Plane seats - refused to swap

That's awful OP, I would have been so upset ☹️ can't believe they happily sit small children on their own! And next to strange men as well, I don't care if I look controlling.

Also had I been on that flight I'd have happily swapped with you, what is wrong with people preferring to sit next to a lone child?

Me too!!

but the worst we flew was whizz air. DS and I were travelling home from Rome. They wouldn’t let us sit together because we didn’t pay extra. Fair, I thought. He’s a teen so not really bothered. He plugs into his headphones and doesn’t say a peep on a flight anyway. But the lady he was sat next to? Was the daughter of the doddery old lady I got sat next to! They just split groups up on purpose in order to make you pay extra to choose next time. At least easyJet will stick you together if you check in and there’s space together. Whizz air have just got a shit ‘let’s purposely split them’ policy’. Probably this message will now be deleted based on pps saying their messages have disappeared. Anyway we obviously swapped and she got to be next to her elderly mum and I got to sit next to a teen who barely acknowledged me..

anyways, all this is not addressing the issue and apologies OP, I have been just as bad as the awful pps who are chuntering on about how it’s your fault because you didn’t pay to sit together. You have done no wrong and I feel for you (and I personally think the people who could see you distressed but still ignored you were utter arseholes). sometimes shit happens and you can’t check in. This used to happen regularly with DS’s last passport. It meant we had to go on standby couple of times as we could only check in at the airport (not the incident I referred to with whizz air). I get it. What I don’t get is why pps have been so unpleasant with blaming you snd and not tried to answer your question.

I haven’t answered your question either- sorry! But as an ex travel agent- if you can get hold of the airline and prove you are you, even without your booking reference (eg they will now already have your passport deets as you travelled outbound on the same booking), you should be able to discuss the issue with them. Good luck. And double good luck with being married to your DH - as that’s going to be a long and arduous thing if he won’t let you get involved in something as simple as a flight booking (I’m married to one of those but at least he leaves the travel arrangements to me considering my past career!)

I suppose he might have thought it was an error when he saw empty seats together and couldn't get them without paying. Years ago you could so long as you had waited until check in.

Nowadays, with Ryanair at least, you can't and they make a thing of making sure you don't sit together if you haven't paid and still won't pay on check in.

Tell him you're doing it, and not to be such an arsehole 😀

I book my seats when I book my tickets. Then I know i am getting what I need. I would not wait until it is cheaper and run the risk of not getting what I want.

You pay for seats together when you book. You pick the seats at the same time as booking so you can always pick seats next to each other for you and the kids and put your husband on his own at the back.

And, yes, I'm sure things can happen but they will be very, very, rare and you empower your daughter to shout "don't touch me there" if they do.

My kids are older teens/adult now and we don't care where we sit for short haul flights so I dont pay extra at booking any more to guarantee seats together.

Here is my anecdata:

Easyjet, BA etc, when we check in, I skip past the choose (and pay) for specific seats and 9.8/10 times we get allocated seats in a clump (there are 5 or 6 of us travelling normally) either 2/3 in one row and 2/3 in row behind, or across the aisles. We have never had people in between us. With Easyjest, which we use sometimes up to 4/5 times a year, we 100% of the time have been seated together as above (not that we care any more).

When we used to fly on Ryan Air (I wont go anywhere now that involves a Ryanair flight), they would ALWAYS dot us around. With Wizz, TUI etc, we are normally near in 2 groups, but not as clumped as Easyjet or BA etc.

This leads me to deduce that:

• Most airlines employ an algorithm that will try and sit famillies with kids together if they can.
• This isn't guaranteed though and if the flight is very full there simply may not be enough seats left available to do this.
• if your children are young enough to be bothered about sitting alone, you MUST pay, either at booking, or at timely check_in to be 100% sure of being seated together (as everyone with young children does - except your husband, who gambled to save some money, and lost).
• Cheaper airlines use a less family oriented algorith, or run much fuller planes, and so your odds are 50/50 on any given flight that you might be seperated.
• Here you REALLY MUST pay if you want to be seated together as your odds are lower.
• RyanAir, an airline ran by an absolute arsehole and staffed by vindictive knobs, have an algorithm that WILL specifically seperate you and dot you around if you don't pay, because they can, and because they enjoy it (I kind of admire the lack of fucks they give).
• Here, PAY, or better still, dont go anywhere where only Ryanair flies.

Your husband was clearly lying. It wasn't a computer error, he hadnt paid for allocated seats and then didnt want to. Gambled, and lost.

Check in opens a week or so before the flight. Sounds like he missed checking in and it closed 24hours before flight. He has made the mistake her and he is the only person to blame.

You tell him that you want the booking reference number now to fix it as when he tried, it was a fuck up.

