To think that paying for airplane seats has broken air travel for families?

I agree with you OP.
Airlines should not allow these situations to happen. They should either increase the price so seat selection is included. With certain seats having a premium. Or Ryan Air actually has a fair policy where at least one parent must pay for a seat and they can have the children sat next to the for free.

Jeopardy? I work for a tour operator that sells charter flights for holidays. We don’t offer seat booking in advance except extra legroom. Seats are allocated at check in by booking reference and somehow everyone ends up sitting with who they want to, with the very rare exception when a flight is totally full and a large or odd-numbered group are the very last to check in. There’s no jeopardy and there never was.

The price varies according to how popular a crossing is, which type of cabin you want, when you book, etc. but if you could travel on 19 November, in an inside cabin, with Cunard allocating the exact cabin, you would pay £1497 for all three of you.

But an inside cabin??? Isn't that rather horrible ?

The only problem I remember is that the first people to board would usually choose seats near the front, then block the aisles as they put their bags in the overhead lockers. They should have been made to sit down until everyone was seated, then they could faff about with their luggage. (I always put mine under the seat in front, so no aisle-blocking by me).

Next time you get stuck next to an ND child seperate from their parents it certainly will be your problem though!

I liked the old system and hate the new one. And I say that as someone who is very tempted not to pay extra to sit next to my seven-year-old. Someone else can listen to her yack about Bluey and Minecraft for a few hours, especially if I offered to swap with them and they refused.

Gosh what a horrible journey OP - 3 leg long haul is horrible at the best of times but especially with a nervous child being sat away from you.

We are a family of 4, fly a lot, and I have never paid for seats and we have always been in 3 & 1 or in 2 & 2. Kids have never had to sit separately.

Here’s what helps IME: for long haul, join the loyalty club of whatever airline we are flying with (as this often permits free seat selection at check in) and always check in online as soon as it is allowed (like within 30 min) - I check when online check-in opens and set a diary reminder.

It also helps that my very tall (6’3) husband doesn’t expect extra leg room, just an aisle seat.

Admittedly we would probably still run into problems with the situation you describe, with missed connections and airlines abandoning allocated seats. Sounds horrendous. You were very unlucky, but I hope you don’t let it put you off forever.

I do remember the early days of cheap air travel, when it was pretty much a free-for-all with everyone racing onto the plane, trying to get the seats they wanted. People who needed assistance, and families with small children did go to the head of the queue, but it was a dog-eat-dog world for everyone else.

I’m assuming that people objected to this, and wanted to be able to book a specific seat, so seat allocation was added to the extras you could pay for. But clearly that has thrown up its own problems.

I’m honestly not sure what the answer is.

I think paid seat allocation creates more problems than it solves.

you start with the stress of wondering if your seat will be free or you’ll have to ask someone to move, and whether they will, even though you’d probably have been just as happy to have sat a row in front or behind if you were just getting on and picking

I often swopped seats on buses, planes and trains, sometimes to avoid people talking across me. But now, if I offer to swop, it’s not clear if I’m swopping with someone who has bought their seat, an unclaimed seat, or they’re sitting in someone else’s seat, so I hesitate to offer.

I think, on the whole, it has created hostility and difficulty unnecessarily. But because of this, it also becomes all the more necessary to pay to sit together, and all the more important to defend your territory because you’ve paid.

I think you should definitely consider QM2, if you can afford the time for the crossing. I am genuinely a dreadful sailor but have discovered that the bigger the boat the less seasick I get.

You were just unlucky. Not everyone does book specific seats. I rarely do these days. As we don't mind being separated (all adults) so there will be people to swap with should that happen

Oh totally! I don't disagree with what you're saying. I was quoting the person who said this
Choosing and paying for specific seats generally works very well and takes a lot of jeopardy out of travel that existed previously.

And was stating there was no jeopardy before. And still isn't on flights where you don't need to book (you just pay more)

I’m a bit of a doormat According to my family 😂 but I’m always more than happy to swap/move seats if someone needs one / for a child to sit with a parent.

3 flights to the US is quite common especially if you are sensible enough to avoid the London airports and fly via Amsterdam so you often have Amsterdam, Atlanta or Minneapolis, Destination.

I have sympathy for single travellers who chose their seat on booking, either paying or not, then they get bounced around to allow late booking groups to be together and often finish up in the middle.

Because airline travel was much more expensive and all the things that are extras now, were bundled into the price, @blankittyblank. Now it’s all split up so if someone doesn’t care where they sit, doesn’t need hold baggage, and brings their own food, they need only pay the base price, but everyone else can add the extras that they want/need.

That said, I do think children should be in the same row as a parent, next to them, and maybe the rules need to be changed to reflect this.

I would still rather this system, as you don't get the anger and belligerence of people refusing to move. Now people get so stuck on the fact they've paid for their seats (even if you have too) no one wants to help out. I'd much rather pay more and not have this stupid system, then pay the same anyway and be stuck with it

Agreed.

When I was working we used to reckon if you could fill First on something like a 747 going transatlantic with actual full fare paying passengers the flight would definitely make a decent profit.

If First was empty but economy full it would be close run as to whether you were running at a profit or loss...hopefully you'd just be in the black.

Same! Seating was never an issue prior to having to pay. And in fact, most long haul flights you don't need to pay to book a seat and that's still pretty seamless.

This is why I refuse to fly. I just can't imagine paying for something to find it taken away from you at the last minute. They regularly overbook flights and then when everyone shows up someone inevitably gets kicked to the next flight. In any other business you would quickly lose custom and go bust for trying those sorts of dirty tricks, but airlines know they can do anything and get away with it.

Between us, my family have been on over 60 flights this year, all pre booked seats and no issues whatsoever.
Just because you had an unfortunate experience doesn’t mean it doesn’t work 99.9% of the time.

We stopped paying extra to pick seats once the DC were over 12 and yet we have always been put together when we've checked in on line.

Once when we tried to use the self check in machine we got a message saying we had to go to the desk and DH and I were then separated from the DC but were rewarded with free extra legroom seats.

On the last flight we were on we were all seated in a line with me across the aisle from DH and the DC. I was asked by the crew if I would mind swapping with a young girl who was seated further back who was a nervous flyer and wanted to be next to her mum. She was crying bless her. I agreed happily and they were so grateful.

Often business and first class are the only really profitable parts of the flight. Business and first class travellers subsidise economy travellers by quite a lot.

Why? What has she done wrong