1 yr. ago • 93%

Will I be able to get on the flight if I don't pay to select a seat?

So I've looked at flights and unfortunately ryanair is the only airline that does the flights at a reasonable time on the days I need/want to travel on.

I get to starting the process past just looking at prices and discover that I have to pay minimum £8 to select a seat so I can check in 60 days before the flight. Otherwise, I can only check in 24h before the flight. I don't typically travel short-haul flights so I'm not very good with budget airlines and how they work, hence why I'm here.

My question is: Will I be able to get on the flight if I don't pay the £16 (since it's 2 flights) to check in early? I know airlines overbook their flights and so I fear I'll get to checking in 24h before the flight but everyone who's paid to select seats will have taken all the seats and I'll not have a seat at all.

12 comments

Your ticket entitles you to a seat, even if you don’t pick it yourself. You’ll just likely get stuck with a less desirable seat like a middle seat.

27
- Thank you! It's only a 2h flight so I don't mind
  
  9
  
  Yeah this is usually a ploy directed at people who travel in a group and want to sit together. For a solo traveler it makes no difference.
  
  10
Ryanair no longer overbooks flights and in my experience just assigns you random seats (next to each other if you booked multiple tickets). If in doubt just contact their customer support.

9
- Oh that's very good to hear thank you for linking that!
  
  1
I'm from Europe so my experiences are mostly from here:

My experience is that if you check in immidiately when you can and being at the airport early enough will be enough to get on. It's usually the late bees that get notified of overbooking issue.

Just check in asap when it becomes available and be at the airport early enough to be at the top of the line during boarding. I always check in 24/48 hours before the flight and have only once been notified of overbooking and possibility of not getting onboard. I immidiately went through security and was waiting for boarding close to the gate - got in.

Edit: also have only once selected seats in advance, didn't do so on Ryanair flight.

4
- Was it recent that you used ryanair and didn't select seats?
  
  1
  
  Have to admit that no, haven't used Ryanair since 2019 sorry :(
  
  1
No experience with Ryanair specifically, but airlines do oversell their flights. That said, if you check in as soon as you are able, right at 24 hours before, you should be ok. The people who run into trouble are the ones who wait to check in until they get to the airport.

2
The ticket reserves your place in the flight, they just want folks to pay more to sit up front or with people that they are traveling with.

1

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