Despise their disabled wheelchair policy and was not impresse when O'leary whinged about the security measures after the scare a while back.

Kids boarding first don't bother me - the people who bother me are the ones who take their time to carefully fold up their coats/jackets, blocking the aisle when everyone is waiting, all for a couple of hour flight. Also the ones who shove their seats back just for a couple of hours

WiseInvestor_2

Poppy9 wrote:

I don't see the big deal in moving seats

Firstly, is it fair to disrupt other passengers? eg. Mother sat by the window, you in the middle and stranger on the aisle - now mother wants little Johnny next to her, so stranger has to unbuckle & squeeze out and now has a kid to sit beside instead of another dashing single adult

Secondly, what do you do with your bag(s) in the overhead locker? Do you risk taking them out and not being able to restow them in the full lockers above your new seat? Or do you leave them behind and take the risk they'll still be there at the other end? Having had to wait for the entire aircraft to empty before being able to fight your way back up the aisle!

Thirdly, all of this takes time. Time is money. Money is profit. Less profit = higher fares. To all those who can't understand why Ryanair don't pre-allocate seats - have you ever seen just how long it takes to get everyone on a scheduled flight? People stay landside with family/meander through security/shop/go for coffee/sleep ... or whatever because they know they've got a seat. The low cost model relies on minimum turnaround times and giving people a reason to [literally] run across the tarmac suits them very nicely, thank you!

If passengers are that desperate to sit next to eachother on a 2 hour flight, they should do what everyone else has already done and turn up on time.

skintscotsman

this article is quite funny, talks about how the owrst of human nature is not actually demonstrated in war, but in a ryanair queue
http://stefzucconi.blogspot.com/2004/12/ryanair-licks-donkey-bottom-pt2.html

parkside_stroller

What have some of you people got against children, were you not children once?

As someone who has under 5 yrs old children I have experience of being allowed through the gate first only to find that because the children don't walk too fast (or there are stairs to negotiate with a pushchair) and the aircraft is some way to go, inevitably people will always get to the aircraft before us.
The reality of us not being able to sit together as happened with my oldest child a number of years ago, is that the child will most likely constantly seek out the parent, talk to the adult next to them and seek to engage them in play (the child is bored or anxious as they are not seated next to the parent).

My under 5s would definitely have separation anxiety and cause problems if they were not seated next to at least one parent - do you really want screaming kids on a plane?

I can confirm (as I'm sure most parents would and as the CAA suggest might happen) that I would do whatever it takes to help my children in an emergency situation. The question for me really is why are we not allowed suitable time to get on the plane? It really would be more convenient for everyone as we would be less likely to be blocking aisles whilst trying to get our completely necessary hand luggage into overhead lockers and then the kids strapped safely into seats.
Why not pre-allocate seats for families and let us board last to those guaranteed seats?
I've always gone to the boarding gate with the children as early as possible and never bothered with Starbucks. I've generally found that most parents do as I have described and that if I've had to make a list minute trip to the toilet with a child it can be a problem getting back down the line as some people seem unable to remember what it was like being a child and have tried to be obstructive.
Perhaps those people who don't have children really have no concept of what is involved in taking them on a journey of any kind - they don't always behave in a predictable manner so even if you find that you have allowed lots of time to get somewhere, it does not always go to plan - maybe that is why some people don't get to the gate early (or maybe they just can't get past people who can't obey simple directions to stay in their seat until called for boarding).
At least some people on this thread have recognised that it does not do anyone any favours if people refuse to be flexible in where they sit - everyone on an aircraft will be disadvantaged by a child who has not been allowed to sit next to a parent.

FL

I have never travelled with Ryanair and would prefer to pay for another airline any day. All the comments about travelling with kids puts me off. I have two young children and could not even contemplate not sitting with them whether you are allowed on the plane first or not. They would be very upset anyway and would try and get to you wherever they were sat.

As anyone got any plans to travel to Marseille where they have opened a lost cost flyer terminal? Apparently there is no air conditioning or carpet. The thought of being stuck in the terminal for hrs with young kids would be horrendous as it gets up to the mid 30's in summer over there.

budgetflyer

parkside_stroller wrote:

What have some of you people got against children, were you not children once?

