Ryanair seating policy

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  • Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    Perhaps in common with many readers, my first thought about this one was the poor passengers who were in the middle of this

    Ryanair sits hen party in FIFTEEN separate rows as outrage over seating policy grows

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


    capetonianm
    Participant

    Ryanair should refuse boarding to people who are clearly unfit to travel. If they can’t or won’t do it, then the airport authorities have to step in with another layer of security screening.

    This would solve such problems, and maybe they’d be able to improve their passenger profile. In the meantime, I am delighted that they operate as they do since it keeps 100 million people a year off the airlines I use.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    I remember the one or two times I used Ryan and this was years ago, the excuse I was given why passengers were squeezed in the rows of three, rather than being spread out:

    1. If rows are kept free, the cleaners don’t need to clean them on turn around making the new boarding process quicker

    2. Captain has asked for the seating to be allocated in a certain way due to the C of G

    With Ryan, if you want to be sat together pay up & whether you are 5 rows or 25 rows apart, there is no real difference.. If a hen party is spread out… well they didn’t pay for allocated seats – don’t complain..

    I choose to avoid FR…


    AlanOrton1
    Participant

    I’m not sure the article says anything about people being unfit to travel…

    Have experienced this new enhancement – clearly a change to how they use to allocate seats for those not paying to pre-reserve.
    Nothing more than a money grubbing excercise and good to see people calling them out for it.

    EasyJet and Norwegian don’t allocate seats in random in the way Ryanair now does.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    In this case they may not have been unfit to travel but in my experience generally ‘hen’ and ‘stag’ groups are not fit to share a public conveyance with other people. I’m not talking about a bit of ‘high spirits’, but about abusive and threatening behaviour.

    Since we’re calling out carriers for unfair ancillary charges, what about BA? I have just paid €228 to select a seat in each direction on LHR-CPT. I don’t normally use BA for this and many other reasons, but unfortunately for this particular trip I had no choice, and that was not a decision motivated by price.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    Actually, BA does the same thing – no guarantees your party will sit together, unless you pay (or have BAEC status).

    It’s the new way of the world – driving anciliary income streams.

    The difference is that BA usually charges more than Ryanair.

    Edited to add that Capetonianm has made the same point, above.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    The difference between BA and FR in terms of seating is most of the time, BA crews will not object to seat changes once on board & certainly do not insist on empty rows be kept empty.


    AlanOrton1
    Participant

    Hi Capteonianm – I think the difference here is at OLCI BA would allocate you / your partner a seat together. Much as Easyjet and Norwegian would do. At OLCI Ryanair have moved from doing the same, to seating people on the same booking apart. With the aim of then generating further income from them.

    I would venture the vast majority of hen and stag groups, when on a plane, are not abusive or threatening. Yes, a minority can be. Respectfully, I don’t share your opinion that those off to celebrate their impending nuptials are not fit to share public conveyance with other people.


    canucklad
    Participant

    I flew on FR to Ibiza with a group of friends, some with separate booking and we most of us where allocated seats together.

    Why not switch the argument around, moving it from a negative to a positive
    Having shared FR/EZ flights with large groups of hen/stag parties who’ve sat in close proximity I’d have liked the airline to be pro-active and keep the raucous party goers apart.. And, in my experience, hen parties are far more likely to become disruptive. Women seem to more practised at sharing illicit alcohol, especially when they’re in a pack situation.

    And, having read most contributors posts over the years I can safely say that we’re all guilty of fostering the change that has seen airlines/airports take the piss out of us. It’s rather hypocritical to complain about the reduction of service levels whilst at the same time encourage those same companies to treat as cash cows rather than customers by purchasing inventive fees that are simply in place to blackmail us.
    Bluntly put, if you pay the blackmailer, they’ll come back for more. It’s just how bullies work!!


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    I’ve never seen a Ryanair crew stop people moving seats once onboard, on ~100 flights. I have seen other airlines do that (none were UK, though).

    The thing is, in 1978 when I started business travel, a MAN-LON-PSA ticket in Y cost £378 and taxis/fees were low – today, such a ticket would probably cost half and the APD/airport fees would be a substantial component.

