Fury as Ryanair seats passengers 'rows apart' unless they pay to sit together

richardw

agarnett wrote: »

....wonder how far we may have inadvertently headed back full circle to another Manchester 1985 type problem....

Aircraft interior materials are very different, so can't go back to that fire problem.

Murphy_The_Cat

agarnett PPR
RIP

jonny7227

We just booked a family holiday with Thompson and guess what? .....
They charged us an extra £90 to sit together on their plane (£45 each way) - It's just a way to make the headline price look good to get you hooked in before they stitch you up with all the extras. Before you know it the reasonably priced holiday you thought you were getting has suddenly cost a load more.
They were quite miffed when we didn't buy their rip-off travel insurance or car hire.

Pollycat

jonny7227 wrote: »

We just booked a family holiday with Thompson and guess what? .....
They charged us an extra £90 to sit together on their plane (£45 each way) - It's just a way to make the headline price look good to get you hooked in before they stitch you up with all the extras. Before you know it the reasonably priced holiday you thought you were getting has suddenly cost a load more.
They were quite miffed when we didn't buy their rip-off travel insurance or car hire.

I really doubt that they were 'miffed' that you didn't buy their travel insurance or car hire.

sidepark

Just been to Alicante from Manchester with my friend. We got split up both ways, allocated middle seats many rows apart whilst a quick check showed that seats were available both sides of the allocated seating. If Ryanair expect us to believe this is random and nothing new, they are very condescending. Weight and balance tosh. Loads of others on the flights with same issue. They promote use of mobile phone boarding pass, but this does not work if you have both passes on one phone and are told to board separately front and rear of the plane. One of you does not have a boarding pass to show to the flight attendants. I will use other budget airlines even if they are dearer. Shame on you again Ryanair.

Caz3121

are you going to pay to sit together next time you fly with Ryanair? if so, Ryanair's plan works
As a passenger you have choices. I want to sit with my OH and check a bag, so when I look at flights I compare...flight cost + baggage + seat allocation.
Often the carriers that show a higher fare initially actually work out cheaper by the time you add everything together
If I make a decision to not buy a bag then I know I cannot check a bag in without paying, if I choose not to pay for seats together I can assume (from the experiences of many) that I will not be sat with OH and if I choose to I will need to pay
Although Ryanair denied anything has changed, it seems obvious that a large % of passengers were used to getting seats together without paying, the more that happened the fewer people pay....imagine paying to sit together on the flight and finding everyone else was sat together for free...probably wouldn't pay next time
Knowing in advance that you will get a middle seat rows apart from your travelling companion means that you can make the choice whether to accept that or pay
Personally I think the seat choice should be added to the fare by default with an option to untick it rather than add it (then you are making a conscious decision to say you do not want to be seated together)....but then the fares will look a few £ more expensive which is not their model

Pollycat

Caz3121 wrote: »

Personally I think the seat choice should be added to the fare by default with an option to untick it rather than add it (then you are making a conscious decision to say you do not want to be seated together)....but then the fares will look a few £ more expensive which is not their model

I disagree.
I think the pricing works fine i.e. the headline price is the very least you'll pay with extras being a choice that passengers make based on their requirements.
I don't care if I'm separated from my travelling companion for a few short hours.

Pollycat

Forever_blowin_bubbles wrote: »

It is not a question of simple disagreement based on preference.

Indeed it isn't.

It's a question of what Ryanair have decided to do.
If you don't like it, choose to fly with an alternative airline.

Forever_blowin_bubbles wrote: »

Airlines like Ryanair who are deliberately splitting up families and travel companions are in my opinion breaking more than one law:

Which laws are being broken?

PeacefulWaters

Forever_blowin_bubbles wrote: »

It is not a question of simple disagreement based on preference. Airlines like Ryanair who are deliberately splitting up families and travel companions are in my opinion breaking more than one law:

1. They are unnecessarily increasing the likely emergency evacuation time if an evacuation needs to be attempted
2. They are indulging in a misleading and aggressive commercial practice

In the first case they are increasing the likelihood that multiple split pairs and larger groups will delay exiting the aircraft until they are sure the rest of their party are safely able to evacuate.

In the second they are selling tickets on the basis of a headline price that can only be achieved if travel companions agree to sit apart, and because the average passenger has no real idea about the safety implications if they do sit rows apart in event of evacuation, and cannot ever have a proper idea of it unless they acquire detailed industry or human behavioral knowledge, the practice is both misleading of an average consumer, and also aggressive for similar reasons. Faced with a new decision that the average consumer has generally never had to make before in their experience, the average consumer is likely to behave in one of two ways, neither of which is safe for the average consumer i.e.:

1. they employ an experienced MSE'ers view like Pollycat i.e. to make the wrong decision on the basis of knowing about the seat allocation charge and then practising average human behaviour in deciding they don't need to pay it, or
2. to make the mistake of thinking there is every chance of getting free seats together by presuming that the airline's so called "random" seat allocation policy has not changed (which is what Ryanair have apparently said, but which seems to have been roundly already dismissed as an untruth via tens or hundreds or thousands of passenger reports over the last month or two.

In either case, a or b, the chances are that in an emergency, both types of average consumer will be anxious to delay to see that their travel companions are safe before they evacuate the aircraft, thereby unnecessarily endangering themselves and everyone else on board.

And on that bombshell ...

Welcome back aggy.

budgetflyer

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Welcome back aggy.

or peter ?