From the FR results
3. Allocated Seating
Ryanair is pleased to announce in today’s results that it will from 1 Feb 2014 move to fully allocated seating on all Ryanair flights, making the boarding process smoother, and enabling families or other groups to ensure that they sit together. Passengers will still be able to choose our popular reserved seating service (select front row or over-wing seats), or alternatively select seats elsewhere on the aircraft, as long as they check-in more than 24 hours prior to the date of departure. All passengers who don’t wish to pay a small fee (€5) to select their preferred seats will be allocated seats during the 24 hours prior to the date of scheduled departure. This return to allocated seating is Ryanair’s response to the enormous demand from our customers in recent weeks via Ryanair’s “Tell MOL” customer feedback initiative. Ryanair’s decision to launch fully allocated seating is also part of the airline’s commitment to listen to its customers, and improve its industry leading customer service which comprises Europe’s lowest air fares, most on-time flights, fewest lost bags, and fewest customer complaints.
http://www.ryanair.com/doc/investor/...result_doc.pdf
A very positive improvement. I hope this leads to a redesign of the boarding process as well, with the middle of the aircraft boarding first, otherwise boarding is going to be a nightmare. Other than the yellow seats FR will now be pretty pleasant.