Ryanair new free seat policy ?

pcasso

I just though it might be of interest to some that Ryanair have a new policy regarding their free seats.

If you choose not to purchase a specific seat and accept a random allocation, you then cannot generate a boarding pass when checking in on line but instead must go to the check in desk at the airport to get your boarding pass printed for you there.

It might not be the biggest inconvenience in the world but I assume it will make a lot of the people who previously didn't pay for a seat to do so now.

YellowLead

When did that start?

manonboard

oh my thats terribly inconvenient.

I didnt know about that. Thanks for the heads up, as i have a flight for christmas in a few days to come back home.

What a dreadful requirement, so much hassle for no reason whats so ever. More work for everyone involved, for as you said, just to encourage people to pick a seat. I cant believe they are allowed to advertise ticket prices without that included if you have to go through that hoop. Hopefully they are forced to display it with the price instead of pretending to be so low cost.

manonboard

is there a email address for any authority that we could email to raise more awareness and protest it? Perhaps if they are threatened to display the cost including that seat allocation, they would drop the whole thing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058222593/ryanair-new-free-seat-policy

Have you got a link to that, please.

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058222593/ryanair-new-free-seat-policy

I do not think it will work as it makes no sense...

mightyreds

Is this just the downloading of pdf to print? I used the app over the weekend coming home today and all was fine.

pcasso

It happened on a flight back from Manchester this afternoon.

I checked in as normal on the app but instead of having a boarding pass at the end of the process I got a message warning that this was not a boarding pass but I must go to the check in desk at Manchester airport to get one.

Included in this message was an invitation to purchase a seat and avoid the queue of the check in desk.

The woman at the check in desk explained it was new policy and that she had to randomly select a seat for me.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312521#Comment_118312521

Thanks for that.

L1011

The original purpose of free online checkin was to allow them to cut down the number of checkin desks.

They're obviously now hoping that people are now unwilling to turn up earlier and will pay not to have to.

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312521#Comment_118312521

6.2.3 Once you have checked in online you can print copies of your boarding pass, or download them to your mobile phone, up to two hours before the scheduled departure time. Your boarding pass must be printed on a single A4 page or downloaded through the Ryanair app.

joebloggs32

You really have to hand it to them for coming up with another ingenious way to extract a few quid from the passengers.

They realise that people are so busy nowadays that many will now shell out to avoid having to que up to collect a boarding pass.

I'll wait for the claim to be substantiated. It may have something to do with Covid in the way that Lufthansa weren't issuing boarding passes online and you had to present at the check-in desk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312655#Comment_118312655

What has it got to do with Covid?

Strumms

You know too that they’ll have the particular desks staffed very minimally and have you Qing for ages.

airports and air travel is enough of a ball ache these days without these maneuvers...

i think it might encourage people to use the competion.

This information would be present online at their website if it were the case.

Cian59

Just downloaded passes for tomorrow after random allocation (bonus points for allocating me a middle seat)

fritzelly

Seems very counterintuitive and I googled it and couldn't find anything about this new "policy"

DoctorEdgeWild

Flew twice this week, no change to the usual way it works in the app for me. Flying again Friday, will find out soon enough if so.

mightyreds

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312521#Comment_118312521

When was this? I flew in from Manchester probably the same flight as you at 5:30. Checked in last night about 7 and got a free seat and all was ok

fritzelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312913#Comment_118312913

Makes me wonder did they try checking in less than 2 hours before the flight..?

SteelyDanJalapeno

I'd say there might be something else causing this for the op, perhaps they left it too late or it was a problem with travel docs or something

No way they're removing boarding passes online for free seats

pcasso

I have no idea what is going on with Ryanair except what my experience and my son's who was travelling with me on the same booking was and what the woman on the check in desk told me. She didn't have to look twice when we presented the message that we received after checking in that morning which was about six hours before our flight time. I assume she was familiar with the procedure in the way she acted.

It could not have anything to do with Covid because on that message I got after checking in was a link to "purchase a seat and avoid the queues of check in" Paraphrasing their words.

I detect a certain amount of scepticism but I am one hundred percent relating my experience flying back from Manchester on the 3.15pm flight to Dublin.

And for the record I flew out to the UK on Saturday from Dublin and had no issue getting a boarding pass in the same circumstances with a randomly allocated seat on my Ryanair app.

TheWonderLlama

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312670#Comment_118312670

some countries require proof of vaccination/PCR test to be presented before people fly.

I had this for Turkey and Dubai this year alone. Couldn't print a boarding pass. Might be related.

pcasso

pcasso

My son took a screen shot of the message and I though I would post it for anyone who thinks I am making this up.

I know nothing further other than what my experience was yesterday.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118313613#Comment_118313613

I'm going to guess that's a covid regulation - I've had to do that with two different airlines over the last few months (one of which had blocked online checkin altogether so that the check-in staff could check covid vaccination and antigen test visually on the phone).

rubberdungeon

By any chance would you and your son have the same first name/surname?

