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Ryanair Boss: Stop Complaining About Not Being Able to Sit Together

Speaking to the RTE earlier this week, Michael O’Leary was outspoken in his defense of the carrier’s seat reservation policy.

As customer uproar over Ryanair’s seating policy continues, Michael O’Leary, the boss of the low-cost carrier, has taken to the radio waves to answer charges that his airline is deliberately splitting up groups of passengers who elect not to pay extra for assigned seats.

Speaking on RTE‘s Liveline program on Wednesday, he said that customers should stop complaining about not being seated together on the carrier’s flights if they haven’t paid for assigned seats. Referring to the computer algorithm used to allocate seats on the carrier’s flights, he said that it was not likely that groups of travelers would be sat together unless they paid the seat selection fee, which varies from 2 to 11 ($ 2.33 to $12.84), depending on the type of seat chosen.

Clarifying the airline’s stance on seat allocation, O’Leary was quoted by the Telegraph as saying that, “People are not being deliberately dispersed but they are highly likely to be dispersed if they choose a random seat.” He was also asked if Ryanair’s booking system let parties who haven’t paid the allocation fee to be seated together and answered, “No – the system won’t do that,” before adding, “But the system also isn’t told, ‘do your best to split them up as far as they possibly can’.”

He also reiterated that Ryanair’s seating policy was clear and transparent. Speaking specifically of the algorithm used to allocate seats, O’Leary said, “The algorithm changes as demand for reserved seats changes. Are you likely to be split up if you have selected a random seat? Yes you are, because that’s what random means.”

When pressed, O’Leary also revealed that Ryanair’s booking system leaves both the carrier’s aisle and window seats unallocated in the hopes that passengers will pay to reserve these popular spots. Speaking of Ryanair’s allocation fee policy at large, he said that it, “…is a customer choice, if you don’t want to pay the extra, don’t pay the extra.”

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19 Comments
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ioto1902 July 25, 2017

LukeO9, it is perfectly well understood. If proven, this is a very nasty practice, but not illegal, nor against any published rules. You can't expect otherwise from someone like this millionaire CEO driven only by money.

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LukeO9 July 24, 2017

Most of the comments here appear to not understand the nature of the complaint, which is that low-cost airlines are deliberately splitting up groups of passengers who elect not to pay extra for assigned seats, as proved in the following article::https://www.irishnews.com/magazine/science/2017/06/30/news/new-study-claims-ryanair-is-deliberately-splitting-up-groups-of-passengers-who-don-t-pay-to-reserve-seats-1072538/.

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BobBHX July 24, 2017

For the first (and probably only) time, I agree with O'Leary. You either pay for seat allocation or you take your chances. It is good business practice to keep window and aisle seats open for those who will pay. You can't complain if you are too tight to pay for what you want.

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LukeO9 July 23, 2017

Stop complaining about cynical business practices? Ha. You've only got stupid Randians on your side.

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Scrounger888 July 23, 2017

RyanAir's model is basically that you pay for a seat. It's cheap because it's nothing included. If you want to sit together, pay the difference and sit together. You can't expect high-class treatment for bargain-basement prices. They don't set out to anger their customers, their goal is to still make money while allowing people to have bargain flights if they don't mind the terms and if you don't accept their terms, fly with a more expensive carrier with seat selection included. Compare prices for the mainline carriers and RyanAir's with the things you need added on, like seat selection and checked luggage. Complaining about RyanAir not sitting you together when you didn't pay the couple of Pounds/Euros extra is a bit like buying a watch at a Dollar Store then complaining that it doesn't work like a Rolex.