Ryanair - New reserved seating structure(s)

-=al=-

I did check in late, maybe 2.5 hours before the flight, but the person I was travelling with also checked in minutes before and got a seat no prob. I have been on this flight about 8 or 9 times in the last year and never had it happen before, or on any ryanair flight before, it was just a weird one off! I've checked in far later previous times too

I did get on the plane when almost everyone had boarded but a few people came late. One random Ryanair cabin crew lady that wasn't working on board that flight also got on at the very end as she told the staff she was dead last and the gate was closed, she then took whatever seat was also free, which is why I don't know if it was overbooked or what not!?

I don't really mind since I got on and everything was all good. That's what happens when you play Ryanair roulette :pac: Worth checking tbh and it wouldn't stop me from doing it again

joeysoap

When I got the first reminder from RY to check in (about 5 days before flight) I noticed that priority and seats were still on sale. I didn't delete this email. I got another 3/4 emails as the we got nearer to the flight. approx 24 hours before the flight I opened the 1st email again, and opted to buy seats. I could then see what seats were available - there was still a small number at the rear of the plane but the majority were at the front, and there was only a few middle seats left. I closed out without buying or checking in. I went back in about 20 hours later and all the rear was full, still 2 middle free , 2b and 10b. I proceeded to check in without buying seats. So if you thought the flight was sold out you might try buying a seat and you will see if there's any left. There was nobody in 2b during the flight.

Bob24

nualaonthewall wrote: »

Would this then possibly be a downside of checking in late? Or is it more to do with when you booked the flight? I've been leaving check-in as late as possible to optimise seating but would hate to have no flight at all.

I would be interested in knowing that but I honestly have no idea. I guess the type of fare you have could also be part of the decision process.

nualaonthewall

I waited until all middle seats were gone on my last flight two weeks ago (6 hours before) and was allocated two premium aisle seats very close together (3&5). Definitely a case of Ryanair roulette though! Flight was almost full in the end, so I probably was close to the wire.

fritzelly

Ryanair says in it's own charter that it does not overbook (think I remember somewhere them saying that they price accordingly, the more the flight books up the more it costs so that covers them in a way other airlines don't do it) - not excusing stuff outta their control.

Booked with them a lot and several times left it to the last minute to check in on flights where every seat was taken

More likely a programming error allocating seat 00

Haithabu

fritzelly wrote: »

Ryanair says in it's own charter that it does not overbook

Ryanair also said they did not change anything with the seating allocation.

weldoninhio

Haithabu wrote: »

Ryanair also said they did not change anything with the seating allocation.

No they didn’t. They said they changed nothing about their seating policy. They admitted they had changed the algorithm.

joeysoap

weldoninhio wrote: »

No they didn’t. They said they changed nothing about their seating policy. They admitted they had changed the algorithm.

Ryanair's new slogan ' it's good to talk ��)

Just back from a weeks holiday , out with RY home with AL

Checked in as late as I dared with RY and got two premium window seats, but different rows and seats A and F

The lady beside me was in a party of 8 I think she said, all over the plane, and there appeared to be a family in rows 1, 2 and 3 in the DEF seats. They certainly all knew each other, and looked like a family.

So it's good to talk, you always meet interesting people (nearly always anyway)

Boring coming home, Aer Lingus put us together.

Two good flights, some turbulence on the return flight but the captain kept us informed and made us feel safe.

Bob24

weldoninhio wrote: »

Haithabu wrote: »

Ryanair also said they did not change anything with the seating allocation.

No they didn’t. They said they changed nothing about their seating policy. They admitted they had changed the algorithm.

