# travelling with children and Ryanair



## pammiedd (20 Mar 2007)

Hi

I plan to take my niece (who is 9 years old) on a trip to see a family member in London and will book with Ryanair.
Does anyone know their policy on the carraige of minors accompanied by soemone other that a parent/guardian?  Would I need to get a letter of consent from my sister (my nieces's mum) and her husband?
According to their website Children under the age of 14 years must always be accompanied on the same reservation by a passenger over 16 years, so I think that covers us.  The reason I am posting is that I rang their customer service number to clarify this but after 20 mins in a call queue gave up!
Thanks in advance guys.

pammiedd


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## Trish2006 (21 Mar 2007)

I know it was 9 years ago but I flew with ryanair from paris with my 9yo brother, no probs.  He had his own passport.


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## gipimann (21 Mar 2007)

As a slight aside, it's useful to know that Ryanair no longer give "free" priority boarding to persons travelling with children.  If you want to get on board first with your niece (and avoid the rugby scrum which usually ensues at boarding time!) you'll have to pay the priority boarding charge for the priviledge!


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## sherib (21 Mar 2007)

Is that a recent change - not giving priority boarding to people with children? When I did a return trip to London a month ago children were still getting priority boarding - that's a bit mean if they've done away with that.

I have a gripe with Ryanair on that subject. I paid for priority boarding both ways, Dublin/London (just to see what it was like) and got it on the outward trip. There was a very civilized queue at Dublin Airport with a clear division between the queues. However, on the return journey from Gatwick it was a single queue. I was refused Priority boarding as "you're not on the system" and a pretty obnoxious woman screamed at me when I asked why not since I had paid for it. I had even phoned Customer Service in London to check I had paid for PB on the return journey and it was confirmed. 

While a little green label PB was stuck to the Dublin Boarding Card, there was nothing on the one I got at Gatwick. I think maybe the check-in person at Gatwick should have put an 'X' on the B.C. and didn't so that was the reason. I was pretty annoyed as I had checked in hours before the flight. I asked the woman who had screamed at me her name and she promptly reversed the badge on her lapel! 

I did phone _Ryanair_ Customer Care on my return to complain and ask for a refund - tho' knowing _Ryanair _the refund process might cancel the refund due . C.C. gave me an address to write to with the complaint but I didn't - part laziness and partly because I decided I wouldn't like to get the nasty woman into trouble in case she was just having a bad day. Anyhow, I got the aisle seat I wanted but I'll know better in future to check the B.C. if I bother with Priority Boarding again.


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## gipimann (21 Mar 2007)

sherib said:


> Is that a recent change - not giving priority boarding to people with children? When I did a return trip to London a month ago children were still getting priority boarding - that's a bit mean if they've done away with that


 
Sherib I've travelled twice with Ryanair since January (Dublin-Cork and Dublin-Bournemouth), and there was no call for "passengers with children first" - I was particuarly aware of it on one flight as I noticed one passenger travelling with 3 young-ish rather active children. She wasn't called forward so just shuffled along with the rest of us plebs who hadn't bought priority!

Neither was there a call for "passengers requiring extra assistance", which used to be a feature. 

I assumed that since they are now charging for priority boarding (even when it doesn't work based on your own experience) they don't give "freebie" priority any more...but I could be mistaken?


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## extopia (21 Mar 2007)

No problem travelling with your niece. No one will ask, or care, whether you are the mother of the child.


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## bacchus (22 Mar 2007)

gipimann said:


> ....you'll have to pay the priority boarding charge for the priviledge!


 
and only available if you travel without lugagge to check-in AFAIK.


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## tosullivan (22 Mar 2007)

I always thought it was a nice gesture from Ryanair to give people travelling with young children priority boarding.
It seems now they just want to make a few extra quid for it and still sound like they are providing a very good service.
I'm travelling with my 2 small kids in June with Ryanair and haven't paid for any PB, but believe me when it comes to the time of calling I'll be going top of the line along with all the rest of them.


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## ragazza (22 Mar 2007)

My parents flew Dublin - Gatwick last week, with PB, and had no problems - no-one else had PB, so they were the first ones onto the plane.

On the way back, in Gatwick they were told that PB was not entered into the system, so they didnt have it (even though they had paid for it).
My parents weren't sure what to do to (since they dont fly that often), but luckily my sister was there and read RyanAir the riot act until they managed to find some evidence that they did in fact have PB.


