Good seats free

tryin

As long as someone doesn't log in at exactly that moment (just before you), and get your plum seat.... Trust Murphy's law that it'll happen...

fifeken

Then I'd just release my second choice from the dummy booking.

tece

I wonder why Ryanair are continuing to split parties up unless they pay for seats when their competitor EasyJet does not do this. They do after all claim they are always getting better.
I wonder if they are losing inflight revenue by continuing with this nonsense.
I no longer have a couple of gin and tonics on the plane if I am not sat with my hubby. I was able to move and sit with him on the last flight so we enjoyed a drink. The flight before that we sat separate and both stayed dry on the flight. I have got that I will not purchase on principle if we are not sat together.
Don’t get me wrong I am a big Ryanair fan but like the bag fees it’s just a way to charge more to keep their headline fares low.

soolin

tece wrote: »

I wonder why Ryanair are continuing to split parties up unless they pay for seats when their competitor EasyJet does not do this. They do after all claim they are always getting better.
I wonder if they are losing inflight revenue by continuing with this nonsense.
I no longer have a couple of gin and tonics on the plane if I am not sat with my hubby. I was able to move and sit with him on the last flight so we enjoyed a drink. The flight before that we sat separate and both stayed dry on the flight. I have got that I will not purchase on principle if we are not sat together.
Don’t get me wrong I am a big Ryanair fan but like the bag fees it’s just a way to charge more to keep their headline fares low.

easyJet do, we fly with them a great deal and often hear people moaning that they have been placed in the 3rd seat of our row with their partner or child several rows behind. They did it in March when they sat an older child next to us, the mother 2 rows behind and the father further back down the plane. Luckily the plane wasn't entirely full and they managed to move the child back a couple of rows across the aisle from their mother.

On the flight out they split an entire hen party it was chaos as they kept getting up and wandering around swapping drinks or moving luggage in the over head lockers , or trying to persuade people to move seats so they could be nearer together.

tece

I must be fortunate then as I have never been split up with EasyJet but admit recently have only flown with my hubby. I have flown with them 3 times in the past year with the last time being last month.
I have travelled Ryanair the same number of times and always been separated. On the last flight in February my hubby was placed in a middle seat of a row on his own. Why do that as you will move after take off to sit together.
I can fully understand that any airline would split up large groups as it would be difficult to place them together.

budgetflyer

Why do they do that?
Because the middle seat is the least popular. That way they can save the more popular aisle and window seats for people happy to pay for them.

tryin

budgetflyer wrote: »

Why do they do that?
Because the middle seat is the least popular. That way they can save the more popular aisle and window seats for people happy to pay for them.

Which is why you should always check-in later rather than earlier, at least if your travelling alone.

SaveTheEuro

fifeken wrote: »

I don't think it ever worked on Ryanair.

I've done it a few times on Ryanair. I start a new booking on my laptop for up to 25 passengers. I select all the worse seats. Fortunately, this can be done before entering any names of passengers.

That done, I go my booking on my smart phone and check-in. I can't be sure what seat I will be allocated but it won't be any of those 25.

It doesn't work the other way round with devices. On a smart phone they need names first before selecting seats.

benjus

bagand96 wrote: »

Best way to get the good seats free on Ryanair is to leave it late to check in. Due to their policy of allocating the worst seats first, and deliberately splitting parties up, if you leave it until 6 or so hours before check in, on a busy flight you'll often find only exit or bulkhead rows remaining.

They can't force you to pay for them so you get allocated for free.

Last time I tried that the online check-in process was mysteriously down when I tried to do it, right until 2 hours before my flight when it equally mysteriously started working again, only by then it was too late to check in online. That cost me €50, although I did get an exit row seat...

Maybe it was genuinely a coincidence, but the timing of the online check-in system being down did seem a bit suspicious.