Ryanair has pretty much given up enforcing seat allocations. Sure, your boarding pass might say one seat number, but it's pretty much a "sit in any free seat" policy. 90% of the time when i get on the plane someone else is in my seat, so I'm forced to sit in a random seat, giving someone else the exact same issue.

The staff know that getting everyone back into the correct seats will take a massive effort, so don't bother.

You tell the person to get out of the seat you paid for.

I strongly prefer aisle seats. I once had a girl ask me to switch seats with her so that she could sit next to her boyfriend. Since she had a middle seat, I politely declined, explaining that I would only switch with another aisle seat. She proceeded to throw a fit, calling me an asshole, etc, etc. I paid extra (how have we even come to this?) to be able to pick my seat, I'm not going to give it up for free.

Don't let people bully you.

At some point you will either have to escalate or give up. Some people won't be convinced, and can't be badgered into obeying you, and they know that you have no recourse at all as long as they remain seated and ignore you.

If the local authority (flight attendants) won't back you up, you are at the discretion of whoever is hogging your seat. Any display of power over the other usually amounts to potentially being able to resort to violence if necessary to back up your power. The person in the seat know full well that you cannot do that without being forced to leave the plane, so they have effectively nothing to fear from you.

If the flight attendants aren't enforcing seating then I'll go plop myself down in an exit row or first class

The great thing about being assertive is that you get to sit in the seat you paid for.

This is just one of many reasons that nobody should ever fly RyanAir.

> Ryanair has pretty much given up enforcing seat allocations.

Haven't been on a Ryanair flight for a while but this certainly didn't seem to be the case when I was flying with them regularly. Was this something that's changed very recently or maybe it's only certain routes this happens on?

My experience is that yes there's lots of shuffling around, but people politely ask others if they accept to change seats.

So Ryanair will take care of my 5 year old while I fly? Sounds peaceful. Last flight she spent 2 hours trying to lay down in the middle of the aisle.

That is the best place to fully recline, she's no dummy.

Ryanair sadly don't do unaccompanied minors, but for an airline that does (and 5 seems to be the lower bound), and if flying with a partner, I've always wondered if the following would work:

Parent A flies without child on Day 1; Child is given to airline by Parent B on Day 2 and retrieved on the other end by Parent A. Parent B flies without child on Day 3.

If you've got a week or two for vacation, spending six days getting there and back just so you can not fly with your own kid seems... suboptimal.

Right, I guess a flight nanny is probably easier.

Or you know..... just be a parent.

Some folks with money really are better off hiring a professional parent, if the asshole cycle is ever to be interrupted.

What's wrong with getting a babysitter? Because that's what this effectively is.

If you're upset about the money wasted on extra tickets, that's a wealth complaint not a childcare complaint.

If there are multiple flights in a day, you might be able to fit it all in one!

And this is why your kid won't speak to you after age 18.

My parents used to stick me in Economy when they flew Business on long-haul from about 7 onward, and I still speak to _at least_ one of them.

I guess the inheritance could be a good reason.

It kinda makes sense, kids are smaller so they don't need as much space. We should sort passengers by size in general.

I feel your pain. The last flight with my 2 year old daughter, she had to be physically held in her seat because she was too old to be allowed on our laps yet also too small for the seat belt to restrain her. The moment we let go of her she intentionally slid under the belt and out of the chair!

You might want to look into a CARES harness. They are FAA approved and not very expensive. They are designed for kids weighing 22 - 44 pounds.

https://www.faa.gov/travelers/fly_children/

A booster might work also. Though to be honest, I wouldn't bother (my wife totally would, however).

Thanks for the recommendations. I honestly had no idea any of this was available.

When my kids were that small we would travel with one of their car seats for the plane. The car seat is restrained by the plane’s seat belt and then your child is nestled snuggly in their own car seat.

The benefits are that your kid is then in an environment they are familiar with and they can’t just wiggle out. The downside is that you now have to lug around a car seat in the terminal. Ours got stuck in an X-ray machine once. That was fun.

I assume that’s still possible, it’s been a while since we had to travel like that.

Yes, you can also put the kid in a carseat when they are under 2 if you don't want to keep them on your lap.

They make an exception for children under 12.

https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/travelling-with-ch...