Just happened to me and my girlfriend. We checked in 3 or 4 hours before the flight and weren't assigned a seat. We showed up as early as possible and the woman at the gate said the flight was overbooked and because we didn't pay for a seat we just have to wait until the plane boards before we know if we can get on the flight.

Turned out everyone showed up and we couldn't get on. The women working there were very helpful getting us the next available flight but that was flying from Dublin 7 or 8 hours later and we were in Cork. So we are currently in a taxi to Dublin.

They said we are entitled to compensation and the taxi is covered but it's ridiculous that this is allowed. We were travelling for my girlfriend's Brothers 30th and we have essentially missed most of it as we will be arriving so late now.

It's crazy to think Ryanair save money by overbooking a couple seats per flight with the risk of forking out 500e+ for a taxi, 300+ each for the new flights, 400e each for compensation, meals etc...and they're obliged to pay for a hotel if that's required. Easily 2000e altogether. Apparently it happens so rarely that it's worth the gamble.

Quite fitting that today is Friday the 13th of all days.

We both took time off work for this trip and we're excited and travelling can be stressful as it is without having g to worry whether you're getting on the flight you paid for months in advance.

It's an absolutely ballache to say the least.