Their initial reaction in radio interviews was clearly to say they had changed nothing. And if you look at their website this is still the official message (they are not saying they changed the algorithm as you mention, their justification is that a higher load factor and increasing number of passengers selecting a specific a seat is what is causing more isolated middle seat allocations but that nothing else has changed).

https://www.ryanair.com/cy/en/useful-info/help-centre/faq-overview/Priority-boarding-and-allocated-seating/prebooking-a-seat-onboard

SEATING POLICY

We haven’t changed the random seat allocation policy. The reason for more middle seats being allocated is that more and more passengers are taking our reserved seats (from just €/£2) and these passengers overwhelmingly prefer aisle and window seats which is why people who choose random (free of charge) seats are more likely to be allocated middle seats.
Some random seat passengers are confused by the appearance of empty seats beside them when they check-in up to four days prior to departure. The reason they can’t have these window or aisle seats is that these are more likely to be selected by reserved seat passengers many of whom only check-in 24 hours prior to departure. Since our current load factor is 95%, we have to keep these window and aisle seats free to facilitate those customers who are willing to pay (from €/£2) for them.

joeysoap

Bob24 wrote: »

Their initial reaction in radio interviews was clearly to say they had changed nothing. And if you look at their website this is still the official message (they are not saying they changed the algorithm as you mention, their justification is that a higher load factor and increasing number of passengers selecting a specific a seat is what is causing more isolated middle seat allocations but that nothing else has changed).

I had a look at the seats available on the first day of 'free seating' lots of middle seats left, mostly between rows 1 and 17, with a few at the rear. I had another look about 24 hours before the flight and I think I counted about 33 free seats including about 2 middle ones, the rest were aisle or window. So they, no matter what they say, definitely fill the middle ones first.

And it's not €2 for late booking a seat, that boat sailed if you didn't book certain rows when you made the initial booking. It can be up to €21 for some seats.

Bob24

joeysoap wrote: »

I had a look at the seats available on the first day of 'free seating' lots of middle seats left, mostly between rows 1 and 17, with a few at the rear. I had another look about 24 hours before the flight and I think I counted about 33 free seats including about 2 middle ones, the rest were aisle or window. So they, no matter what they say, definitely fill the middle ones first.

And it's not €2 for late booking a seat, that boat sailed if you didn't book certain rows when you made the initial booking. It can be up to €21 for some seats.

Oh yeah I know they have changed the way they allocated seats. My point is more that they haven’t admitted to doing so.

spurious

I don't know if I did anything wrong while booking, but I just checked in for a group of four adults, all on the one booking, one travelling with a baby and they have not assigned the baby to the same seat as its mother, but to that of another adult in the group.
The four are spread all over the plane, but we are hoping some kind soul will swap their middle seat (20B) for one further towards the front exit (7B) so that the mother can sit beside the child (20A) and an adult known to them to help out.

Likewise on the way back, they will need someone to agree to swap from 9E to 8E.

This is the first time in years I booked a small group on Ryanair. Luckily there is only one child to worry about.

Fred Swanson

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JohnCleary

Jesus I didn't think it was such a big deal to reserve seats. Whenever I book a flight I just pay the extra approx. €9 - €13 for 1A, 1B, or worst case 1C (Good luck to 1D/E/F) .... relax in the airport, be the last one on the plane and stretch my legs out.

Are people really that stingy? Guess it gives me a better chance of getting Row1 if not booking a flight very early as people just refuse to book a seat. Happy days for me, I guess.

Fred Swanson

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Haithabu

JohnCleary wrote: »

Jesus I didn't think it was such a big deal to reserve seats. Whenever I book a flight I just pay the extra approx. €9 - €13 for 1A, 1B, or worst case 1C (Good luck to 1D/E/F) .... relax in the airport, be the last one on the plane and stretch my legs out.

Are people really that stingy? Guess it gives me a better chance of getting Row1 if not booking a flight very early as people just refuse to book a seat. Happy days for me, I guess.

Of course people are stingy. Especially if it comes to cheap airfares. And airlines like Ryanair promote that kind of behaviour by advertising that they are the cheapest. You might be ok if you travel alone and book seat 1A for yourself. But if you have a family of four and one seat costs EUR 12 then it's EUR 96 for the return flight (as in extra additionally to the fare). And EUR 96 is a big deal.

For me personally is it not so much getting a certain seat be it for a window or be it for legroom. For me it's more travelling together with my partner. With the new seating allocation I am no longer seated together with her. We used to get seats together, maybe not at a window but always next to each other. Now it's always different rows, Ryanair deliberately puts you in different rows (even board at different doors) so you pay for the "privilege" of sitting together. Noone else does that, no train company, mo restaurant, no bus company and no other airline I am aware of. You always get two seats together without paying for that.

