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Ryanair - New reserved seating structure(s)

ekellyie

Hi there,
Could anyone give me advice on how to tackle the new reserved seating/priority boarding structure that Ryanair have in place.
I understand that now you can reserve a seat or book priority boarding with an added on cost, or you can just check in as normal online and they will reserve random seats for you free of charge.

If you haven't reserved a seat or purchased priority boarding and you're checking in as normal, do Ryanair give you the option of a Window or an Aisle seat before choosing it for you?

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Wheety

They're talking about this on Watchdog in a few minutes. Have a manager on from Ryanair. I'm sure he'll just say people can pay for seats together.

Living Off The Splash

On the scumbag flight we were delayed for about 30 minutes before take off. Then as we began our taxiing a passenger became ill and the plane had to return to it's spot and an ambulance called to take the sick person off the plane. This caused a further delay of 30 minutes.
The staff had to find the sick person's hand luggage. They identified a bag and asked everyone on the plane if they owned it. Nobody did. They asked again. Then just before they were to remove it some idiot at the back of the plane woke up and said it was his. This caused another 30 minute delay.
Maybe the captain felt everyone was delayed enough and pressed on.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

MOH

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

I was on a flight to Amsterdam last Wednesday. There was a crowd of about 7 toerags on board. Late 30's to 40 year old drunk scumbags.

The safety demonstration was stopped 3 times because of them. On landing the cabin staff were constantly asking them to sit down and keep their seat belts on.

Throughout the flight they spent their time queuing to go to the toilets, even when the seat belt sign was switched on, screaming and shouting at each other and passing comments to other passengers who wanted to use the toilets. Females were leered at.

These yobs were seated in different seats about the plane. Shouting across the aisles at each other etc.

It was awful. The random seating issue affected everyone on the plane because of them.

I had hoped that a police van would have been waiting at Amsterdam airport.

Most of that isn't in any way related to random seating.
And even before the change in seat assignment, a group of 7 would have been pretty unlikely to be all sitting together anyway if the didn't book seats.

I feel your pain though, I spent 3+ hours on a flight to Riga opposite a similar bunch (though not quite as bad as yours sounded). Bunching them together just makes them louder. One of their mates came down from wherever he was sitting and wanted me and my OH to move across one seat so he could take the empty aisle seat opposite his mates. If they hadn't been such tossers I obviously happily would have, but I didn't want to add to the noise level.

Living Off The Splash

I was on a flight to Amsterdam last Wednesday. There was a crowd of about 7 toerags on board. Late 30's to 40 year old drunk scumbags.

The safety demonstration was stopped 3 times because of them. On landing the cabin staff were constantly asking them to sit down and keep their seat belts on.

Throughout the flight they spent their time queuing to go to the toilets, even when the seat belt sign was switched on, screaming and shouting at each other and passing comments to other passengers who wanted to use the toilets. Females were leered at.

These yobs were seated in different seats about the plane. Shouting across the aisles at each other etc.

It was awful. The random seating issue affected everyone on the plane because of them.

I had hoped that a police van would have been waiting at Amsterdam airport.

MOH

Not sure separating parents from kids is always a bad idea.
Last Ryanair flight I was on there were two kids about 5 sitting with three adults in the the row in front of me (two aisle seats and a middle).
For most of the flight they played a fun game of standing on the aisle armrests, leaning across the aisle to scream into each other's faces.

This continued long after the seatbelt sign had come on for turbulence, until eventually cabin crew had to ask them to sit down for their own safety. Can't imagine they'd have been so "brave" if they weren't sitting with their moronic parents, and would probably have actually been safer.

km79

munchkin_utd wrote: »

its not a permanent issue though. Its with families who bought pre last October checking in now, and looking for that for free.
If you bought a Ryanair flight since October you'd have been forced to give a few euro at time of booking, and get kids seats free.

Once this batch of pre October 2016 family bookings have flow there'll no longer be an issue

It's not only those with kids
But yes it will be less of an issue

It's still a backward step and a step away from the new family friendly airline they had tried to move toward !

munchkin_utd

km79 wrote: »

Flew from Dublin to tenerife yday as I did this time last year
Absolute shambles from start to finish
Few empty seats here and there but lots and lots of families seperated which lead to swapping before and after take off and again before landing
And then the messing with bags at the original seats they were sitting in
And then there was the 3 seats behind me all occupied by kids .............it was without doubt the worst flight I'd been on and it's a backward step for Ryan air

its not a permanent issue though. Its with families who bought pre last October checking in now, and looking for that for free.
If you bought a Ryanair flight since October you'd have been forced to give a few euro at time of booking, and get kids seats free.

