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

NS110

BA allocated our seats 5 days before, according to their family policy, however they were not together (the kids were together my husband across the aisle and me in the row behind) when we contacted customer services we were told that the only way to get them together was to pay. Again should we take the risk that 24 hours before departure there would be seats available on a flight to a family destination on the 1st day of the school holidays?

zagfles

NS110 wrote: »

BA allocated our seats 5 days before, according to their family policy, however they were not together (the kids were together my husband across the aisle and me in the row behind) when we contacted customer services we were told that the only way to get them together was to pay. Again should we take the risk that 24 hours before departure there would be seats available on a flight to a family destination on the 1st day of the school holidays?

Is that seriously a problem? If I've understood correctly one of the kids could swap with your husband and then both kids have a parent next to them although one would be across the ailse. Easily close enough to supervise.

If you define "together" at sat right next to each other with no ailse in the way then it would completely impossible for a family of 4 to sit "together" on a plane with a 3-3 or a 3-3-3 configuration!!

bagand96

Can't believe this non story has made it to 14 pages.

Ryanair's computer system allocated a seat to a child away from its guardian. Ryanair's on board crew resolved the situation (as all crew would do regardless of airline).

There's no story here, I don't know if its just me but since Martin sold this site its becoming more and more tabloid.

zagfles

bagand96 wrote: »

Can't believe this non story has made it to 14 pages.

Ryanair's computer system allocated a seat to a child away from its guardian. Ryanair's on board crew resolved the situation (as all crew would do regardless of airline).

There's no story here, I don't know if its just me but since Martin sold this site its becoming more and more tabloid.

In fact all this publicity is probably excellent news for Ryanair. Most people probably don't even think about where they'll be sitting on the plane, but when they read things like this they go into panic/worry mode and think they have to book seats!

Make people worry about trivia so they feel they have to pay for peace of mind. It's similar to how banks used to sell PPI, or how car hire companies sell Super CDW for rip-off prices.

We've been taking the kids on flights for 15 years or so, maybe 30+ flights or so, and never once did we pay for allocated seating and never once has it been a problem.

MKC

Why do parents think they have a right not to pay for seats when all other passengers who want to sit together have to do so?


My partner and I were on a flight back from Turkey last year when a family tried to split us up. They knew that the flight couldn't take off until they were seated together as a family. We had paid a premium for our seats as my partner is tall and needed the extra leg room. They became quite abusive when we refused to move and eventually an elderly couple agreed to sit apart to accommodate them.


Another flight I was on involved a group of young ladies, again all of whom had paid premiums to sit together, were separated to accommodate families. I feel really sorry for the cabin crew as they have to deal with this selfish attitude that parents adopt.


If airlines insist on having to pay for allocated seats, they everyone should observe this, and parents - PAY LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!!!

zagfles

MKC wrote: »

Why do parents think they have a right not to pay for seats when all other passengers who want to sit together have to do so?


My partner and I were on a flight back from Turkey last year when a family tried to split us up. They knew that the flight couldn't take off until they were seated together as a family. We had paid a premium for our seats as my partner is tall and needed the extra leg room. They became quite abusive when we refused to move and eventually an elderly couple agreed to sit apart to accommodate them.


Another flight I was on involved a group of young ladies, again all of whom had paid premiums to sit together, were separated to accommodate families. I feel really sorry for the cabin crew as they have to deal with this selfish attitude that parents adopt.


If airlines insist on having to pay for allocated seats, they everyone should observe this, and parents - PAY LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!!!

It's a safety issue. You don't have to pay for basic safety. What next, charging for lifevests?

Your post illustrates it's not worth families paying as they'll be sat together anyway. The airlines should sort things out well beforehand, they know the ages of the passengers, the young have special needs just like the disabled who may need a carer, and those needs should be catered for. For free, because it's basic safety.

And as you've noted, safety comes before getting what you paid for.

stoneman

NFH wrote: »

If airlines do not allow children to travel solo, then they should likewise not force them to sit solo on the aircraft. The same reason for which children cannot travel solo applies also to seating. It's for important safety and welfare reasons.

Budget airlines are always trying to find new ways of facilitating a misleading indication of price. They want to advertise a low headline fare and then sell add-ons that are unavoidable for many or most passengers. Examples include a surcharge of £6 per flight segment to pay by debit card when it costs the airline 20p per booking (Ryanair have since abolished this), a surcharge for normal sized cabin baggage (Wizz) and now surcharges for children to sit with the adult who is responsible for them. When these surcharges and drip pricing start to encroach upon safety and children's welfare, the airlines have overstepped the line.

When you check in online for a Ryanair flight, you can see the available seats if you were to choose to pay for allocated seating. Watching over a few hours, you can see that Ryanair fills the aircraft gradually, row by row and seat by seat. My guess is that when a family checks in online and doesn't pay for allocated seating, Ryanair's system doesn't do this and instead deliberately scatters the family around the plane; this encourages payment of the surcharge. If this is the case, then Ryanair would be deliberately flouting the quoted CAA guidelines.

If that were the case you would then be able to see that you have been split up an decide to pay but you can't. Once the seats are allocated the option to pay and choose disappears.

fuzzybee007

I was travelling with a major airline a few years ago who had spread a family of five all over the plane, including a three year old who I swapped seats with so she could be with her mother. The six year old had to sit several rows away with strangers. Not good.

AndyF1_3

Parras' you need to accept responsibilty and if you cannot afford the extra few £'s to ensure you all sit together should you be going on holiday? I assume you paid the extra for a suitcase but got your pram for FREE! No one forced you to use a Budget airline, book a package holiday through a travel agent

MSE if you keep it up all that Rynair will most likely do is add £xx's to the price so passengers can reserve seats at time of booking.

N1AK

MSE_Paloma wrote: »

MSE renews calls for airlines to scrap the 'family tax' as three-year-old wasn't seated near parents on a Ryanair flight

For the love of god, parents having to pay for something everyone else would have to pay for isn't a 'parent tax'. This is a daily fail-esque rant about parents not getting yet more preferential treatment.

I have no idea where this MASSIVE sense of entitlement some parents have comes from, but it's nonsense and it makes reflects poorly on the reasonable parents who want some minor, but helpful, accommodations.