I assume Ryanair are trying this on in the hope that it won't be challenged, either through the courts or by the CAA.
Wouldn't that actually be the IAA in the case of FR ?
If it is a safety issue that parents and children must sit together (and I can see the force of that), then requiring them to pay the extra money to secure that result, when it is not truly an option, is unfair.
It's clear that a 30 month old child needs to be under the supervision of a responsible adult, I believe that's a condition of carriage. That said, FR must have looked into the lagal ramifications of not being able to gaurantee adult and child being seated immediately next to each other without an extra compulsory payment. Of course even a legacy carrier can't guarantee seats next to each other, though in practice they do of course.
If, on a FR flight, a 30 month old infant was seated 10 rows from his/her parent(s) without any supervision I think the Captain may consider the cabin is not correctly configured for takeoff and may decide to defer takeoff until the cabin
is correctly configured. I'd be interested to hear any opinions that FC may have on this subject.
Someone earlier said that the difference between BA and FR on a particular trip was €1100 against €270, normally it isn't anywhere near this, in fact BA are sometimes cheaper, but even so I'll pay the extra €830 or so and have my children right next to me.