Once this batch of pre October 2016 family bookings have flow there'll no longer be an issue

joeysoap

km79 wrote: »

Flew from Dublin to tenerife yday as I did this time last year

Also didn't get to check in one 10kg back with the 20kg bag purchased
Again a backward step

Bad form all right, seeing as they are taking bags off passengers at the gate. Maybe it was in the mistaken belief that they didn't have to pay compensation if the bag went missing etc?

km79

Flew from Dublin to tenerife yday as I did this time last year
Absolute shambles from start to finish
Few empty seats here and there but lots and lots of families seperated which lead to swapping before and after take off and again before landing
And then the messing with bags at the original seats they were sitting in
And then there was the 3 seats behind me all occupied by kids .............it was without doubt the worst flight I'd been on and it's a backward step for Ryan air

Also didn't get to check in one 10kg back with the 20kg bag purchased
Again a backward step

miamee

VG31 wrote: »

That's far from my experience of it. When I was there there were people sitting on the floor everywhere it was so busy. It wasn't even a peak time. It was also very stuffy, had very little places to eat and there was only a handful of filthy toilets.

I find it hard to imagine Tegel can be worse.

I actually thought this was describing Tegel, was there in March, an awful hole of a place, very crowded, very few facilities/places to eat and I had the feeling we were in a converted hangar, it's bleak.

Bob24

Mr rebel wrote: »

Well yeah for my most frequent destination (Berlin) it is always considerably cheaper to fly with Ryanair (and they fly to the better airport too in Schonefeld, and not that awful Tiegel dump that Aer Lingus are tied to).
So indeed I guess it just depends on particular destinations.

*very* rare for Ryanair to fly to a better airport than Aer Lingus. Also one thing I forgot another poster mentioned is that on average Ryanair tends to have slots at less convenient times, I guess because they are cheaper (thinking about it that's another reason I sometimes favour Aer Lingus).

As for that specific exemple never been to Tiegel so I can't comment, but if it is significantly worse than Schonefeld it must indeed be a dump. Schonefeld really is something Germans should be ashamed of for their capital city!

grogi

VG31 wrote: »

That's far from my experience of it. When I was there there were people sitting on the floor everywhere it was so busy. It wasn't even a peak time. It was also very stuffy, had very little places to eat and has only a handful of filthy toilets.

I find it hard to imagine Tegel can be worse.

Schönefeld is a dump.

Tegel is an old airport in the heart of West Berlin. With no room for expansion it is extremely busy and overcrowded.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

VG31

Mr rebel wrote: »

Tegel is the main airport but it's horribly overcrowded and cramped, and has the longest queues I've experienced. It is closer to the city centre but isn't connected by rail.
Schonefeld is a bit of a maze to navigate but at least it doesn't suffer from overcrowding and is connected by rail to the city.

That's far from my experience of it. When I was there there were people sitting on the floor everywhere it was so busy. It wasn't even a peak time. It was also very stuffy, had very little places to eat and there was only a handful of filthy toilets.

I find it hard to imagine Tegel can be worse.

Mr rebel

joeysoap wrote: »

Tegel; not just Aer Lingus using it. 21m passengers last year.
Looks old but I don't know if I'd call it a dump.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Tegel_Airport

Schonefeld; 12 m passengers, Ryanair and EasyJet base

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Sch%C3%B6nefeld_Airport

Tegel is the main airport but it's horribly overcrowded and cramped, and has the longest queues I've experienced. It is closer to the city centre but isn't connected by rail.
Schonefeld is a bit of a maze to navigate but at least it doesn't suffer from overcrowding and is connected by rail to the city.

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Yes for an amazing city like Berlin, it's sad it doesn't have the airport to reflect that yet like Schiphol does for Amsterdam, Heathrow for London, etc.
It seems like Brandenburg has been put on indefinite hold.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

joeysoap

Mr rebel wrote: »

Well yeah for my most frequent destination (Berlin) it is always considerably cheaper to fly with Ryanair (and they fly to the better airport too in Schonefeld, and not that awful Tiegel dump that Aer Lingus are tied to).
So indeed I guess it just depends on particular destinations.

Tegel; not just Aer Lingus using it. 21m passengers last year.
Looks old but I don't know if I'd call it a dump.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Tegel_Airport

Schonefeld; 12 m passengers, Ryanair and EasyJet base

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Sch%C3%B6nefeld_Airport

Mr rebel

Bob24 wrote: »

It must depend on the destinations and booking times but for my regular journey it definitely isn't the case. If I was picking purely based on which one is cheaper I would go with Ryanair maybe 65-70% of the time. And if I take into account the willingness to pay a premium of maybe 20% for Aerlingus because of the better service the ratio is reversed and I end-up using them more than Ryanair.

Well yeah for my most frequent destination (Berlin) it is always considerably cheaper to fly with Ryanair (and they fly to the better airport too in Schonefeld, and not that awful Tiegel dump that Aer Lingus are tied to).
So indeed I guess it just depends on particular destinations.

VG31

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

What other airlines besides Ryanair and Aer Lingus fly DIRECT from Dublin to other European destinations.

I was interested in VG31's post above about BA flying from Dublin to Ibiza.

Have a look at the (accurate) Dublin Airport destination list on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Airport#Airlines_and_destinations

A lot of the flights listed as charter can often be booked as flights only, although they can be fairly pricey. However it means that you can book flights to destinations such as Madeira that you wouldn't be able to fly to direct otherwise.

