Families on Ryanair planes have 1 in 17,578 chance of seats in same row
With the low-cost airline charging £4 per seat change, that adds an extra £32 for two parents and two children over the age of 12 on return flights
FAMILIES flying with Ryanair now have a one in 17,500 chance of sitting together if they don’t pay to choose their seats.
With the low-cost airline now charging £4 per seat change, that adds an extra £32 for two parents and two children over the age of 12 on return flights.
Given that the airline now charges from £15 for its extra legroom seats – up from £11, that could be an addition of £120 extra for the return flights.
That’s on top of the new £5 charge per passenger if they want to bring a typical hand luggage-sized suitcase into the cabin.
According to the , the chances of two parents and their teenage child being given neighbouring seats is less likely than winning £100 on the National Lottery.
Research by the newspaper shows that there are more than six million ways of seating the three family members on a 189-seater plane, and just 378 ways of seating them together.
This works out at a 0.006 per cent chance of a seats together - a one-in-17,578 chance.
Last year, the airline sat a hen party in fifteen different rows, despite them checking in four days before their flight.
The Civil Aviation Authority has now announced that it is launching an inquiry into the practise of seating families separately, after angry customers complained.
Their initial findings show that on Ryanair more than one in three families are separated, although the airline denies this.
Furious customers have posted pictures on social media showing how their families have been split up, despite there being rows of empty seats available.
CAA Chief Executive Andrew Hinton warned the watchdog won't hesitate to take actions against rip-off airlines, with the authority writing to 20 airlines to demand an explanation of how their computer systems allocate seats.
Mr Hinton said: "Airline seating practices are clearly causing some confusion for consumers.
"Airlines are within their rights to charge for allocated seats, but if they do so it must be done in a fair and transparent way.
"Our research shows that some consumers are paying to sit together when, in fact, they might not need to.
"We will not hesitate to take any necessary enforcement action should it be required at the end of the review."
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Last year, Ryanair made at least £15million extra by charging passengers to choose seats.
The airline told Sun Online: “Our seating policy is very clear for our customers and seats can be purchased from just £3. Customers who do not wish to purchase a seat are randomly allocated a seat, free of charge. This is entirely a matter of customer choice.
"Any booking with a child (under 12) requires an accompanying adult to take a reserved seat for just £4 and the child is given a free of charge reserved seat."