Just to remind you that there are NO emergency exits on row 15. The emergency exits are on rows 16/17.
As for more leg room, there is more leg room in rows 1ABC, 2DEF and 16/17. Get a priority boarding ticket and you'll get first in the a/c and then you can sit wherever you please.... As for blocking the rows.. There are only 2 simple rules wich pax like some on this thread believe crew are blocking rows just for fun (sense the sarcasm) : if there is a less number of pax than the capacity of the a/c the crew will block off rows 1 to 6 and 29 to 33, or only row 3 and 4 FOR THE WEIGHT AND BALANCE OF THE A/C FOR TAKE OFF AND LANDING!!!!!!
So before you b!tch and moan ask yourself "maybe there could be a reason for this?"

Respect,
ATS

Why don't other airlines, particularly those that have a higher service class up front, ever seem to block out the front/back rows then?

Ryanair use a load and balance system based on the number pax carried. Under certain conditions rows 3 and 4 are blocked; with other loads the first 6 etc are blocked.

Other carriers will use allocated seating and the computer will distribute the load to maintain the balance within acceptable limits. The only difference is you will never see that bit.

Why don't other airlines, particularly those that have a higher service class up front

Derek

If you take a BA flight on a lightly loaded 767 around Europe, you will often find that the economy pax are allocated seats at the very rear of the aircraft, leaving only the Club pax up front and lots of free seats in between.

Obviously the premium pax expect to receive the service they paid for, which includes seats with extra legroom, so the computer seats them in the club designated rows and then moves the Y pax rearward to achieve an acceptable balance.

As the real Slim Shady says, it is often not so noticeable on other aircraft, although I do remember travelling on a Czech Airlines 737-500 where I was the only pax in business and all the pther pax were shoehorned into seats rear of the over wing exits. It looked very strange.

Back from my trip to Sweden. To confirm, FR are not charging for exit seats, and tbh, I couldn't see any outward signs that they are going to be. I meant to ask a member of CC but didn't really deem it particularly important.

What I did find interesting was that the plane I had on the outbound sector had seat pockets in front, yet the return sector plane didn't. The seats were made of different material also. Is one plane newer than the other, or in a state of refurbishment?

the aircraft with the seat pockets are the older model 800's the newer models have the pockets removed

They do.

Travelled in one of the last weeks on the BMI Inverness to Heathrow route, scheduled for an A319, economy only as much of BMI is nowadays. We got allocated seats scattered around the cabin as flight was "full up", which didn't seem to gel with only about 45 pax in the departure lounge.

One of the ex-BMed A320s had been substituted. Larger aircraft but has a big First Class section, which nobody was allowed in, goodness knows why not. To maintain Weight & Balance the rear about 8 rows of economy had nobody seated there either. Everyone squashed in 6-across abeam the centre of gravity.

For this we had paid getting on for 6 or 8 times what Ryanair typically charge for a sector of comparable length.

So let me get this straight. Ive got one leg, a patch over one eye, i cant read and am obese. If i book my flight and check in online and pay my €15 for the emergency exit seat, will I still be allowed to take it? After all, screw safety I did pay for the seat!

I have complained a few times in the past about the kind of people airlines let sit in the emergency exit rows. If (and it does happen) crash land, do you have the confidence in the 80 year old woman open the exit!?

Emergency exit seats are occupied by an ABP (able bodied person) someone who is capable of opening them in case of emergency and this is a safety regulation, I presume airlines would clearly state the terms and conditions of occupying these seats before you purchase them.

Regardless of how an airline markets the emergency exit seats with supplementary charges or not, I am pretty certain that the conditions of who actually sits in them (able-bodied etc) and how the FAs enforce this (including pax moving to them after doors closed) will be incorporated in their SOPs, which in turn will be incorporated and signed off in their AOC, so it is something the Irish regulatory authority will be responsible for overseeing.

I've mentioned it before...

As a frequent flyer I have noticed an increasing trend in the last 2-3 years or so of unsuitable passengers (elderly/huge/children) being seated at Emergency Exit seats with no action taken by cabin crew to intervene - and I belive this is solely due to the selling of these seats at a premium by certain airlines, even some legacy carriers do it now. I think that the "business" of selling off these seats at a premium is a safety issue and should be stopped by the aviation regulators worldwide. Any airline that does this is not interested in your safety onboard the flight, money is more important to them...

Regards SD.

skydriller, funny you should mention that. Before the whole "pay for emergency exit seating" trend started, and you asked for an emergency exit seat at check-in, the check-in staff would size you up first and check whether you were suitable.

On certain flights I've had the situation where CA's would do a call for any other passengers who would like to switch seats for an emergency exit row (usually AF flights) because a pax in an emergency exit seat was not suitable for the required actions (or was not willing to perform the actions). Then it'd be a mad scramble for a while until everyone was settled again.

That kind of discretion by check-in staff has to return for emergency exit seating... I'm capable, and I'm happy to pay for the privilege.

S.

No, it´s nothing new, no Ryanair invention. Vueling and Clickair in Spain do it for a long time. Pay if you want the row 1, and wing rows. And Clickair, even aisle rows in front cost more.

Anti Ryanair
 

Why are you all so anti Ryanair! they offer a dirt cheap service that is aimed at the very bottom end of the market........ in short you only get what you pay for.

Ryanair is a cr*p way to fly, but you pay next to nothing for a ticket, as long as the aircraft are maintained and flown within the regulations you have no grounds for slagging them off.

I will not fly with the for the very reasons outlined above and becuase in my view other airlines offer better value for money (not cheaper) flights.

Remember Low cost should be called Low service!

I have no issue with FR at all. I would happily use them, and indeed probably happier at using them than I would be taking a BA flight. Cost is all that matters to me, and until I see evidence that my ultimate safety is jeapardised by cost cutting measures, FR, ezy and the other lowcos will always get my business.

Flew LPL to DUB and back this week with Ryanair. First things first...... It cost me £18 return, all in!! I would stand all the way for that price.
Pros: On time, no frills, friendly staff, exit seat on return flight at no extra cost, on line check in meant priority boarding. No checked bag reduced fare, CHEAP!!
Cons: Security scanner could not read my boarding card printout at LPL and I had to run back to check-in for duplicate only JUST making the flight. A granny would not have made it. Short flight so didn't have time for a 6.30am beer.
What is the problem here? If you don't like the service, exercise your consumer rights and use another airline. I don't like MOL's way of doing things either, but my car park cost more than the flight for goodness sake...

I've flown with them over 10 times over the past few months, most recently to Madrid. They don't seem to 'do' the typical low cost thing there - first time I've ever seen/used a jetbridge attached to a Ryanair aircraft! Most of the time, the bus fare to the airport was more expensive than the flight (which I pointed out to the driver!).

I can't understand the anti-Ryanair comments in this thread. I have flown over 60 sectors with them over the last three years and have very little to be critical of. And on the "Ryanair-vs-easyJet" issue, the only way in which easyJet, on which I've flown at least 20 sectors over the same period, offers a better service, in my opinion, is that boarding passes can be printed well in advance (with Ryanair, any trip of more than five days' duration will necessitate OLCI at your destination - not always easy - assuming that you want to avoid checking in at the airport, which I do!).

Seat62K, if you routinely have to schlep about the amount of equipment I do, you will soon tire of RyanAir's shenanigans.

Suddenly flights that are a penny cheap become rather expensive. and no, my equipment cannot be made lighter. It is already as light as possible.

S.