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

Computer systems can quite easily split up most group bookings as the default but apply criteria (such as the age of a passenger) and in that case sit the party together. It’s the sort of thing computers are particularly good at.

It's only £20 ffs

Computers are clever- they can do a lot of things!
I'm no expert, I just travel a lot. Happy to be corrected, but I've always presumed it's a 'fear charge' ie Easyjet put everyone with kids together anyway as 1) it's safer in case of a crash and 2) no faffing around at takeoff but if they can rip some people off and make a few extra quid with the fear of not being put with their kids, of course they'll try it on.

Don't risk it. I was on a flight with a mum with 2 children the same age as yours. 2 year old was a few rows away from mum. People did offer to swap seats but they had to stay in the allocated seats for take off and landing.

Don't feel guilty about not doing it either- how mean is it for a company to design a computer system that deliberately splits families up.....
It isn't a system designed to split families up.

It is a system that allows passengers, regardless of their travel companions (or lack of) to book seats according to their requirement and then those who choose not to are slotted into the remaining seats.

It doesn't matter if it's your children, your spouse or a group of friends. If you want your group to be together, book seats.

I like PP suggestion that in the event of a booking containing an under 12, parents should be forced to book seats to make the booking. Why should everyone else be held up or inconvenienced in situations where a chancer's gamble didn't pay off?

And they invariably make a beeline for the line female traveller, presumably because it's assumed we've been socialised to 'be kind' and too bad if that interferes with our own comfort. There are very good medical reasons - two separate ones in fact - why I need an aisle seat, which I'm not inclined to explain to any entitled stranger who cares to ask.

I'm sick of the expectation that I can be shunted around like luggage to suit other people's convenience.

'No' on this occasion is a complete sentence. If more people gave this as a default response, the CFs will stop asking, and the expectation will stop that other passengers will pay for their seat choice.

Or everyone just pays £90 unless they want to pay extra for a seat.

Huh? How can the computer system split families up and simultaneously put them together?
Also if it's capable of 'splitting families' (as opposed to just groups) it can very well charge them extra which is a win-win.
Not shuffle people around ON flights and delay everyone else.

It's not the family being selfish, it's the airline.
In any case, if there was a crash and the plane was on fire and people were rushing to get off, if you have parents rushing the other way to get to their children it's even more dangerous.
I've never paid- and never been separated from my child. Ever.

the problem with kicking people off is that their baggage has to be offloaded too - which takes time on an already delayed flight, then you miss your take off slot, have to wait for another, deal with compensation claims from the rest of the flight...

I can see why that is a last resort. Having some sort of mechanism on the website which forces you to reserve seats when booking with children under a certain age would be sensible.

Absolutely. Make it mandatory for parents of young children to pay on booking to sit next to each other, as @keyboardkat said.

I've travelled loads with Easyjet and never paid to be all together, and we always are! Most recently at the start of this month. I think it helps if you check in as early as possible online.
Don't feel guilty about not doing it either- how mean is it for a company to design a computer system that deliberately splits families up.....
Ignore the people on here telling you to pay; in my experience you will be together even if you don't.

Agree, I said the same earlier.

And as for those posters castigating people for refusing to move for the entitled families, well I ALWAYS pay for my seat, and it is the one I want, and need for various reasons. I will not move. Someone else's problem.

Pay the £20 I'd say

Next to could be behind of next to or in front. Your choice to risk this for £20

'Close to' can mean in the row in front or across the aisle. If you'd be ok with that then it's your risk. They wont give him anymore thought because he's 2 than they would any other child under 12.
My DD is the same age and there's no way she'd be ok on her own sitting in front of me.

How will you solve it if not, expect other people to move? Just pay the money!

For £20 I'd pay.

They consider across the aisle or in front/behind fine as sometimes this is the seat configuration on planes... I flew with my 4&6yos on a 2x2 plane for example!

I don't understand why the airline doesn't just kick people off the flight, or prevent them from booking as PP have said unless they choose a seat if they have children.

This really annoys me. If you want specific seats just pay for them like everyone else!

We paid for our seats recently. A woman got on with her two children (guessing around 3 and 1ish), had not paid for seats and then we all wasted 20 mins whilst the air stewardess tried to persuade people to move so she could sit with her children. I felt under a lot of pressure to move but my son (who is 11 and looks older) has autism and it was his first time on a plane so he wanted a window seat and I needed to sit with him. I had the whole puppy dog eyes and whatever else. Nope I’m not moving. In the end someone did swap with her but for goodness sakes it wasted so much time and faff and we were late taking off. Really irritating.

It would be easy to have children sitting next to parents. Just ensure they have to be flagged up as under a certain age at the time of booking. Then put those children next to their parents - on payment of the fee. Don't allow the booking to be completed without the seat being paid for and secured.

If you can afford to go on holiday, you can afford to pay an additional £20 to be certain.

Save yourself the potential embarrassment of trying to negotiate with other passengers about swapping seats.

It is so incredibly entitled.

surely in the case of a two year old this means next to

Err, no.

Look up the regulations for what 'near' actually means. It could be the row behind it in front or on the other side of the aisle.

I'm afraid it really is a case of factoring this in to the cost of flights, unless you really can afford to be seated separately.

Is it the case that children (and parents) are placed between the emergency exits - somewhere in the middle, far from the exits - so they won’t impede passengers getting out in case of an emergency?