Lifestyle
‘Woman Refused To Move For My Crying Son After Ryanair Double Booked His Seat’
“How can something like this happen?”
A boy was left “inconsolable” for an entire 2.5-hour flight home from Budapest to Manchester after he realized he wasn’t getting his window seat. After booking for the budget airline Buzz, the family paid an extra fee to book their seats. But a woman appeared to be seated there, showing the exact same reservation for the window seat.
Ryan Bandli’s mother, Adi, shared that his son was “very reactive” and the window seat would help calm him down.

Ryanair claimed that it was a “computer glitch” that cause the seat to be double booked and had refunded Adi the reservation cost. Despite the relatively short flight, the little boy wasn’t having any of it. Adi spoke with The Mirror, “Ryan was really upset and anxious and he cried. He didn’t understand how this could happen. We sat separately and it was really stressful.”
“How can something like this happen?”
The family ended up sitting separately with another woman seated near the window instead.

Flights on Ryanair generally randomize the seat for you unless you fork over an extra fee for a seat which ranges between £15 and £30 depending on the location of the seat. Ryan’s mom explained, “Ryan likes to sit next to the window. It calms him down a bit and he likes to lean his head against the wall.”
But noticing that he won’t be getting the seat he wanted seemed to have saddened him as his mother continued, “My poor child was crying. People gave him sweets and were so kind.”
Ryanair has further explained that per the CAA, adults are required to be seated near the emergency evacuation door, which meant that Ryan wasn’t eligible.

Adi received a reply from Ryanair’s spokesperson after constantly demanding their explanation, “The CAA requires that UK airlines have procedures to ensure that customers are seated where, in the event that an emergency evacuation is required, they may best assist and not hinder evacuation from the aeroplane.”
“Only those customers who appear reasonably fit, strong and able to assist the rapid evacuation of the aeroplane in an emergency should be allocated seats that permit direct access to emergency exits.”
But according to Adi, they weren’t seated on the emergency exit row. The spokesperson continued, “This Buzz passenger’s seat was not sold twice; this misunderstanding was as a result of an isolated IT glitch. Unfortunately, as the flight was fully booked, there were no other window seats available.”
“Buzz regrets the inconvenience caused to Ms. Bandli and her son and a member of our customer services team will contact them directly.”
