Ryanairs new seat reservations policy

homerjay2005 · 21-03-2012 9:42am #1

first off, im one of ryanairs biggest fans and i normally defend them to the hills on here, i used them about 60 times a year.

however, their recent venture to pre book the emergency exit seats, concerns me. twice in the last 4 weeks, ive been on flights that have been 95% full, but the emergency seats were the ones not used. surely this is a safety concern and the exit rows should be filled first, once they know they have not been pre booked?

i normally wait until the queue is gone to board the plane, meaning im one of the last onto the plane and recently, despite their not being seats available for my group to sit together, weve been refused to sit in these seats, leaving them empty for the flight. one one occasion, the stewards told us "get out of there" in a very rude manner, which we have since complained about, so obviously they are under strict instructions not to allow people to sit there, unless the have paid for it or the flight is 100% full

so, in the event of an emergency, who will open the doors? are they ensuring that the people who sit in the seats immediately next to the doors are not children/mobility impared so that there are no delays to open the doors. are they telling those people, how to open the doors?

surely this practice is not allowed?

Xpro · 21-03-2012 10:20am

same happend to me, we boarded and the emergency seats were empty. After we took off i asked if i could move the seats to emergency.
No Sir you havent paid the reservation for those seats. a bit over the top if you ask me. Aerlingus has pretty much the same policy, but they have no problem you sitting there if the seats are unoccupied

scudzilla · 21-03-2012 10:24am

All seems a bit ridiculous to me. In the event of a crash it's always been said that seconds saves lives, as in the quicker the doors open the more lives saved. If nobody is sitting in these seats then that could well cost peoples lives in the event of a crash.

CricketDude · 21-03-2012 10:28am

Take photos and send them to them to whichever safety regulation authority they fall under. eg caa or iaa

Maybe take a video on your phone of the next incident and send it to the media as well as the regulators.

It wont be long until these airlines are doing things like increasing the intervals between maintenance services on the planes either. Its a race to the bottom - at 500mph.

highlydebased · 21-03-2012 10:41am

Apparently they are already being investigated because of it http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/9155324/Ryanair-investigated-over-10-charge-for-exit-seats.html

lord lucan · 21-03-2012 10:42am

Not sure how much truth there is to it but I was told in work that the IAA are looking into this

Edit :looks like it's true so.

sbsquarepants · 21-03-2012 10:43am

When did this come in? I usually get the priority boarding to avoid the que and then make a beeline for the emergency seats! I haven't flown since January though, there was no problem then. How much does it cost?

I'm also generally a big fan of ryanair, i always find it amazing the way people complain about how badly they treat their customers, all the while forgetting that before they came about, aer lingus and co, treated theirs fantastically by charging £300+ to fly to bloody England! But that was fine cos they gave you a sandwich and a cup of tea!
If you buy the sambo and the tea off ryanair, you're still 200 quid better off, do you still think aer lingus gave it to you for free!!:)

View Profile · 21-03-2012 10:50am

It is a safety risk and as mentioned the IAA are "apparently ??" looking into this.

Briefing people sitting in the rows forward or aft of the emergency exits seats on how to operate the door is not good enough in my opinion, especially as these people may not the able bodied.

Cop on Ryanair!

COYW · 21-03-2012 11:16am

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I usually get the priority boarding to avoid the que and then make a beeline for the emergency seats!

Was just thinking the same thing the other week when I last flew Ryanair. I don't think you can access the emergency rows with priority boarding. So is it more cost effective to buy the seat as opposed to priority boarding?

Zyox · 21-03-2012 3:27pm

COYW wrote: »

Was just thinking the same thing the other week when I last flew Ryanair. I don't think you can access the emergency rows with priority boarding. So is it more cost effective to buy the seat as opposed to priority boarding?

I'm pretty sure buying the seat gives you priority boarding included.
Even if it doesn't what's the rush? Board last and walk to your seat.

Apart from that I don't like this "no-one in the emergency seats unless paid for" nonsense one bit. Should be like Aer Lingus. If they're empty a passenger should be moved there to operate the exit in case of emergency. That's just common sense.

eagerv · 21-03-2012 3:43pm

Flew with Air Asia last week and they operate the same system as Ryanair. ie, you only sit at an emergency exit if you have paid extra, albeit a lot less than Ryanair. They call them red seats, because of their colour. All these seats were empty on my two flights, something I did not feel comfortable with.

Otherwise Air Asia was a very pleasant experience, a fellow passenger was celebrating his birthday and was called up to front and given present, cake etc!

