Chance News 111: Difference between revisions

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by John von Radowitz, ''Irish Independent'', 30 June 2017  
by John von Radowitz, ''Irish Independent'', 30 June 2017  


Ryanair insists customers who do not want to pay for a preferred seat
Ryanair is a low-cost Irish airline.  This [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryanair Wikipedia entry] notes
are randomly allocated one free of charge.
that they have often faced criticism for misleading advertising.
Scientists at Oxford University were asked to investigate the randomness
of the airline's seating arrangements for the BBC consumer affairs
programme, 'Watchdog'.
Four groups of four non-seat reserving passengers were sent on four
separate Ryanair flights.


On all the flights, every one of the travellers was allocated a middle seat.
The ''Irish Times'' article considers the airline's policy that passengers who did not wish to pay for preferred seating will be
The researchers calculated that the likelihood of all four travellers
assigned seats "at random."  The BBC consumer affairs programme, 'Watchdog' asked statisticians at Oxford University to test this claim.
randomly ending up in middle seats on each of the flights was around
The researchers had four groups of four passengers book travel on four
1:540,000,000.
separate flights using Ryanair's random seating option.  On every flight, all the passengers got middle seats.
They estimated the odds of this happening at about 1:540,000,000.
Compare this to the 1:45,000,000 odds of winning the UK National Lottery jackpot


In comparison, the odds of winning the UK National Lottery jackpot were
1:45,000,000.
Dr Jennifer Rogers, director of Oxford University's Statistical
Dr Jennifer Rogers, director of Oxford University's Statistical
Consultancy, said: "This is a highly controversial topic and my analysis
Consultancy, said: "This is a highly controversial topic and my analysis

Revision as of 18:38, 5 July 2017

July 1, 2017 to ...

Quotations

Forsooth

"Random" seat allocation

Ryanair's 'random' seat allocation not random - scientists
by John von Radowitz, Irish Independent, 30 June 2017

Ryanair is a low-cost Irish airline. This Wikipedia entry notes that they have often faced criticism for misleading advertising.

The Irish Times article considers the airline's policy that passengers who did not wish to pay for preferred seating will be assigned seats "at random." The BBC consumer affairs programme, 'Watchdog' asked statisticians at Oxford University to test this claim. The researchers had four groups of four passengers book travel on four separate flights using Ryanair's random seating option. On every flight, all the passengers got middle seats. They estimated the odds of this happening at about 1:540,000,000. Compare this to the 1:45,000,000 odds of winning the UK National Lottery jackpot

Dr Jennifer Rogers, director of Oxford University's Statistical Consultancy, said: "This is a highly controversial topic and my analysis cast doubt on whether Ryanair's seat allocation can be purely random." A bookings form advert on Ryanair's website offering standard seat reservations for £2 says: "Can't stand the middle seat? Don't leave it to chance, take your pick from a choice of seats. Get up to 50pc off reserved seats with prices starting at £2." A statement from Ryanair said:

We haven't changed the random seat allocation policy.

The reason for more middle seats being allocated is that more and more passengers are taking our reserved seats (from just £2) and these passengers overwhelmingly prefer aisle and window seats which is why people who choose random (free of charge) seats are more likely to be allocated middle seats.

Some random seat passengers are confused by the appearance of empty seats beside them when they check-in up to four days prior to departure.

The reason they can't have these window or aisle seats is that these are more likely to be selected by reserved seat passengers, many of whom only check in 24 hours prior to departure.

Since our current load factor is 95pc, we have to keep these window and aisle seats free to facilitate those customers who are willing to pay (from £2) for them.

Submitted by Patrick O'Beirne

Item #2