We have encountered issue with boarding passes because of duplicate names when flying and wondered if this could be similar?

pcasso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118313655#Comment_118313655

While that makes sense why was I been given the option to purchase a seat and avoid having to go to the check in desk?

pcasso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118313664#Comment_118313664

Again it could be this but why should I be able to bypass the issue by purchasing a seat. It seems like a income generating act to me but I am open to any ideas as to why it is happening

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118313685#Comment_118313685

Not sure - I'm only guessing here. Possibly as an option to sell it you, whereas less people are likely to pay at the checkin desk? Ir is Ryanair...

pcasso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118313996#Comment_118313996

Yes, Ryanair.

The only logical explanation I can come with at this point, as this doesn't seem to be universally applied yet, is that it is a trial.

Passengers are been randomly hit with this and after a certain period of time, Ryanair will be able to then estimate what percentage would likely go on to pay for seats if it were to be universally applied.

Thus they would be able to access whether the increase in revenue would be worth the inevitable backlash, after the universal application of the practice.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118314594#Comment_118314594

Where are you flying from/to? Might be destination/origin related.

Still guessing it's covid:

https://www.ryanair.com/ie/en/useful-info/Coronavirus-covid-19

Will I be required to complete & present additional documentation at the airport before I can fly?

As a result of Covid-19 its entirely likely that you will be required to complete and present additional travel documentation before you trip. Please ensure you check the most up to date travel restrictions and country-specific requirements before you fly. Failure to present any mandatory documentation will result in your travel being denied by local authorities. Please don’t take any risks and make sure you have the required covid test and passenger locator form completed before you fly.

HeidiHeidi

If it was Covid related, they surely wouldn't/shouldn't provide a means of bypassing it by buying a seat?

That screenshot makes it fairly clear that if you buy a seat, you get a boarding pass.

I agree that a trial is most likely explanation given so far.

salmocab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118314672#Comment_118314672

For tracing purposes it might be that they know who was sitting where.

HeidiHeidi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118314678#Comment_118314678

But every seat is allocated to a name in the end, no matter how it's acquired.

And there doesn't seem to be much fuss made of people switching seats after take-off anyhow.

salmocab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118314703#Comment_118314703

Oh I thought it was still stroll on and sit down wherever once people that had paid had got their seats. It’s been a while since I flew with them.

HeidiHeidi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118314730#Comment_118314730

It must be - that changed years and years ago!!

You've had to book a seat, either charged for or free of charge, for a long time now. There used to be an option to be randomly allocated a seat from the leftovers when you checked in and got your boarding pass, but that's been gone a while as well.

Batesout

I just checked in for my flight and got boarding pass on my phone

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118315187#Comment_118315187

How close to flying time did you check in?

mightyreds

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118314594#Comment_118314594

I wonder were you a test case for a new system they plan on rolling out, makes sense its so Ryanair dont buy a seat be inconvenienced

DoctorEdgeWild

If it is a trial, as sad as it sounds, I will absolutely pay extra to avoid dealing with any humans. Love the speed of in-app check in and automatic passport gates. The more automated it becomes, the happier I will be!

maestroamado

There is absolutely no wau this is happening... imagine the chaos at Dublin airport between 6/8am...

Batesout

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118315563#Comment_118315563

12 hours

irelandrover

The only time i have seen this before was when the flight was oversold. But Ryanair say they do not oversell their flights so that cant be it.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118318815#Comment_118318815

Ryanair absolutely do oversell certain flights. There's been a leaked loadsheet photo over in Aviation showing something like 199 booked for a 189 seat aircraft

Short, high frequency routes with a pattern of no-shows only

pcasso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118318815#Comment_118318815

There were quite a lot of empty seats on the flight.

I'd say that it was at about ninety to ninety five percent capacity.

The lady at the check in also said that as the flight wasn't at full capacity we could talk to the on board staff if we wanted to sit together, so presumably she wasn't expecting the flight to fill up.

lordsheepface

Did you book your ryanair flight through a third party? If so this is what is causing it. You would have got another email from ryanair well before check-in inviting you to go through some security checks so that you could check-in online without having to go to a desk at the airport.

https://help.ryanair.com/hc/en-ie/articles/4402466830737-Online-Verification

Snickers Man

OP are you an Irish/British/Other EU passport holder?

I know there are issues with American and Australian travellers not being able to use a downloaded and printed off boarding pass but that's to do with Visa regulations. An intergovernmental issue rather than a spefically Ryanair one.

pcasso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118350880#Comment_118350880

No, booked directly with Ryanair.

pcasso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118350900#Comment_118350900

We are both Irish passport holders so that shouldn't be the issue,