Ryanair Chief Marketing Officer Kenny Jacobs admitted in a press conference today that the airline sometimes splits up passengers who haven’t reserved seats.
However, this is not done intentionally, he says, or because of any change in the seat algorithm.
Instead, it is because certain seats are more desirable for those booking ahead – so Ryanair have started to “hold” them.
“We want to keep certain seats available for people who might want to purchase.”
For instance, a party of three adults might be travelling together without having reserved seats.
Previously, they may have been automatically assigned to a particular row together.
Now, if two were allocated to a particular row which already has a reserved aisle seat, the other may be placed in the next available seat in the row behind.
Some 50 per cent of Ryanair passengers now pay extra to reserve their seats, said Jacobs.
The other 50 per cent get seats allocated automatically – but, as explained, this may have consequences of being split up.
Jacobs denied the airline would ever intentionally separate people out via an algorithm.
“Do we have an algorithm to separate out people? No. We don’t even have time to think about doing that,” he said.
He also reminded of Ryanair’s policy of giving free reserved seats to children under 12 with their parents.
This is guaranteed by a €4.00 fee paid by an adult to secure the seating.
The media attended the press conference to hear about Ryanair’s UK business and current issues, hosted by Ryanair’s CMO.
During the conference, Jacobs also confirmed Ryanair will fly from the UK after Brexit.
However, he added that there is a catch – what do you think it is?
