Sounds unlike Ryanair 🤔… pretty sure same thing happened at Trapani & recently at Camiso ?? When the special rates run out …..

Seat 14!
 

Paid for a seat on STN - PMI due to be operated by a 738 recently, a/c change to a Max, and that's where I discovered seat 14 on a Max doesn't have a window! Grrrrr. Ryanair not interested in refunding my seat fee.

If you have tried for a Refund and RYR/FR have refused, then just call your bank card company for a 'chargeback' claim - you should get a full refund of your seat fees to your payment card as the airline have failed to provide a service you paid for ie; a specific window seat, due to their own change of aircraft.

- were you not able to move to another row, or was the plane full >?

Just a question, but in these situations are you paying for a window seat or are you paying to chose to sit in seat 14A (or whatever). So are you paying to chose a seat or paying for a seat with a view?

I do think it's pretty OBS from the OP that this chap wanted a ''room with a view'' (a window seat) hence his disdain, n'est-ce pas?

We know what he wanted, but in his contract with the airline, what is it the airline is selling?

They sell 'window' seats to you - and I do take your point about ''contracts''

Dummy reservation - Bournemouth to Krakow
RA
roger axxx
04F Window
£7

Get off quick Seats
ROWS 2-5
Per person £7
Sit close to the exit and get served quickly on board
A speedy exit
Get served quick
Near the bathroom

OP did not get his window.....call his card company and ask for a chargeback

A similar situation happened to me when I had booked a window seat on a 2x2 LOT Embraer 195, only to find a 3x3 B738 waiting at the departure gate. The LOT representatives were very much shrugging their shoulders, saying that my party got the seat numbers we had paid for. But aisle seats aligned with the wings offering no external views whatsoever wasn't quite the idea! We didn't pay a substantial premium to be lumbered with that. Online customer services were far more understanding of the issue and did refund the seat reservation fees afew weeks later.

In the above case, the switch from E195 to B738 was for the whole season. I reminded them that they really needed to inform all customers who had paid to reserve seats of this significant change. It is not unusual for airline executives to work on the presumption that people pay a premium purely to sit alongside their family / friends. There are other reasons.

When a carrier changes aircraft type without informing customers in advance, seat selection fees should be refunded automatically.

Window seat and aisle seats are just descriptive, they show where the seat is located on the aircraft, no guarantee of an actual window.

Good point. I have long argued that airline seat-plans used for paid reservations should clearly identify those seats in the "windows" row which offer no view outside.

You can try reclaiming your money from Ryanair... but you may end up spending a LOT of time on the matter. Companies get reputations for a reason. Think carefully how much you consider your time to be worth as an hourly rate and sometimes it's best to treat a modest loss of money as a lesson not to do something (eg paying to reserve a seat with Ryanair) again

Disclaimer - I use Ryanair regularly but normally never pay for any of the extras like seat reservations for a reason

I was a little Bored 😐
I don’t think anyone would win any claim against Ryanair regarding None window, window seat, it’s all on their website / conditions that you have to agree with before Booking.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4c8808cb1.jpeg

Nice one. I hadn't noticed that before, but I'm a frequent flyer on Ryanair so just book 27A or 27F every time anyway! I'll have a rethink when my first -8200 seatmap appears.

Thanks for that link - I tried to find same but I could not discover that 'caveat' about no windows at 11F and 12F... Does not mention the 737M-8200 though....row 14.

Knowing Ryanair's IT, the content has probably ended up differently, being done by different teams, between PC, tablet and phone (and maybe different between Android and Apple).

The window seat thing is a frequent trolling thread on the company instagram account, they take pains to point out it's pointed out clearly when you book that there is now actual window.
That only works when you have a uniform fleet, the MAX changes that with new frequenct aircraft type amends post booking, so perhaps a legal challenge is due.

To paraphrase a well-known transport journalist ... "When companies say that something is 'clearly stated', it generally follows an incident which shows that it isn't."

Bucharest base question
 

A question to the floor, is there any likelihood of FR moving its Bucharest base from OTP to the recently reopened Baneasa airport? BBU was historically the lower-cost hub of Bucharest's two airports, and up until 2012 served as a base for other LCCs, namely Wizz Air and Blue Air prior to being closed. Now that the airport has reopened to commercial flying, it'll be interesting if anyone knows if FR are showing interest in flying out of BBU, as FR had reportedly been in discussions with the airport previously - see:

https://www.romania-insider.com/bane...-date-jul-2022

Personally, I really hope they won't leave OTP for BBU. I remember flying W6 and Blue Air to BBU from LTN a few times and the reality is that the terminal cannot cope with frequent departures and is just too small to handle full 738s and A320s. The departure lounge was also awful, again being too small and people being sandwiched against each other. Given FR have a sizeable base at OTP already, I am struggling to imagine this being accommodated at BBU.

Bucharest OTP is already very busy at some times of the day. There are plans for OTP to be substantially expanded... but until then, it seems there is a real need for BBU to deal with commercial passenger flights. And yes, I know exactly how unpleasant BBU was about 12 years ago

Agree with you RE. the unpleasant airport experience that is Baneasa. My final flight from there was with Blue Air to LTN in Feb 2012, so just prior to the closure. It really was hideous in every sense back then: no room to move around in the terminal, queues for check in and security snaking outside, and just 4 tiny departure gates expected to handle full 738s and A320s. It really could not cope back then, and I dread to think what will happen now, considering it cannot be expanded, and more people are travelling now versus 2011/12.