Sir, – On Tuesday some friends and I found ourselves discussing Ryanair’s recently introduced “random” seating initiative. A few of those present are regular users of Ryanair’s service, travelling frequently every year, mainly to Spain or Portugal.
We were all agreed that we invariably changed seats after take-off to facilitate fellow travellers who had been “inadvertently” separated because of the new policy, and also to facilitate ourselves. Because of this in-flight migration there is a lot of confusion in the aisle after landing as passengers in Row 14 try to retrieve overhead baggage from Row 6 while those in Row 6 try to retrieve their bags from the bins over Row 14, and so on throughout the aircraft. This, we decided, would inevitably affect aircraft turnaround times, costing Ryanair more than their new policy was earning.
On Wednesday Ryanair announced their new baggage policy, limiting non-priority passengers (those who have paid more) to one small carry-on bag.
I wonder if the two could possibly be connected. – Yours, etc,
LIAM STENSON,
Knocknacarra,
Galway.