Ryanair has extended its reserved seating service by two rows.
Up to 45 passengers per flight can now pre-book their preferred seats in eight reserved rows, up from six previously.
The optional pre-booking service costs €10 each way, or €15 on longer routes such as to and from the Canary Islands.
The move comes after budget airline rival Easyjet rolled out allocated seating across its network last November (see online news September 5, 2012).
Ryanair spokesperson Robin Kiely said: “Ryanair is pleased to extend our reserved seat service to an additional two rows, 32 and 33, which are bookable now for travel on all routes, meaning even greater choice for all Ryanair passengers.
“Since November, Ryanair passengers have been able to reserve their preferred seats across six rows – at the front of the aircraft for a prompt exit on arrival, at over-wing exits for extra legroom, and on rows five and 15 – which has proven extremely popular, especially with families, groups and those on business travel.”
The two additional reserved seating rows are numbers 32 and 33. The six others are 1, 2, 5 15, 16 and 17.
The service includes priority boarding and allows passengers to reserve seats in the front or rear of the aircraft, for a quick getaway on arrival, and on over-wing rows, for greater legroom. It also offers families and groups of passengers the chance to sit together on four other rows, the airline said.
Following a successful trial on selected routes, Easyjet extended its reserved seating across its network last November.
The carrier launched the trial in April 2012 (see online news March 27, 2012), with over 800,000 passengers flying on 6,000 trial services.
The airline said that research among these passengers showed that over 70 per cent thought allocated seating ‘is better than Easyjet’s [previous] system, due to the improved boarding experience”, while over 60 per cent said they would be more likely to use the carrier in the future as a result.
Easyjet says that the key tests of the trial were achieved, with improved passenger satisfaction, no impact on punctuality, no negative impact on cost per seat, and revenue which matches or exceeds the carrier’s existing Speedy Boarding service.
For more information visit ryanair.com.
Report by Graham Smith
