Why do Ryanair insist that the front and rear cabin seats are unoccupied for takeofff and landing?

Question

The official answer is that it is to balance the aircraft. I find this rather alarming as I have never come across this with other airlines. In any case why are there always empty seats on Ryanair flights? For sure I will not be flying with Ryanair again as it is all a little scary. Perhaps some one can allay my fears with a satifactory explanation.

Answer 1

It is for your own safety. An airline has to make profit, so why would an airline leave empty seats when it could have sold them, The least passengers the more comfort for you anyway. The airline is aware prior  how many bags are to be checked in so if the number of bags is high to begin with then the seats will be removed from their bookings list. It is for safety.  If you were that bothered you should have asked the cabin crew.  

Answer 2

Well this might explain your answer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkKPirksy...

Answer 3

You don't need to leave seats empty to balance the aircraft, so Ryanair is pulling your leg.  There wouldn't be any purpose to those seats if you had to leave them empty!

Other airlines operating the same aircraft have no such rule.  Something is fishy here.

Answer 4

Ryanair is a load of c**p.  Balance the aircraft?? its only a problem if you have extremely overweight people in those seats.

Answer 5

Weight and balance in any aircraft is critical. Each aircraft has a very specific range that the center of gravity must remain within in order for the aircraft to be operated safely. Before every flight, the aircraft's center of gravity location is calculated to make sure it is within limits. If it is too far forward or aft, it can adversely affect the pilot's ability to control the aircraft.

I have never flown on Ryanair. Do they have a Choose-Your-Own-Seat policy similar to Southwest? If that is the case, they block off those rows to make sure passengers sit towards the center of the aircraft to minimize the affect on the aircraft's center of gravity. I have seen Southwest do this in the past on lightly-booked flights. The reason you don't see this on most other airlines is because they can assign seats in such a way to make sure the aircraft's balance is maintained. If Ryanair assigns seats on their flights, they may be concerned that if people see that the first or last few rows are empty, they may try to change seats.

By the way, it can't be good for their bottom line if they are constantly flying with empty seats. Most airlines these days need the aircraft to be 80%-90% full just to break even on the flight.

Answer 6

My local airport( Kerry) only runs Ryanair flights to Stanstedt and I only have bad words to say about them.

Answer 7

I don't know why the front and back seats are left unoccupied, but the reason that there are always empty seats on flights (I think) is because it is a low-cost airline.

The price of a seat goes up as more places become filled, so people will only book a flight with Ryanair whilst prices are down. The more scarce seats become, the more expensive they are.

Answer 8

Isn't Ryanair an Irish charter airline ? Maybe those seats are reserved for leprechauns

Answer 9

Yes it is to balance the aircraft.

If the aircraft is fully booked no seats are blocked since all will be filled. Unlike some airlines, there are no pre allocated seats, so when the aircraft is booked part full it is nescessary to block seats in order to keep pasengers on average towords the middle of the aircraft so the center of gravity is within allowed limits. The actual rules on seat row blocking have been worked out by Boeing and depend on the number of passengers. There are also rules on where disabled passengers can sit, so sometimes seats will be reserved for them. If the crew don't know the exact number of passengers when boarding begins, they may block rows anyway, then unblock them when the final passenger number is known in order to ensure the rules are complied with.

Answer 10

If they're 1900D aircraft, they are correct. This is largely due to the fact that over time, the average passenger has increased in weight slightly. They have two choices: they can do passenger surveys (per route, and seasonally) to justify occupying the seats or they can leave them unoccupied. It may be easier for them to simply leave them empty.