MSE News: 'Family tax': Dad's outrage as Ryanair tries to seat 3yo away from family

Pollycat

Byngdesign wrote: »

Has anyone tried reporting any of these cases to the Child Protection Agency?
This is exactly the sort of situation which if done deliberately by a parent could result in their child being classed as at risk and taken into care, so why should airlines be exempt from the same duty of care towards children?

Shouldn't duty of care towards children start with the parents?

k3rryb3nnett wrote: »

I have flew with Ryanair and with my 2 children and just to avoid ths situation I have booked and paid for allocated seating just for peace of mind so I know I will be sitting by my children, I cannot understand why any parent would not do this.

As the poster above points out, these situations can be avoided.

Moto2

Byngdesign wrote: »

Has anyone tried reporting any of these cases to the Child Protection Agency?
This is exactly the sort of situation which if done deliberately by a parent could result in their child being classed as at risk and taken into care, so why should airlines be exempt from the same duty of care towards children?

I'd cut the middle man out and go straight to the United Nations on this one.

Elguajiro

In article 19 of Ryanair's terms and conditions they state as follows
Ryanair does not carry unaccompanied minors under 16 years. Children under the age of 16 years must always be accompanied by a passenger over 16 years. Escort and special facilities are not available.

Is the onus on the passenger that sits next to the child?

Sootycat

harz99 wrote: »

I'm not a Ryanair fan or apologist by any means, but could this simply be a case of the computer allocating seats rather than a deliberate attempt to extort extra money as is being implied.


Ryanair don't have any planes with 4 seats in a row, they are all 3+3, so a family of four is never going to sit together in one row. At best there will always either be a gangway between two seats or one row in front of another.

. :beer::j. I have just booked in on line with Ryanair I do think it's possible they are trying to make us pay for our seats has I am traveling alone I thought I wouldn't need to book a seat because they normally seat me on the aisle this time they allocated a seat in the middle of the three so now I've had to change my seat and the only way is on a chat line or phone the call centre they then charged me extra for the privalage of doing that and I didn't even speak to anybody you cannot change it on line once it's been allocated so you have to get in touch with them and a £10.99 seat ended up costing 16.49 so I do think you have to be careful with them I travel a lot with Ryanair and there are always changes.

jondews100

I've not travelled via Ryanair for several years now and hopefully will never have to. This article is just another nudge to me to continue to avoid doing so. Their attitude, the way the CEO treats his employees, his unapologetic aggression towards anyone who gainsays him, including any trade union trying to get fairness for members; all of it is unseemly macho behaviour.


I appreciate that the brand is successful and provides cheap air travel but it's my money and I'll spend it anywhere except with O'Leary.

brownieseven

Thompson did same, Dad in aisle seat, Mum and Baby on lap across aisle. 6 year old sat next to strangers. Thompson refused to help, refused to let mum pay to move seats to next to stangers as was exit seat so no baby allowed. Dad not allowed to have baby on lap as mum was ticketed to have baby. So had to pay to move Dad and then pay again to move mum into dads seat then Dad next to 6 year old. Last time ever use Thompson

skye3510

HI , does anyone know how much they,re going to charge us for the air we breathe, and will larger lung capacity passengers have to pay more?????

shoi

In 2008 we had exactly the same with BA from London to Los Angeles - Mother and baby on her lap one place, and 4 yr old miles away (I was already in LA). Mum (a bad flyer at the best of times) utterly distraught, the Customer Sacrifice department as heartless and useless as can be.
Cabin crew sorted it out though. Really of course this needs to be law, that children under a certain age must be seated next to the responsible adult.
While I was trawling the BA website about this, I discovered that they did have an article about how to arrange your children sit apart from you, but nothing about being together!

This only arose because of the policy change where Ryanair now do allocated seating, because of the (fictional) scrum when it was free seating. It's now become a gebuine scrum, for exactly this reason, that people are changing seats all over the place.

KTF

skye3510 wrote: »

HI , does anyone know how much they,re going to charge us for the air we breathe, and will larger lung capacity passengers have to pay more?????

You registered just to post this nonsense?

GazS

I saw this happen when i was on a flight recently with Ryanair.

A Family were all sat is separate seats and they were giving it the big one to the staff, the guy was the rude i just hoped they'd boot them off to be honest.

You get what you pay for in this world, especially with Ryanair and if you don't book a seat don't go off complaining.