Neworder79 · 21-03-2012 4:35pm

Where can you book seats on Ryanair site, I see reference to it in their rules pages but no way to actually book them?

thebiglad · 21-03-2012 4:39pm

Neworder79 wrote: »

Where can you book seats on Ryanair site, I see reference to it in their rules pages but no way to actually book them?

Certain routes only presently but no doubt will be rolled out. If they are an option be sure that Ryanair will ensure you have to deslect these too:p

APM · 21-03-2012 7:04pm

thebiglad wrote: »

Certain routes only presently but no doubt will be rolled out. If they are an option be sure that Ryanair will ensure you have to deslect these too:p

Its all routes now, done when buying your ticket or added as a manage my booking

mp22 · 21-03-2012 8:17pm

Is it possible when you are on the flight to hand over the tenner and sit in the seat?

sunnysoutheast · 21-03-2012 8:40pm

Xpro wrote: »

same happend to me, we boarded and the emergency seats were empty. After we took off i asked if i could move the seats to emergency.
No Sir you havent paid the reservation for those seats. a bit over the top if you ask me. Aerlingus has pretty much the same policy, but they have no problem you sitting there if the seats are unoccupied

Every Aer Lingus flight I've been on which has had an empty exit row has had the cabin crew offer the seat next to the exit to passengers to ensure it has an occupant. It is his or her job to open the exit if it's safe to do so there is no ambiguity. If there's nobody sitting there then you can easily imagine everyone piling in to the row and nobody being able to open it.

I wouldn't like to fly on an aircraft that had an unattended exit row. When I used to fly a lot to Sweden I often used to get a late-night flight which was basically a positioning flight for the morning, SAS were very insistent on having all exits "manned" and there was often only about 20 people on the 737.

This practice could come back to bite somebody.

SSE

L1011 · 21-03-2012 8:47pm

The IAA gave out an Operations memo in January that was very obviously directed at this practice.

APM · 21-03-2012 10:50pm

mp22 wrote: »

Is it possible when you are on the flight to hand over the tenner and sit in the seat?

No. As some of the time the crew do not have info on if the seats are sold or not until the last passenger boards and hasn't got a boarding card with a reserved seat

bk · 22-03-2012 3:40pm

Flew to Eindhoven and back via Ryanair this weekend.

Not only were the emergency seats not occupied, but I was seated aisle side directly behind the middle emergency row and no one was asked if they would be comfortable operating the emergency doors, nor was anyone instructed in how to operate the emergency doors :eek:

Actually on the way back, the cabin crew seemed to be very rushed, they rushed through the safety briefing haphazardly (one even stopped to talk to a passenger mid way through!!) and it was barely audible!!

To be honest I found the whole experience to be quiet unsettling.

Also the system in Dublin Airport seemed crazy. Was near the front of the queue for boarding so ended up on the first bus which was very crowded. The first bus arrived at the plane, but didn't leave everyone out, instead we were made to wait there 15 minutes until the second and third buses came (much less packed) and they left out all the passengers off the second and third buses before leaving us board!!

Seems crazy, I can't think of any operational reason why they would do this or anyway that it saves or makes them money. Actually the opposite, in future I certainly won't rush to board, instead sit and wait till the end. If everyone starts doing the same, then surely it will increase their boarding times and thus reduce their efficiency.

Is this a normal practice at DAA now or just a once off?

IngazZagni · 22-03-2012 4:36pm

Buses will be the exception rather than the norm but apparently it is a good bit cheaper for Ryanair to park at stands requiring buses than using the regular stands that don't.

I used the buses once, they took the priority passengers on the first bus and then squashed everyone else into the rest but it was in order though.

Kapellmeister · 22-03-2012 6:55pm

I also noticed this on my latest Ryanair flights. Although, more worryingly, on my last return flight, each of the 3 tables were left extended to prevent people sitting in the seats, and were left like this for the entire duration of the flight. I thought this was even worse than not allowing people to sit in them. The people immediately infront of, and behind, the emergency rows were informed that they were the nearest people to the exits before takeoff.

cml387 · 22-03-2012 7:17pm

Can an expert on here state whether emergency exits are required to be occupied?
I had a quick look at FAA FAR regs but couldn't find anything specific.

IngazZagni · 22-03-2012 7:46pm

Kapellmeister wrote: »

I also noticed this on my latest Ryanair flights. Although, more worryingly, on my last return flight, each of the 3 tables were left extended to prevent people sitting in the seats, and were left like this for the entire duration of the flight. I thought this was even worse than not allowing people to sit in them. The people immediately infront of, and behind, the emergency rows were informed that they were the nearest people to the exits before takeoff.

