Ryanair pricing... new costs or computer error?
 

Just turned up on BBC news... could be a computer error or a new pricing strategy by O'Leary. Passengers are unable to access a digital boarding pass unless they pay for a seat. With a randomly assigned seat, they could only collect a printed boarding pass at the airport desk.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67613343

It was in The Mail on Sunday (yesterday), page 40.

Ryanair trying it on ...

Does it maybe allow them to push the random assignment of seats as late as possible, keeping more seats unassigned for longer, and thus increasing the chance that someone who is willing to pay will find their preferred seat?

This random seat stuff is a safety issue. Imagine a family on a budget being split up in the cabin. In the event of an evacuation, the father isn't going to go directly to his nearest exit if his family are elsewhere in the cabin, he'll be potentially going against the flow. One day, this will bite someone on the @rse.

Completely agreed. I'm genuinely surprised that the regulators haven't done something about this.

If an operator like this one wants it, it must be bad for you.

I thought that having a policy of children being seated together with accompanying adults was required to get your operator certificate. Another one is that an adult cannot be seated in an exit row if they are responsible for a child on the aircraft (no matter where the child is seated). Of course, having a policy and consistently implementing it are not the same thing.

also worth noting that for these policies, “together” usually includes adjacent seats across the aisle and also in front or behind

Then the regulator needs to start doing some 'Secret Shopper' trials and if the airline is found at fault then they have 7 days to sort, or their operator licence will be revoked.
In the UK we have too many regulators that are in name only, they take the cash but do very little to improve the situation for the people who pay their wages - the UK population.
Ofwat is a prime example of this.

According to the BBC article:

A useful trick (as a pax) in the past was to check in shortly before the check in deadline, because by that time, only the best (most expensive) seats would remain available and you would often get an exit row for free. I guess Ryanair tries to make people check in early by this change.

Yes, it absolutely is a safety issue. The Royal Aeronautical Society have even written about the danger of separating family groups.

But the CAA won't do anything to stop Low Cost Carriers actively separating family groups for their commercial advantage.

https://www.aerosociety.com/news/upd...now-available/

I never have complaints about Ryanair. I simply avoid flying with them! Perhaps more people should consider that option?

Same here, never flown them, but that's why I'm also unable to judge whether this is a serious attempt to shake down their customers for more cash, or whether there is another reason for the observation. My gut feeling says 'Ryanair trying it on' as has been mentioned earlier. They are skating on thin ice, trying to juggle serious safety issues and the boundaries of consumer legislation, or so it appears. On the one hand, sometimes you need a company/person to push the boundaries a bit, but the flip side makes me wonder where the benefit of this particular action is, other than in inflating O'Leary's bank account.

Of course that does not stop a father being with one sibling and a mother being elsewhere in the plane with another. It seems that people will not leave their luggage behind during evacuation and yet it seems they are expected to leave their loved ones. I thought this was identified as a problem in the Manchester aircraft fire and yet...................

I think Ryanair's rationale is that there aren't enough people (daft enough) to buy allocated seating so that revenue stream isn't performing - and some toxic little grey-faced gnome in the accounts department has had a brainwave - to make pax's lives so utterly miserable and fearful by threatening to subject them to lengthy, uncomfortable and hated queues at checkin with the added incentive of worrying if you're going to miss the flight (which is of course also to Ryanair's great financial advantage) thus inducing/co-ercing/bullying/frightening pax into coughing up for the outrageous allocated seating. $$Ker-ching$$
It also shows up the nasty cynical ripoff of charging £20 for an airport-provided boarding pass (perhaps because you've comitted the social crime of not posessing a smartphone) - when this new policy sees them dishing the damn things out en masse for free - so what was the justificaton of the £20 charge, except cynical opportunistic ripoff?

Having originally set off ostensibly trying to make air travel easier and more accessible they have now realised that by means of a total volte-face and turning it nasty and awkward they can extract yet more cash form their long-suffering victims.

What a revolting commercial morality these people have.

When you check in on line you haven't really checked in as the airline doesn't know if you'll show up for the flight, (missed connection, car crash, heart attack, family emergency). You only really check in when you are scanned at the airport, so what is the point of online check in.
I remember when you used to re-confirm a booking 48 hrs before the flight.

The point at which you check in is when you abandon what little chance you might have had of a refund or rebooking should you, for whatever reason, be unable to fly.

So do I and back in those days tickets had coupons which had to be pulled out for each sector.

Nor does it stop adult children (16+?) being seated separately or husband and wife, or people not in a formal relationship. But in all those cases one of them might try to reach the other(s) in case of an emergency. Groups of travelers should be able to be seated together irrespective of the legal relationship. But it will not happen because it is literally one of the most basic sources of income for the airlines now, and not just the lowcost-ers. For example - TK will randomly assigne a seat to their Y passengers, and it *cannot* be changed at all, if so)

Exactly. This is a feature of NeoLiberalism © - defund the regulator to such an extent that there's a snowball's chance... of random or diligent inspections to ensure compliance.

/rant