To not pay to choose seats but expect to sit together?

We've chosen not to pay for seat selection on our trip this summer. It may only be £10 per flight, but we have a connecting flight and there are four of us, so £160 total to choose seats.

In our case though, the children are 11 and 7 and the flights are short ones. If we end up with two pairs of seats that's fine for an hour long flight. Within each pair of seats, across the aisle wouldn't be the end of the world, and if we end up with one pair being in front/behind each other I'd be willing to gamble someone would be happy to swap as long as we were willing to give up the "better" of the allocated seats. Failing that, it's not the end of the world.

I must admit I might well pay the fee if it was just two seats and I was traveling with a toddler though!

Just because seats are greyed out doesn’t mean they are all pre booked.

When you check in you don’t see the plan anyway, they are auto allocated.

@ZiriForEver

Airline has a duty and can't expect the passengers to pay extra/do anything extra for the duty to be fulfilled.

I think the problem is many don't really understand what that duty (i.e. legal obligation) really is...it's actually (UK case) not a lot, as per the UK CA guidance I posted a while back.

We go 2 days before school breaks up and about half the plane was pre booked.

I didn’t prebiok but checked in 30 days before and we all got seats together.

I wouldn’t risk it if most of the plane was booked though.

I also think it’s best to view it as there’s a discount for not wanting to choose seats

I think it's ridiculous to charge for keeping groups who have booked together (especially with small children) seated together. We have paid and resented it as we don't care where we sit, but wanted to be with our children.

My sister got caught out in Easyjet with her two tiny ones and flying alone when they cancelled her flight (on which she had pre booked) and put her on a new one but, by then, she couldn't select her seats and they put her 2 year old miles away, but then told her off for not having pre booked as she couldn't be that far from her- she had tried to sort as soon as they put her on that flight, at check in and at the gate - she was totally humiliated as the captain had to come out to sort it. To add insult to injury she never got the refund for the seats she had paid for on the cancelled flight.

For £20 I'd just pay but think it's a stupid policy.

Depends when you're going. We go the day after the kids break up for the 6 weeks. I looked the other day and they'd not only changed the aircraft to a larger one but I'd say 90% of the seats were greyed out. Online check in only opened today as well so 90% of the plane has paid to prebook their seats.

I’m always really glad we are a group of three (Dd, ds and me), so that no one is likely to be asking us to swap seats, as no one else will be in our row to make it an issue.

Wouldn’t be swapping anyway though (say if I’m alone) as I need an aisle, pay for an aisle, and will be sitting in the aisle seat (I’m very claustrophobic).

Contact EasyJet customer service to discuss the arrangements. Plus you’ll need a car seat for your 2 year old.

Nonsense.
Airline has a duty and can't expect the passengers to pay extra/do anything extra for the duty to be fulfilled.

Paying for places is about seats objectively (more space) or subjectively (window view) more desirable. If the only "preference" is to be close to toddler, but ok with any seats, it is on them. If the airline decided to not resolve their duty during booking process/seat assignment process, it is on them to resolve.

Anyway, with EasyJet's 30 days in advance check-in, it shouldn't be an issue.

I really would pay the money - it’s just not worth the risk. As others have said, “next to” has a very wide definition which can include in front or behind as well as across the aisle.

Please don’t rely on other people swapping with you if this happens, it’s not fair on them - people who’ve paid to be with family, or for the seat they want/ need shouldn’t be put in that position.

Its horrible for your child if they’re not next to you, and you can’t be assured they will be if you don’t pay for it.

I want to choose which seats I sit in. I don't care if I have to pay more for that.

If you don't care, don't pay <shrug>

This!

Airlines should remove the parents if they’re not prepared to sit in the seats they’ve been given (because they didn’t pay to guarantee different ones).

Customers who have paid should not be moved around for others who chose not to.

The whole “you’ll move for me and my child because the stewards can make you” should be applied to the people who won’t sit down, not the people who won’t do someone else a favour.

That’s the only way in which the airlines are unreasonable IMHO. If the rule is that we pay, then they should take action and enforce accordingly. Not penalise people who are actually complying with the rules that the airline has set.

if i have to pay i wont move i dont care what the crew say i book a certain seat for a reason

also its not just low cost airlines BA also charge you for booking seats

easyJet makes on average £4-£5 profit per passenger carried, but since they carry upwards of 60 million passengers per year they're doing ok.

The extras certainly do count though.

On a flight we were on to Cyprus a mum assumed she would be sat with her four kids plus baby. She boarded and created hell when she realised that not paying to be sat together literally meant her kids aged from teens to pre schoolers wouldn't be sat with her. The baby under 2 was but in the end some passengers moved round so she was as close as possible to them. Delayed the flight and made us miss our departure time:

Good.

If enough people who have paid to sit together get moved around, people will say fuck that noise and stop paying to choose their seats and hopefully this stupid idea will be scrapped.

They can't throw people off a flight for not paying for an optional extra, don't be ridiculous.

This! More fool the idiots who pay this stupid charge.

Lots of people who think that charging for extras is a necessity for airlines to operate. The article below suggests otherwise.

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-11984505/EasyJet-lifts-profit-expectations-demand-travel-booms.html

Ryanair!

It's not club class service sitting next to your children.
Yes I've flown Wizz Air to long distance Singapore Airlines biz class and everything in between- it really isn't a perk to sit next to your own children....it's just a wheeze from the airlines to scam more money out of you. Check in early on Easyjet and you won't need to pay it.

Exactly what everyone with common sense does…..

*middle section