I also booked two tickets for Billy Joel and got two seats together; I expected that. If ticketmaster would tell me we sit in different rows and can choose to sit together for EUR 20 extra I would be annoyed as well.

Haithabu

Fred Swanson wrote: »

The €2 seats are only for 2 or 3 rows 24-27. The rest are much dearer.

The more popular a seat is, the more expensive it is. Going by Ryanair logic one would expect that these seats are allocated randomly first so the more popular seats are left for potential buyers. But if you buy two seats and have them randomly allocated you won't get 24B and 25B or 24B and 24E. You will get one seat in the front of the airplane and one in the back. Then you get the message : "You're sitting 21 row(s) apart. Would you prefer to sit together?". Ryanair deliberately creates an inconvenience in the hope that you pay to undo the inconvenience.

Haithabu

fritzelly wrote: »

More likely a programming error allocating seat 00

I had that once as well. I booked two seats and I had the 1st seat allocated randomly and the 2nd one to be left for later rather than have both allocated randomly at the same time. I thought I can pay for the 2nd seat close to whereever the 1st one ends up so we sit close to each other and only pay for one seat allocation. But the 1st randomly allocated seat was "00 - allocated at gate".

It was not because of overbooking because I still had the chance to change that seat by paying for a seat (I checked and there were still plenty of seats if I wanted to pay for them). Just no "free" allocation any more.

JohnCleary

Fred Swanson wrote: »

The last time I bought 1A it cost me €17.

The danger of leaving it to the end to board means you will lose your cabin bag to the hold.

I've never had to put my bag in the hold (it's a soft bag) while being seated in Row1, but fair point. Maybe it's my luck, but the cabin crew had the storage above Row1 kept free for people in Row 1.

I've never had to pay anything near €17, but again fair point, guess it can happen. That said, if the flight was anything more than 1 hour, i'd happily pay the €17 for legroom.

JohnCleary

Haithabu wrote: »

Of course people are stingy. Especially if it comes to cheap airfares. And airlines like Ryanair promote that kind of behaviour by advertising that they are the cheapest. You might be ok if you travel alone and book seat 1A for yourself. But if you have a family of four and one seat costs EUR 12 then it's EUR 96 for the return flight (as in extra additionally to the fare). And EUR 96 is a big deal.

For me personally is it not so much getting a certain seat be it for a window or be it for legroom. For me it's more travelling together with my partner. With the new seating allocation I am no longer seated together with her. We used to get seats together, maybe not at a window but always next to each other. Now it's always different rows, Ryanair deliberately puts you in different rows (even board at different doors) so you pay for the "privilege" of sitting together. Noone else does that, no train company, mo restaurant, no bus company and no other airline I am aware of. You always get two seats together without paying for that.

I also booked two tickets for Billy Joel and got two seats together; I expected that. If ticketmaster would tell me we sit in different rows and can choose to sit together for EUR 20 extra I would be annoyed as well.

Is it? I managed to get 6 people to Madrid in August for something like €1000 (booked well in advance) - For all of us to be together, last on the plane, first off and all have plenty of legroom (I put the juniors in 1D/E/F) and it cost about an extra €100 .... a pittance for the comfort etc. of 6 people.... - I mean, get real.... a flight for 6 people to Madrid (return, obviously) including all the extra comforts for approx. €1100!

I guess the alternative is that Ryanair just up their prices? Ryanair offer (along with other airlines) very good value, as a whole. If you want the extras, you pay for them. TBH, if it were again, i'd happily pay to have some of my family sitting AWAY from me, never mind beside me :pac:

Fred Swanson

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Haithabu

JohnCleary wrote: »

I guess the alternative is that Ryanair just up their prices?

They up the the prices as high as possible anyway. They will try to find out the exact maximum you are prepared to pay before not flying with them and charge you exactly that amount. Likewise with the seats. If they calculate that someone else is willing to pay even EUR 25 for seat 1A then they will charge EUR 25 for seat 1A.
But they won't up the prices for tickets because other people are not paying enough for allocated seats. They will up the prices to the maximum you are prepared to pay anyway. And additionally they take from you the maximum you are prepared to pay for a seat with legroom.

