There have been a lot of reports in the media about Ryanair splitting up passengers who do not pay for an upgrade. This is my recent experience.
I have flown Ryanair many times, and although I am ranting away about them, I will most likely fly with them again. Why? Because they are a budget airline and I am a budget traveller. I like cheap flights to great places. I love a great deal, and if you know how to handle them properly, Ryanair will give you just that . . .cheap flights.
It is only recently I realised something. Previously when I have been travelling with a companion, I always ended up sitting separately. Luckily, as a regular solo traveller, I have never been tempted to upgrade to seat together. I can handle a 3 hour flight alone, but others might not be like me. Imagine how much money Ryanair collects each flight.
Then I noticed a pattern. The middle seat. The worst seat on the plane (apart from that one next to the toilet). I hate the middle seat. Sandwiched between two strangers. Unable to look out the window, or along the walkaway, the only place to stare is at the head in front of you. You do not have an armrest to yourself and and might accidentally fall asleep on a stranger’s shoulder. So imagine my surprise when I walked onto a practically empty flight and I had the middle seat. Hmmmmm.
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Then when I checked in for the return leg home, I once again had the middle seat. When I boarded the plane, I had a good look around. A lot of people were sat in a middle seat with two empty seats next to them. Many couples were talking through the gaps on the seat, and guess what, when the flight took off and the seat belt signs switched off. They all moved to sit next to each other.
Each one of them had been put in that middle seat, so that they would hopefully purchase the add on. Their trick would hopefully line Ryanair’s pockets with your money. I even noticed that Ryanair kindly wrote in words that I was going to have the middle seat rather than counting on me working out that B and E on their flights were the middle seats.
This makes me wonder that perhaps on the fuller flights I have travelled on, have they purposely sat people apart, even when they check in as soon as check-in open? How long have they been doing this? And if they are doing this, what else are they doing to grab our money?
Ryanair, I have clocked you!
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This is quite alarming! There are a lot of strategies the airlines use to make more money out of travellers. As far as selecting the seats is concerned, we generally do an online check-in and select our desired seats. I’m not sure if Ryanair offers that facility.
Wow what a great observation! Or perhpas it is obvious because the plane was emty. However, from their point of view is clever but for us I would call them a sneaky bastard. But I guess Ryainair must try to gain some money as they provide very cheap flight tickets.
The hubby and I have flown over 20 flights on Ryanair and never been separated and never pay for assigned or upgraded seats. I know a lot of people hate them but we’ve never had an issue. It’s a budget airline. The service and flights are pretty much the same across the board. The one big advantage we’ve found to Ryanair over many of the other carriers is the cost for bringing a personal item and carry-on is much more affordable.
Thanks for your thoughts Heidi. You are lucky not to have been separated. Yes I like the two bag carry-on rule with Ryanair but this has seems to have changed. You still get two bags but one has to go in the hold which isn’t a problem for me.
Ooh, I’ve never flown with Ryanair before, but thanks for the heads up. I can understand from a business perspective why they would sell the middle seats first, but that doesn’t mean I like it. 🙂 I guess just brace yourself for the middle and when you get an aisle or window, rejoice!
That does sound like a ploy and just another cunning way for them to rape and pillage their passengers. That said I flew with them last year in a full flight, refused to pay to sit together and we were seated together. Nothing would surprise me with this airline though however as you say we will inevitably fly with them again as sometimes they are the cheapest
This is definitely a Ryanair trick! Since they’ve started charging to sit together, I’m really looking for other low-cost options. Unfortunately, sometimes, Ryainair’s the only choice, which stinks! Very cheeky of them to do this, though I’m not surprised!
Don’t look at it as a trick, think of it is an option to save more money if you want to…. 🙂
We all know they are the cheapest, and even if you add on priority they will still be the cheapest. So frame it as a positive option, and maybe life isn’t so bad……
I have no doubt that they do not deliberately seat people apart (as that actually would be a pain to track and do from a programming perspective.) But they are doing this in effect, by simply allocating free seats in a sequence of ‘first allocate the worst seats, then the next worst, and then if there is nothing left give the passenger a ‘premium’ seat.’ So yes, check in early and you will get a middle seat for all of your group. If you leave it later, you get more chance of getting a window/ aisle or even a row 16/17 seat with extra leg room! So yes, on a part filled plane with lots of empty seats everyone will be either seat B or E, unless you pay for a window/aisle.
But remember people: they are a budget airline. You have a seat, that’s all you can do expect!!!
Happy flights!
Thanks Richard for your point of view. I agree checking in later is the best option as the worst seats would be filled. This is what I normally do as I am so unorganised 🙂 However for the recent flight I was a little more organised and also the flight was nearly empty. The bonus of Ryanair sitting everyone in a middle seat, is that everyone had a row to themselves so thanks Ryanair!
That’s Ryanairs behaviour intriduced unofficialy last year with a price change for seat reservation. I read that on fly4free.pl (Polish cheap flights forum). I noticed the same during my flights.
I think there is a workaround – the same that allowed you to seat on premium seat and have a priority boarding before proces were changed.
Try to do check-in as late as possible on flights to popular destinations. System will assign middle seats for passengers that checked-in earlier and more comfortable seat might be assigned to you.
Thanks for the tip. I always thought I was assigned bad seats as I was leaving it to the last minute but it just goes to show that checking in earlier is not always the best as the last two flights I took with them, I checked in when I first could and landed the middle seat each time. I find that being the last to board the plan helps as I get the pick of the seats. Sneaky behaviour I know but it is at the same level as Ryanair are doing.