Sorry, but your Dh definitely skimped on cost. You can pay to select your seat at the time of booking OR check-in now opens as early as 30 days before the flight on many airlines and you select (and pay) at that point.

He fucked up. And the likely reason is that he didn’t want to pay.

I’d frankly refuse to fly with him and the children again unless you can see the booking and see that he has preselected the seats. Absolutely no way I would leave things so that my children were not seated with a parent.

Your 'D'H is a controlling arsehole but you could have paid in advance for allocated seating rather than leave things to chance. I do this every time and consider it part of the overall cost. Sometimes it costs £20 per seat, sometimes it's £60+. That's the way it goes. Only once have we been unable to pre-pay for our seat allocation and that was because we booked at the absolute last minute and had to take what was available.
If I've paid in advance for my seat, no way will I swap. We choose our seats for a reason.

I pay for the seats I want when I book the holiday & honestly I wouldn't haved swapped with you either.

I imagine it's incredibly unlikely you are going to get any better seats than what you had on the way out as most people booked their seats months ago.

Sorry but you need to pay to sit together when you book the holiday.

The H is a dick but the people who refused to move aren't.
Why should they move because OP's dick of a husband didn't want to pay for seats together?
Those people most likely paid for aisle or window seats and so they should swap to a shitty middle seat because other people didn't want to pay? No way.

Just out of interest I went online and went through all the booking steps for a flight I'm taking later in the week, right up to the point where the seat map appeared. The flight is quite full already and because check in hasn't started yet that means these are all people who have paid to choose a seat. There are lots of rows where the window and aisle have been booked and the middle seat is free. No one wants to sit in the shitty middle seat if they don't have to. A lot of those seat bookings will be people travelling alone but more and more couples are now booking window and aisle because there's been loads of "travel hacks" about doing that in the hope that the middle will remain free.
What this means is that when people come to check in 48 hours before the flight they will find a few pairs of seats together towards the back of the plane and lots of middle seats. The first ones to check in will be able to grab seats together but anyone else who doesn't check in as soon as it opens will be left with middle seats and that means there could be families in the same situation as the OP's family. If they wouldn't pay to sit together it's tough luck and they can ask to swap but shouldn't be surprised if people refuse to move to a middle seat or to somewhere at the back of the plane when they've paid to choose.

OP, your husband is a complete dick. I don't know what you can do about it really. I doubt he'll take any notice of you insisting he goes online and tries to purchase seats for the return flight, they may well be all booked up anyway.

Yes he ought to be able to show you the seat reservations for the return flight right now. On our summer hols this year with Jet2 I knew the outward and return seat numbers from the moment of booking. If he can’t do this then the same thing will almost certainly happen and he/ you urgently need to contact the airline to try to rectify it (will cost extra), rebook another flight or (my fave) go prepared to offer the £100 cash reward to anyone who will swop.

I fly with Ryanair several times a year and I’ve never once paid for seats - and have always been sat with my DH 🤷🏼‍♀️

Your first problem is you're married to someone controlling and abusive, so why on earth would you want to go away with him again?

Edit: just realised you're talking about the flight home 🤦🏼‍♀️

It was not a computer error.

Why can’t he log in and do the seat selection for the way home? If he wants to be precious about being in charge of the booking he can be but he needs to sort this out for the return.

You need to pay for allocated seating on the way back. I am sure you can pay the upgrade but you will need the details from your husband to do that.

Without that not sure what you can do unless you contact the airline now and explain the situation.

Yes, this. Don't count in last minute seat selection at check-in. PAY and select your seats at the time of booking.

You need to tell your H that he needs to book 2x2 sets of seats together at the time he’s making the reservation, otherwise you’re not going. Or book the seats yourself

A very entitled man asked me to swap my paid for aisle seat for a middle seat as his wife, baby and toddler were seated in the first row of the cabin. After he gave me a long and dull spiel about him doing me a favour by swapping seats now to inconvenience me less during the flight, as he would be “helping” his wife with their children … with an expectant expresion, my answer was a firm no. I closed my eyes and went to sleep for the next two hours.

I am normally quite relaxed but at those ages there is no way I would be allowing children to sit seperately. First time was an error, fine but dh has to understand you want to know this won't happen again. I would want to see checked in seats asap. If he refuses to show me I would be rethinking my relationship and also telling him any problems at airports and you will be booking an alternative flight. (Hopefully doesn't come to that as appreciat more time at airport is not ideal)

This, OP. I paid almost £300 so my kids and I could sit near each other on a long haul flight. If it means that much to you, you need to pay (like the rest if us). After paying through my nose, I would NOT move if requested. It's just not fair that I should pay for seats and then move for someone who has not paid/ organised themselves. Pay your husband next time so you can choose seats, especially as your kids are young.

Ha, I love your problem solving skills 👏