JohnCleary wrote: »

Ryanair offer (along with other airlines) very good value, as a whole.

If you are flexible then yes, you could get a good deal. If you are desperate then they will take advantage of you. For example : A flight from Edinburgh to Dublin tomorrow is EUR 235.99. That is not a good deal but there is still a seat it seems and Ryanair hopes that someone is desperate enough that he has to fly from Edinburgh to Dublin tomorrow, be it for a funeral or whatever can't wait.

JohnCleary wrote: »

If you want the extras, you pay for them.

I don't consider sitting together an "extra", after all it does not cost them extra. I am not talking about a premium seat in a premium location or a special seat with special features. I just want a seat next to my partner. But Ryanair deliberately separates people and deliberately causes inconvenience because they know that people are prepared to pay to have the inconvenience undone.

JohnCleary wrote: »

TBH, if it were again, i'd happily pay to have some of my family sitting AWAY from me, never mind beside me

But you are not in the majority with that opinion. If the majority of people would happily pay to sit AWAY from their family then Ryanair would allocate them next to each other and offer sitting AWAY from each other for a charge.

joeysoap

The price of 1A last Sunday to Faro was €21. I paid €49 each for the flight but it went up considerably after that. AL were cheaper for the return, I tried to check in online for the return flights but not possible on the app. Airport checkin was a doddle, two together row 10, free.

(And to be fair the AL return flight also went up considerably closer to the return date as well)

JohnCleary

joeysoap wrote: »

The price of 1A last Sunday to Faro was €21. I paid €49 each for the flight but it went up considerably after that. AL were cheaper for the return, I tried to check in online for the return flights but not possible on the app. Airport checkin was a doddle, two together row 10, free.

(And to be fair the AL return flight also went up considerably closer to the return date as well)

If people are saying to save every euro, researching one-way flights can sometimes save money (going off topic, I know) ... i'll back out now as don't want to de-rail.

joeysoap

JohnCleary wrote: »

If people are saying to save every euro, researching one-way flights can sometimes save money (going off topic, I know) ... i'll back out now as don't want to de-rail.

The return time of 16:25 was also a deciding factor. You're correct it has no bearing on RY seat allocation, my apologies for that.

MOH

Haithabu wrote: »

I don't consider sitting together an "extra", after all it does not cost them extra. I am not talking about a premium seat in a premium location or a special seat with special features. I just want a seat next to my partner. But Ryanair deliberately separates people and deliberately causes inconvenience because they know that people are prepared to pay to have the inconvenience undone.

It's an extra because that's how the company chooses to sell its product.
The advertised price is the price of getting a seat on a plane. Any thing beyond that is an extra. Whether it costs the company extra or not is completely irrelevant.
That's their model. Lower headline prices, fees for everything else. Everybody know this, but people seem to have some bizarre insistence they're being ripped off. If you want to sit together, pay the extra to book seats together at time of booking. You know exactly how much you're being charged. If it's 12 quid extra to sit together, and the cost per seat with an alternative airline is <12 dearer, then book with the alternate. It's really not that complicated.

If people keep insisting they should charge a higher base price and scrap the seat reservation fee, they're really just asking other passengers who don't care where they sit to subsidise them.

joeysoap

MOH wrote: »

If people keep insisting they should charge a higher base price and scrap the seat reservation fee, they're really just asking other passengers who don't care where they sit to subsidise them.

No they are not, they are pointing out that RY are deliberately separating families and friends. Which is undeniable.

And as for the 'half price' seat sale- watch it disappear when families start booking seats.

Mr rebel

I just noticed that Ryanair are now charging extra for priority boarding when you purchase a priority seat, which used to be always be included before
Now it's like €14 to sit in 3a plus an extra €6 to board first.....this is getting out of hand.

grogi

Mr rebel wrote: »

I just noticed that Ryanair are now charging extra for priority boarding when you purchase a priority seat, which used to be always be included before
Now it's like €14 to sit in 3a plus an extra €6 to board first.....this is getting out of hand.

What's the problem?! That's just a few quid more... /s

Fred Swanson

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