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

Pincher

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

Go with whoever you like, it's your choice. Ryanair must do something right to record the profits they do, and order new aircraft from Boeing. Compare that with Monarch who asked for yet another bail out recently and Jet2 who fly old bangers of aircraft...

Buy life insurance on your least favourite relatives, and encourage them to travel Jet2, and any other high risk airlines. Just playing the odds.

Plus

FR seem to be playing the safety card when actually it's for commercial profit.

The standard spiel is that everyone must sit in their assignment seat for 'weight and balance' reasons. Well, obviously if the plane was half-full of sumo wrestlers and they all sat at the front then it might cause an issue. But on a plane that's 95% full it'll make no difference, and on any other airline people move around without aircraft crashing. So refusal allowing people to move can only be for commercial, not safety, reasons.

buglawton

Deleted_User wrote: »

I've flown Ryanair probably 150 or so times over the years - I commuted several times a week between Ireland and England for a while and took many weekend breaks in Europe.
Because I followed the clearly marked instructions on the booking website,used a trusty rucksack that fitted Ryanair's size restrictions and prepared for my flight properly I have never experienced a single issue.
Virtually every flight has been on time or early and every single one of them has been cheaper than the competitors.
EVERY.SINGLE.ONE.
In a week in which BA has suffered another PR disaster Ryanair recorded record annual profits of £1.1Billion while at the same time driving down fares by 13% in three years.
It seems people are not that worried about being separated on a plane for an hour or two .....

Good for you if you're a frequent flier and know all the dodges, and traveling on your own.

I'm the type that doesn't like stealth taxes or being taken for a fool. As I mentioned on the other thread, the fact that Ryanair takes luggage unpredictably into the hold at the airplane steps without a receipt for it, together with this childishly money-grubbing seat allocation policy that makes the online check in a real faff now, has all steered me towards Easyjet for my next trip.

budgetflyer

You DO get a receipt when your bag is taken off you and tagged. We normally volunteer to get ours tagged at the gate. It saves so much hassle on the plane and by the time we get through passport control etc, they are normally waiting for us.
Easyjet do the same. After all, there is only so much overhead locker space on the plane
BTW unlike Ryanair, Easyjet DO NOT allow a second carry on bag.

Previously we NEVER paid for seats, but always seemed to get lucky. Not everyone did, and there always was a family or 2 who got split up and then a lot of fuss and a bit of rearranging going on to accommodate them.

I actually think this change in seating policy is a good thing. You now know before hand,
DONT PAY- You will be split up
PAY- You can sit together (if you want)
Regardless, you will get a seat and you will get to your destination.

We are taking one of our grand children this year , so were forced to pay for at least one Adult seat, the child one next to it being FREE. We did however just pay for the row, so we are all together. It wasnt a lot of money. a fiver each EW or something. Even with all the little add ons, Ryanair were still FAR CHEAPER than any others flying the route

buglawton

Ahem, why can't Ryanair be upfront?

As in,

1.On the day you book, a warning "you will automatically be seated far apart, in order to sit together please tick this box and you'll automatically seated together for £x"

2. As you pass through baggage check at Ryanair's desk, "I see you have 2 items of hand luggage in addition to your paid for hold suitcase, your larger hand luggage item likely won't be accepted onto the plane. Since the service is free anyway, why don't we take that now as hold luggage for free and give you a tag receipt?"
(Note, my experience was the ground staff didn't offer a receipt, caveat emptor)

I'd much rather the above treatment than caring that Ryanair is the lowest on a price comparison website.

As things stand it just looks like poor communication and petty money gouging.

agarnett

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

Go with whoever you like, it's your choice. Ryanair must do something right to record the profits they do, and order new aircraft from Boeing. Compare that with Monarch who asked for yet another bail out recently and Jet2 who fly old bangers of aircraft...

Yes Ryanair have expanded their fleet from barely many more than 100 aircraft over the past 15 years or more by exclusively ordering new in batches from Boeing, but they now have some 400 aircraft and guess how old the oldest are (choose an aircraft reg no. and click to find out);)

And remember they also have above average cycles (take offs and landings) per airframe per year into airfields where line maintenance simply isn't available.

That said, I do firmly believe that since they don't fly any other type, they must be the most coherent and experienced 737-800 operator in the world by now.

Ken68

Separate seating is a chance to meet new people. Maybe new girlfriend for Dad, toy boy for mum lol

IAmWales

buglawton wrote: »

Ahem, why can't Ryanair be upfront?

As in,

1.On the day you book, a warning "you will automatically be seated far apart, in order to sit together please tick this box and you'll automatically seated together for £x"

2. As you pass through baggage check at Ryanair's desk, "I see you have 2 items of hand luggage in addition to your paid for hold suitcase, your larger hand luggage item likely won't be accepted onto the plane. Since the service is free anyway, why don't we take that now as hold luggage for free and give you a tag receipt?"
(Note, my experience was the ground staff didn't offer a receipt, caveat emptor)

I'd much rather the above treatment than caring that Ryanair is the lowest on a price comparison website.

As things stand it just looks like poor communication and petty money gouging.

There has been no change in policy. Some people still get sat together. This all seems to be based on a few reports on Twitter.

PasturesNew

If people aren't capable of being independent for a few hours, on a flight .... should they be out in the community at all?

Single travellers manage to sit alone!

buglawton

Ho hum. I'll just stick by what I said in post #26 then.