Ryanair Seats?

Just to put this one to bed, it is DEFINTELY to do with trim. I dispatched EI-CSR out of LBA this morning with 111 passengers, and this was the case. There is a certain passenger number that when it goes under the set number, the blocking off occurs. I think one of the main reasons they do it is because unlike airlines with assigned seating, Ryanair don’t know how many pax they have in bay A,B,C etc, so this is another way to control the trim. (Don’t quote me on that!)

Si – Yeah I have noticed that they have very little control over pax, they should have someone stood under the wing directing pax or a pig which is the best solution.

I’ve probably done 10 or so flights with FR where they’ve blocked the first and last few rows off and I always assumed it was for trim purposes.

Si, there’s nothing unusual about people wandering around while boarding a Ryanair aircraft! I actually used to love doing that when they still operated the old ‘200’s. It’s amazing just how big a JT8D is when you’re stood right next to it!

After landing in DUB last year a gentleman decided it would be nice to have his travel companion get a photo of him leaning on the nosewheel door! It was quite amusing to see 8 or so ground staff run over to inform him he shouldn’t be doing that!

Paul

It probably has nothing to do with the CofG. More likely that they charge for the front row seating.

Nope, it is to do with balance as has been said. They have been blocking off rows of seats for years, generally the first 5/6 and last 5/6 rows.

It probably has nothing to do with the CofG. More likely that they charge for the front row seating.

Most aircraft that I’ve ever worked on over the years have had this trim issue quite regularly depending on the pax and freight loads, the 737 as in this case being especially prone to it.

I recently did a very quiet, early LHR MAN flight on a 757 with rows 1-17 blocked out, and on the 1-11 we had to check before every take-off that we had the correct number of people sitting in each ‘bay’. Bay 1 being rows 1 to 5, bay 2 being rows 6 to 10, etc.

I’ve never seen rows physically roped off, but then I’ve never worked or travelled on aircraft with free seating. With allocated seating the seats are removed from the check-in system so that they are not available, then we check during boarding that people don’t change seat. Usually it’s only a problem during take-off, so people can change seats once airborne.

Also just to clarify, the seats aren’t actually blocked for sale.

1L.

Thanks for the reply guys…..the CofG theory is odd as I have never known this before on any other airline, surely if the aircraft had a CofG snag then it would be much easier to assign seating and therefore free up more seats at the front and rear to allow more pax on the aircraft? Also when any aircraft is in the design phase all possible loading senarios are worked through regarding loading, pax, luggage and freight distribution so that the end user (the customer) knows that any combination of the above will be compensated by trim / alternate distribution, ie freight / luggage drirtibuted to compensate for pax loading. Really strange that the low cost model is to try and fill your aircraft, yet they block seats. They might as well operate 737-700’s.

Si

I believe it’s quite a common practice with Jetstar and Virgin Blue

It might be because they have a problem with one of the doors. The M.E.L. allows you to fly with a door blocked off as long as you reduce the passenger load accordingly and physicaly rope off that amount of seats nearest to the door. The defect might not be the door it’s self ,it might be a defect with the door slide. Then the M.E.L. says that you TREAT the door as in operative. Obviously you can still use the door for bording, catering etc.
I personaly have not seen seats roped off for a Cof G problem on a big aircraft. Seen it loads of times on turbo props though, so I won’t discount that either!
No matter why it was done it’s an expensive way of flying an aircraft!

Rgds Cking

The lads are right it’s all to do with weights and balances

Last time i was on a flight where they did this the crew were explaining to passengers that it was for aircraft balance for take-off and landing and i have also heard its something to do with fuel saving if more weight is distributed around the C.O.G of the aircraft.

I dont think ive been on a Ryanair flight that didnt have this. Only exception was one STN-DUB where we were full. They used the tray tables to “rope it off”

I bet its because the cabin crew want to be able to chat without customers over hearing them lol!

Last time i was on a flight where they did this the crew were explaining to passengers that it was for aircraft balance for take-off and landing and i have also heard its something to do with fuel saving if more weight is distributed around the C.O.G of the aircraft.