The emergency exit rows don't have tray tables on the back of the seats so that wouldn't be the case. Sometimes the forward and aft rows are blocked off using the tray tables to stop people sitting there but that is for weight and balance reasons.

cml387 wrote: »

Can an expert on here state whether emergency exits are required to be occupied?
I had a quick look at FAA FAR regs but couldn't find anything specific.

There is no regulation that requires people to sit at these seats however the people sitting closest to them need to be informed and questioned if they are willing to operate the exit doors in the event of an emergency. An investigation was started recently by the IAA to see whether or not this could be a safety concern.

Kapellmeister · 22-03-2012 9:34pm

The emergency exit rows don't have tray tables on the back of the seats so that wouldn't be the case. Sometimes the forward and aft rows are blocked off using the tray tables to stop people sitting there but that is for weight and balance reasons.

Thanks for clarifying. No. What I meant was that the armrest trays were deployed to stop people sitting in these seats (over-wing exits). I know it does not block the path but it surely further restricts movement in an already restricted space.

Tenger · 23-03-2012 12:50am

Kapellmeister wrote: »

............. Although, more worryingly, on my last return flight, each of the 3 tables were left extended to prevent people sitting in the seats, and were left like this for the entire duration of the flight. I thought this was even worse than not allowing people to sit in them.......

I would think that this was very very bad practise......... a call to the IAA with dates and flight numbers might be in order.

coylemj · 23-03-2012 1:32am

IngazZagni wrote: »

The emergency exit rows don't have tray tables on the back of the seats so that wouldn't be the case.

Are you referring specifically to Ryanair? Last time I sat in an emergency exit row with someone other than Ryanair, there were tables in the back of the seats but there was a subtle difference to the release catch - instead of being capable of being swivelled clockwise or anticlockwise, there was a screw inserted on one side which prevented the catch from releasing the table caused by an exiting passenger brushing against the catch heading to the emergency exit.

So on the port (left) row, the catch holding the table in position couldn't be swung clockwise meaning that if the catch was struck by someone's right elbow, it wouldn't move and therefore wouldn't cause the table to drop and impair the flow of people exiting.

I can't remember which airline or aircraft type it was, most likely an Aer Lingus Airbus, haven't flown Ryanair for a few years.

IngazZagni · 23-03-2012 1:42am

coylemj wrote: »

Are you referring specifically to Ryanair? Last time I sat in an emergency exit row with someone other than Ryanair, there were tables in the back of the seats but there was a subtle difference to the release catch - instead of being capable of being swivelled clockwise or anticlockwise, there was a screw inserted on one side which prevented the catch from releasing the table caused by an exiting passenger brushing against the catch heading to the emergency exit.

So on the port (left) row, the catch holding the table in position couldn't be swung clockwise meaning that if the catch was struck by someone's right elbow, it wouldn't move and therefore wouldn't cause the table to drop and impair the flow of people exiting.

I can't remember which airline or aircraft type it was, most likely an Aer Lingus Airbus, haven't flown Ryanair for a few years.

Yes I'm referring specifically to Ryanair. Other airlines have slightly different tables like what you mention. Ryanair has a table stored in the armrest which doesn't bulge out in front of the seat so in theory it shouldn't block anyone's exit should it be extended during an emergency although it wouldn't be ideal.

Tenger wrote: »

I would think that this was very very bad practise......... a call to the IAA with dates and flight numbers might be in order.

And this is would be the IAA's reaction on getting such an email/letter as is everything else they get.

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/071/874/notasingle.jpg

triggermortis · 23-03-2012 11:44am

yet another reason not to fly Ryanair as far as I'm concerened

dowlingm · 23-03-2012 2:15pm

Folks, I'm not saying pix or it didn't happen but it is important that this sort of thing be documented or else FR will just keep on doing it so keep the camera phones (data service and flash turned off obv) handy.

bkehoe · 25-03-2012 2:41pm

Interesting to see that there's an article in next Tuesdays 'Flight International' magazine about this practice from Ryanair.

In summary it says that the IAA are investigating whether passengers are re-seated to be adjacent to the emergency exits for taxi, take-off and landing or not as this is required for safety.

So if anybody flys Ryanair take a picture of the exit rows if they're kept empty and send it to the IAA.

Thoie · 25-03-2012 2:52pm

I think if I was asked on a flight if I was willing to man the exits I'd just say "No, not unless I'm sitting there for the entire duration of the flight to allow myself to become familiar with their operation".

If everyone said that, they'd be a bit screwed and would end up having to move *someone* (not necessarily me) into those seats.

Ryanairs new seat reservations policy

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