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## bacchus (22 Mar 2007)

tosullivan said:


> I'm travelling with my 2 small kids in June with Ryanair


 
I travel regularly with 2 small kids on Ryanair..... No priority boarding is not an issue and could be great in fact: wait until everybody gets onboard, then get in with your family.  Leave one kid with one passenger, the other with another passenger,  then find a place for wife and yourself.   They'll have to mind your kids for you .... Though it never works, and people will give you some seats


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## tosullivan (22 Mar 2007)

bacchus said:


> I travel regularly with 2 small kids on Ryanair..... No priority boarding is not an issue and could be great in fact: wait until everybody gets onboard, then get in with your family. Leave one kid with one passenger, the other with another passenger, then find a place for wife and yourself. They'll have to mind your kids for you .... Though it never works, and people will give you some seats


my wife will push her way to the front anyway, regardless

and if not, then I'll let her ahead and we'll follow on behind


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## zag (22 Mar 2007)

Experience with Ryanair has been patchy based on a very small number of flights - leaving from DUB there always seems to be free boarding for people with children, whereas leaving from European airports there has been a single queue, total madness, no priority boarding whether paid for or not.  Chaos in other words.

z


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## Guest127 (22 Mar 2007)

I am travelling with Ryanair to Fuertevenfura soon and I book ONE person with PB. I agree people with children should get PB but wouldn't it be handy just to take out one PB and let that person 'reserve' the required seats. In our case mrs cu is hoping to get on the plane early(iish) and get one of the emergency exit seats with extra legroom. With the new security regulations its almost impossible to go away for a week without checking in one bag. how else would you take toiletries etc? assuming they wont allow them in the carry on bag? so for us anyway it made sense to go for a one and one. one bag  checked and one priority boarding. extra money for ryanair of course.


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## Marcecie (22 Mar 2007)

I travelled from Stanstead to Dublin with Ryan Air last week had PB and no problems. I noticed they let people with children on straight after the PB.


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## extopia (23 Mar 2007)

cuchulainn said:


> wouldn't it be handy just to take out one PB and let that person 'reserve' the required seats....



Handy if it works. But personally I'd not stand for this - if I like the "reserved" seat I'd sit down. Some people take this kind of thing a bit far. It's Ryanair after all, and if I you can't reserve a seat online or at check-in, I'm certainly not going to let someone ahead of me in the queue preclude me from a "good seat." Especially if I'm travelling with kids myself!

It's a bit like those people on buses and trains who place their bags on the seat next to them to try to discourage people from sitting down. Personally I make a point of making straight for those seats!


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## Guest127 (24 Mar 2007)

dont entirely disagree with you. have boarded aircraft in the past ( holiday flights ) where families with children were boarded first. and when we boarded the 'kids' were all strung out in the first 15 rows saying the seats beside them were taken. If you are on the same flight to fuertevenfura in a few weeks ( unlikely) I'll let you take on mrs cu  . 
for whats its worth before this priority board malarky mrs cu and myself were probably the last to board as neither of us could be bothered entering the scrum. but by good luck we always wound up together  sometimes with two aisle seats and sometimes  actually together. the aisle seats can be the best as a lot of the time you can stretch out.


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## tosullivan (24 Mar 2007)

I booked my flights back in October to fly in June and I paid a charge of €4.50 per person per flight for each bag to be checked in.  I noticed since that not also have they lowered the 20kg per person allowance but have also increased the charge to €6 per person per flight.

Will I get charged extra when I go to check in as I wouldn't put it past them?

Now that I've already booked online at the time, priority boarding wasn't available as far as I know, but is there a way I can get it?


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## Trish2006 (26 Mar 2007)

I travelled to england with a 1 yo last december.  In dublin we just went up and there were a few people priority boarding (had never heard of it at that stage) and then we got on. On the way back it seemed that 90% of the plane had priority boarding (which kind of negates the advantage) and I was standing at the front with a very heavy 1 yo in my arms for what seemed like an eternity.  I was nearly hoping we wouldn't get seats together so he could scream for his Daddy the whole flight, just to make a point.  We did get seats together but at the front of the plane while the toilet with the changing table was at the back.  So the whole flight got to smell that nappy as I queued behind the drinks trolley to get to the back.

I'm booked to paris in a few weeks, without baby, and could only choose PB if travelling without bags.  That does make it difficult for families if they don't even have a choice about paying for PB and it's just not on to have a 2 and 3 yo separated from parents.  As an earlier poster said, people will just move for you so why not save all the hassle and just let the families on first anyway.


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## Brooklyn (26 Mar 2007)

cuchulainn said:


> how else would you take toiletries etc? assuming they wont allow them in the carry on bag?



You are allowed to bring toiletries in the carry-on bag, in limited quantities. Details are on the airlines' websites.


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## sherib (26 Mar 2007)

Hi Trish,

You can book priority boarding by phoning _Ryanair _Customer Services. Just make sure P.B. is indicated on the boarding card for both legs (a green label at Dublin Airport) and I don't know what on return journeys. I was refused P.B. returning from Gatwick because it wasn't indicated on the Boarding Card. 



> If I have baggage to Check-in can I purchase a Priority Boarding Pass?
> 
> From the 1st November 2006, passengers travelling with checked baggage who are unable to use the Online Check-In service will be able to purchase a Priority Boarding Pass for just €3/£2 (or local currency equivalent) per passenger/per one way flight either at the airport or through a Ryanair call centre (up to a limit of 60 passengers per flight). Once at the boarding gate, on time, these passengers will then enjoy priority boarding, allowing them their choice of seats on-board. This service will be particularly advantageous for families.


 
*Ireland *0818 30 30 30 National rate

[broken link removed]


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