Safety probe into Ryanair's £10 charge for emergency exit seats

Ryanair is under investigation by safety watchdogs after refusing to let passengers use seats by emergency exits unless they fork out an extra £10.

These seats are often empty on the budget airline because travellers won’t pay for what amounts to a few extra inches of legroom.

However, despite banning travellers from these more comfortable seats, Ryanair still expects passengers in surrounding rows to follow directions on how to open these doors in an emergency.

The Irish Aviation Authority is investigating concerns that the travellers who are expected to man these doors in an emergency are not allowed to sit in these seats during the flight.

The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) also expressed concerns about the policy’s safety implications.

The UK regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority said the issue was a ‘grey area’ and suggested Ryanair review its policy.

Since Ryanair introduced the rule, passengers who have not paid £10 extra are told they can sit anywhere but the first four rows and the emergency exit rows in the middle of the plane. 

It has resulted in hundreds of flights with the emergency exit rows empty.

Last night one passenger told of a flight from Bratislava to London Stansted where he was asked to ensure he knew how to open a door he could not even see.

The passenger said: ‘I wasn’t allowed to sit in the emergency exit row so I sat in the window seat in the row in front. Before take-off, one of the cabin crew spoke to me and another passenger who was in the aisle seat.

‘Basically she was saying that, since we were the closest to the emergency exit, we’d have to make sure we’d read and understood the instructions for opening the doors in the middle of the plane in an emergency.

‘I said I couldn’t even see the door because it was directly behind my back and suggested it would be a lot easier for the people expected to man the doors if they were allowed to sit in the same row as the doors.

‘She said those seats could only be used by people who had paid extra.’

The passenger added: ‘It just seemed ludicrous and mean-spirited. Obviously they’d rather punish passengers for not paying extra than ensure there’s someone readily at hand to man the emergency exit. Surely that’s a safety issue.’

Last night, Stephen McNamara, head of communications for Ryanair, said: ‘We do not believe this to be an issue as all Ryanair passengers are provided with the same safety and evacuation information. We will continue to discuss the matter with the IAA.’

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