    The airlines have to make additional income streams, to survive.


    Poshgirl58
    Participant

    I’ve never flown Ryanair and don’t particularly want to, but my brother has. As a party of 8, 4 adults and 4 children (11, 10, 7, 7) they were split up all over the aircraft. Flexible passengers and some commonsense ensured better seating arrangements for the younger ones. My brother got the best outcome. He was allocated a window seat, middle and aisle already occupied when he boarded. Rather than uproot those passengers, he suggested they move seats and he would have the aisle. Final cabin checks and emergency exit row behind still empty. Cabin crew asked him to move as they couldn’t take off without someone responsible seated there and he had personal safety briefing.

    In this case Ryanair’s policy backfired on them…..


    canucklad
    Participant

    Poshgirl58, you raise an interesting point about the EE rows.
    I’ve been on Fr flights when we’ve departed with the rows empty, I suspect crew training to be at fault.
    I’ve also left on FR flights when those rows have been occupied with people who were in no fit state to manage themselves never mind assisting in evacuating an aircraft.
    Most memorably a rather obese gentleman, who immediately passed out after he received the instructions from the cabin crew.

    FDOS, I get your point about airlines needing to survive, unfortunately I resent airlines, particularly so called full price airlines that greedily look at the LCC’s business model and then replicate fee’s whilst still proclaiming to be what they were.
    I’d also almost forgive airports who charge for fast track security if they re-invested in reducing the queues for us plebs.
    But they don’t, and why don’t they? Because if they managed the majority right, people would be less likely to be conned into buying a service that pretty much implies “pay the dosh and avoid the crush”


    handbag
    Participant

    [quote quote=816054]Actually, BA does the same thing – no guarantees your party will sit together, unless you pay (or have BAEC status).

    It’s the new way of the world – driving anciliary income streams.

    The difference is that BA usually charges more than Ryanair.

    Edited to add that Capetonianm has made the same point, above.

    [/quote]

    As BA Crew, I have to totally disagree.

    BA, does not do the same thing. BA actively tries to sit pax together, although this cannot be guaranteed. If that fails , the Crew will do their best to try and move passengers around to accommodate those that are split up. It is a regular occurrence on a busy flight that Crew are trying to move a couple of people that are split up. those that are split up, are not normally those that have done online check in or check in early. This is more likely to happen if you are last in any queue in any situation.

    My experience, of what I have seen and heard, is that people who pay for seating on BA, do not do it to ensure they are sat together, but ensure they get a particular seat they would like to sit in. There is a big difference.

    Ryanair’s policy, seems to have recently changed to something totally different. Deliberately splitting people up , so that they will be more encouraged to pay for it next time. BA do not do this.

    As Crew, we also have no problem at all with people moving to spare seats, within your cabin. In fact, it is the norm for Crew to point out to pax that there are spare seats if they wish to move and be more comfortable.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    Alan :

    I would venture the vast majority of hen and stag groups, when on a plane, are not abusive or threatening. Yes, a minority can be. Respectfully, I don’t share your opinion that those off to celebrate their impending nuptials are not fit to share public conveyance with other people.

    Fair comment, but I’ve seen a few and I suppose it’s like loud ugly (insert nationality of choice), they are the minority who makes themselves noticed and thus by whom the others risk being unfairly judged.


    AlanOrton1
    Participant

    Good post handbag.

    Going back to the original post – Ryanair look to have gone a step further than other airlines.

    I think most who post and read this forum know a great many airlines now charge if you want to reserve seats next to each other at the time you make your booking.

    Ryanair has gone one step further in so much as when those who have not paid for reserved seating check in online, a great many are now being deliberately allocated seats apart, which you only get to see when your boarding pass appears at the end of the OLCI process.
    However, a seat map then appears showing numerous seat pairs free, that Ryanair will then charge you for.

    To claim they have not altered their seating policy, I believe, if wrong. The articles Tom has shared support this.

    If this is their new policy, fair enough, it is entirely up to them. However, they are claiming nothing has changed, which I think is BS.

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