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

tain

zagfles wrote: »

The fact that is crystal clear from the story is that in all 5 cases mentioned, it was all sorted. No toddler, or even 10-year old, was left sitting alone.

The airlines are playing the exact same game as banks used to with card protection plans etc. Convince the gullible they need to pay for something they get free anyway - like fraud protection.

See http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/CPP-card-protection

Make them worry, make them pay to put their minds at rest. Just like the "Martin Lewis punches you in the face insurance"::rotfl:

Forgetting my profession, I totally agree with this statement.

I think all airlines know there is some element of risk, and every single one of them will back down if you get narky at them over it. As long as they consistently do back down, then it would be VERY difficult for any further action to be ever taken against them. Hence this stance becomes a very low-risk, profitable one.

zagfles

tain wrote: »

Forgetting my profession, I totally agree with this statement.

I think all airlines know there is some element of risk, and every single one of them will back down if you get narky at them over it. As long as they consistently do back down, then it would be VERY difficult for any further action to be ever taken against them. Hence this stance becomes a very low-risk, profitable one.

That's right. Why else would Ryanair suggest you call them to sort it out if you're not sat together? Why else would Easyjet tell MSE they guarantee families will be sat together, yet not advertise it?

Maddymumyorks

We have just travelled to Santorini with my family for a wedding and my five year old daughter was not sat with the group or either of her parents even though myself and her dad were sat together!! We checked in on the first day we could do so and had been booked for a year as a party, which Thompsons were also absolutely terrible at as they did not do anything to aid the group booking process whatsoever.


They used the excuse that we could move so she was sat with one of us, surely, socially irresponsibly placing children without her parent or guardian can not be over played by saying we could move, of course we could but why didn't they just seat her with one of us in the first place!!!!!


Ridiculous!


A baby and its parents also got on the plane last night which as two hours delayed from 9:45 to 11:45PM and they didn't have a seat together so had to sit apart while one looked after a tiny baby!


Staff were not helpful, did not provide any interest in the children on the journey out or back and left the cabin lights on through a drinks service and duty free (which were not quick)!!!!! So no one could sleep anyway with glaring lights.


Would never travel with Thompsons again and the excuses do not present a company with any morals whatsoever, for the price you pay, you expect for more!

jpsartre

Maddymumyorks wrote: »

They used the excuse that we could move so she was sat with one of us, surely, socially irresponsibly placing children without her parent or guardian can not be over played by saying we could move, of course we could but why didn't they just seat her with one of us in the first place!!!!!

You were seated by a computer. Since your problem was easily solved I fail to see what the outrage is about. Next time don't be a cheapskate and pay to select seats in advance if sitting together is so important to you. That's probably what other passengers did and which is why there were limited seats available for you.

The thread is about Ryanair, by the way, not Thomsons.

leylandsunaddict

A computer allocates seats and your daughter sitting alone with easy enough to solve by sitting her with either yourself or your husband. If all three of you wanted to be sure of being together then you needed to prebook seats.

Adults, whether they have a baby or not have no reason to be seated together, other than through their own choice. If they wanted to be sure of being together they would need to prebook, like other people do.

What interest do you expect a busy cabin crew to take of children? They're there to work, and they can't dim the cabin lights when they're working in the cabin.

And it's Thomsons (no P).

NFH

jpsartre wrote: »

You were seated by a computer. Since your problem was easily solved I fail to see what the outrage is about. Next time don't be a cheapskate and pay to select seats in advance if sitting together is so important to you. That's probably what other passengers did and which is why there were limited seats available for you.

The thread is about Ryanair, by the way, not Thomsons.

jpsartre, that is an unnecessarily aggressive response to a first post. Did you even bother to read the "newbie alert" sign on the post?

Your comments lack foundation. It's not about being a "cheapskate" as you inappropriately put it, but about a point of principle. The point here is that children should not be surcharged to sit with their parents. Please also see the above quotes from CAA guidelines.

Thank you Maddymumyorks for telling us about your similar experience on Thomson Airways. Although this thread was originally about Ryanair, if any other airline similarly surcharges children, then it is of course relevant. Please don't be put off my jpsartre's response; your comments are of course welcome.

Caz3121

Did you not have the option to pay to reserve seats?
I understand the "why should we" attitude but when many people do reserve seats then there is a limited number left to be allocated when online/airport checkin opens and it is unlikely that people that have paid to sit together would move to accommodate those that have chosen not to pay and take the risk
In your case it is common sense that the 2 seats together should have been assigned to the child and one adult and the single seat to the other adult but it seems, as in the Ryanair case, this did not happen probably due to poor IT programming.

NFH

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

Adults, whether they have a baby or not have no reason to be seated together, other than through their own choice.

Not true. There has been plenty of discussion above as to why children must not be seated alone away from their parents, for example for safety and welfare reasons. CAA guidelines support this approach.

NFH

Caz3121 wrote: »

Did you not have the option to pay to reserve seats?

Children should not be surcharged to sit with their parents. There are important reasons of safety and welfare that cannot be ignored.

Pollycat

NFH wrote: »

Not true. There has been plenty of discussion above as to why children must not be seated alone away from their parents, for example for safety and welfare reasons. CAA guidelines support this approach.

The 2 highlighted words do not go together.

CAA guidelines do not say that children must not be seated alone away from parents.