It's been a fair assumption for years, as until the recent changes it has been the norm that pax on the same booking were assigned seats together if available.

There are good safety reasons for not splitting up families . In the event of emergency they will try and ‘regroup’ before exiting, endangering themselves and others.

Like I needed another reason to avoid FR, they just handed me one.

... and that is why it's in the CAA Document CAP 789 - Requirements and Guidance Material for Operators - Chapter 30, Section 8.

Quoting this if you've been separated from your child [by refusing to pay the family tax] seems to concentrate the minds of checkin and gate staff.

It's not law, and they can't be prosecuted for it, but it would be grounds for complaint to the CAA... which even FR would rather avoid.

Separating an adult from a child is one thing (and even that is "allowed" according to the document you provided, up to one "seat row", whatever that means), but as a family often include 2 adults, there is nothing saying those adults should seat together, and if there are 2 or more kids, they can "safely" be separated into 2 smaller groups...

It might work if you're departing the UK. (Then again, it might not - many check-in staff won't even know what the CAA is. Even for those that do, they may be more worried about the sanctions they receive for not sticking to company policy*, than any potential rap-on-the-knuckles the airline might receive weeks, months or years down the line).

Won't help anywhere else!

*Ryanair policy is that adults travelling with children under 12 must purchase a reserved seat - for €4 - so that the child(ren) can receive an allocated seat beside that adult for free (up to 4 such free child seats per adult seating payment).

Ditto, your interpretation IMO is absolutely correct - 2 adults and 2 kids can indeed be separated into 2 groups of 1AD+1CH. Like you, I think this is unfair, and believe the guidance should be stronger - families with children should be given seats in a single seat row without charge.

irishguy28, I'm inclined to agree with you. It's not a failsafe protection by any means, but I'm simply quoting it to demonstrate that there is some - albeit rather weak - regulatory guidance on this. I've seen anecdotal evidence of it being quoted by passengers separated from their children and it working; it's not a given, of course. If I were experiencing difficulty getting non-UK ground staff to understand, I'd probably state it rather more plainly and tell them "it's the law!" (not strictly true, but gets the message across)

Thanks for posting the link to the Ryanair policy - I wasn't aware of that one - but I suppose it's a fair compromise as they're only charging the adult a reduced seat selection fee and then guaranteeing that they can sit with their kids.

I fly regularly with Ryanair as they offer the best timing for my most frequently visited destinations and I am conveniently located for Stansted.

As of this year I have switched so as long as price difference is not more than £20-£30 I will book another airline (as long as timing is not too dissimilar). This has reduced the number of Ryanair flights I take by half. This makes me very happy - worth it just so I don’t have to listen to that trumpet.

the main reason I switched is their seating policy. I have realised the following, which I hope some of you find useful.

if you are travelling with a companion you stand a much higher chance of getting allocated 2 middle seats with space next to you for one companion to pay and move so you can sit with each other. If travelling solo you are much more likely to get aisle or or window so as to keep pairs of side-by-side seats open and available for when they split groups up.

Changing seat afetr check in with Ryanair
 

Quick question. Can I pay to change seat afer doing online check in? I know you can with some airlines, but not sure about Ryanair. So see what I get randomly, and then pay to change later?

Nope

you can definitely change seat during the check in process - so if you initially try "random" - and don't like what you get given, they will encourage you to hand over money for a better seat !

i can't remember if you can go back again after you've completed checkin.

Wrong, I literally did this on Saturday. Got assigned a garbage middle seat even though my flight was at best 50% full, and paid to change it. Prices didn't increase either from before so it's worth selecting random first and seeing what you get.

The idea that Ryanair would deny you the opportunity to pay them an extra fee is laughable :D :D :D