Aer Lingus and Ryanair practically have a monopoly on flights to Spain and France and have a total monopoly to Italy and Portugal but to places like Scandinavia and Germany there is a good range of airlines.

BA CityFlyer from Dublin to Ibiza is only a weekly service (out on Fridays and back on Sundays) as London-City Airport is partially closed at the weekends. It was very good value in economy class as well.

You can get some great value on some of these new routes. Cobalt Air to Cyprus was very cheap when the flights first went on sale.

Living Off The Splash

What other airlines besides Ryanair and Aer Lingus fly DIRECT from Dublin to other European destinations.

I was interested in VG31's post above about BA flying from Dublin to Ibiza.

VG31

When I looked at the BA flights from Dublin to Ibiza when they were announced, you could fly business return for about €150 which was cheaper than Ryanair!

munchkin_utd

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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for my summer spin for the days I wanted, Lufthansa with a double daily flight (and ryanair not even offering a daily connection) was about 200 euro cheaper for a family of 4 than Ryanair, and thats ignoring the fact that Ryanair flies from the arse end of nowhere.

This legend that Ryanair is some charity that has always the cheapest fares is really a myth.

They do discount their off peak low demand fares way more than anyone else and to incredible levels, and if you're unemployed or a pensioner or have heaps of holidays to use up can be brilliant, but for someone following the herd and booking on busy days I have found them to be no better than Aer Lingus or Lufthansa.

Sure one flight last year I ended up flying business class on Lufthansa (including 64kg of luggage, fast track security and lounge use) for the same price as Aer Lingus and cheaper than Ryanair. Unfortunately I only learnt about Lufthansa business class rotating fine wine selection after the flight, but the next time I end up flying business class on Lufthansa thanks to the myth that Ryanair are cheaper 99% of the time, I will report back on how the lovely complementary wine tasted.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Living Off The Splash

I often fly out with Ryanair and back with Aer Lingus or vice versa. For me it's about the flight schedule, followed by price. I have found both airlines excellent and both airlines crap.
I always purchase my seat and I always board the aircraft early. Why do I board the aircraft early? Because I want to secure the locker over my seat.
I have seen people who sit at the back of the plane put the luggage in the lockers at the front of the plane. I have seen people put their cases in sideways. I have seen Duty Free bottles scattered along the locker so nobody can put their cases in. There are a lot of arse holes out there and they are breeding very fast.

Bob24

Mr rebel wrote: »

I doubt it as 99% of the time, Ryanair are still considerably cheaper than Aer Lingus

It must depend on the destinations and booking times but for my regular journey it definitely isn't the case. If I was picking purely based on which one is cheaper I would go with Ryanair maybe 65-70% of the time. And if I take into account the willingness to pay a premium of maybe 20% for Aerlingus because of the better service the ratio is reversed and I end-up using them more than Ryanair.

Mr rebel

I doubt it as 99% of the time, Ryanair are still considerably cheaper than Aer Lingus

Bob24

RoYoBo wrote: »

I think Ryanair got the whole psychology of this new approach wrong. While people will always feel aggrieved at having to shell out for something that was free before (albeit in their T&Cs) this feels more like blackmail. Pay or we will take away something you want versus pay and we'll give you some added value for your money.

Yes I've already seen contacts on Facebook complaining about the policy after finding out about it when checking-in and others replying to curse Ryanair.

Now will the people I saw posting they will dump Ryanair for Aerlingus act upon what the say I don't know, but certainly this is bad publicity and will fuel resentment for the airline.

RoYoBo

I think Ryanair got the whole psychology of this new approach wrong. While people will always feel aggrieved at having to shell out for something that was free before (albeit in their T&Cs) this feels more like blackmail. Pay or we will take away something you want versus pay and we'll give you some added value for your money.

They should have eased this in and made their income generation strategy less obviously gouging over a period of time. When people see online that their new policy is to put people in the worst seats and at opposite ends of the plane, this only breeds resentment. Ryanair lying and denying they're doing anything different is just adding salt to the wounds IMO.

Having said that, I expect that most people will either pay up or find ways to minimise the effects. I personally will leave checking in until the middle seats are all allocated and won't be buying any drink or food if I'm not beside my partner/friends. Although people have pooh-poohed the analogy with a restaurant, for me it's similar in that I wouldn't go to one to eat and drink on my own. Also, the plane journey is not just a means of travel, for many people the holiday begins there.

Yes, we could just put up and shut up, but the Ryanair business model is based on budget travelling, after all. MOL isn't the only one who wants to cut costs! Those bargain seat charges won't be cheap for very long - expect an increase once the hoo-haa dies down.

grogi

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I was reading IATA and FAA documents now on Child Restrains Systems (CRS) (nobody mentions seating there, as this probably never crossed anyone's mind to split the families) and one thing came to my mind: what happens if during check-in I mark the passenger as requiring special treatment?