As someone who has under 5 yrs old children I have experience of being allowed through the gate first only to find that because the children don't walk too fast (or there are stairs to negotiate with a pushchair) and the aircraft is some way to go, inevitably people will always get to the aircraft before us.
The reality of us not being able to sit together as happened with my oldest child a number of years ago, is that the child will most likely constantly seek out the parent, talk to the adult next to them and seek to engage them in play (the child is bored or anxious as they are not seated next to the parent).

My under 5s would definitely have separation anxiety and cause problems if they were not seated next to at least one parent - do you really want screaming kids on a plane?

I can confirm (as I'm sure most parents would and as the CAA suggest might happen) that I would do whatever it takes to help my children in an emergency situation. The question for me really is why are we not allowed suitable time to get on the plane? It really would be more convenient for everyone as we would be less likely to be blocking aisles whilst trying to get our completely necessary hand luggage into overhead lockers and then the kids strapped safely into seats.
Why not pre-allocate seats for families and let us board last to those guaranteed seats?
I've always gone to the boarding gate with the children as early as possible and never bothered with Starbucks. I've generally found that most parents do as I have described and that if I've had to make a list minute trip to the toilet with a child it can be a problem getting back down the line as some people seem unable to remember what it was like being a child and have tried to be obstructive.
Perhaps those people who don't have children really have no concept of what is involved in taking them on a journey of any kind - they don't always behave in a predictable manner so even if you find that you have allowed lots of time to get somewhere, it does not always go to plan - maybe that is why some people don't get to the gate early (or maybe they just can't get past people who can't obey simple directions to stay in their seat until called for boarding).
At least some people on this thread have recognised that it does not do anyone any favours if people refuse to be flexible in where they sit - everyone on an aircraft will be disadvantaged by a child who has not been allowed to sit next to a parent.

You have highlighted the selfish attitude of many passengers not traveling with young children.Is it really a big deal if an adult/teenager group are seperate for 2 hours?
On one trip, I think it was Paris, a guy who was initially behind me walking across the tarmac bolted ahead to try and get to the steps ahead of the crowd, only to slip and slide head first along the tarmac.
He must have looked a right wally checking into his chic Paris hotel with dirt smeared all down is designer suit:rotfl::rotfl:
Anyway he got up and continued his olympic dash for the front steps,half way up realised his wife was half way up the rear steps.Totally distressed he then tried to barge his way down the aisle to meet her,waving franticly "here I am "- !!!!!!

iceman_2

whambamboo wrote:

you must be joking.

no family is going to cart a buggy around the world just to get on t he plane first

Do you seriously believe people bring just so they can get on the plane first?

Believe me it happens, and a lot more than you might think.

Plenty of people pretend to be disabled to board first as well.

ynot2005

spot on skintsman..im sure its a british thing this "battle of the ryanair queue", even much travelled passengers who just know it dosent make sense to get into the ruck just get drawn into it, im sure "oleary" has hynotised his punters somewhere between check in and the gate into a different mindset, its all to do seeing certain images on route to the gate, you see the blue and yellow logo and all the ryanair adverts and then bobs your uncle you have lost the plot

pretend to be disabled to beat the queue....yep no sign of the customary inverted feet when the "old dear" is climbing on the river boat trip, the sheer drop gang plank to the boat was no problem either

it was so funny watching the old dear back in the wheelchair on the return flight that i got the nephew to stand by her while a took picture for old times sake

dont get in the ryanair queue...sit back and watch the action, best bit of the flying experiencce by far, you get the lot crying teenage girls, stressed out parents, feral kids running amok, bolshy, arrogant adults whose life depends on beating anyone else to the plane, and travellers making the sign of the cross and praying before they get on

great stuff...it just aint the same with easyjet

parkside_stroller

Ynot2005 - yes I can picture that scene it isn't a pretty site and it isn't just the British phenomena.
I read that and remembered standing in a very less than orderly queue for a ferry in France 20 years ago where an old "lady" kicked my then girlfriend in the shins before elbowing her in the ribs and hitting her with an umberella (on a hot summer day?). There were limbs everywhere in the "queue" I was amazed nobody ended up in the water. Did Ryanair used to run French ferry companies?