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

She says they were visiting her in laws.

I'm sorry about the problems you've had in your flights. You had bad luck with multiple problems, which often are not easy to resolve. My only advice, as an experienced long haul traveller, is to book with reputable companies, like Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Etihad etc. which may be more expensive but worth it. As an example, a couple of years ago we flew with Emirates from Sydney to Madrid, my seat was stuck and I was unable to open the meal tray, and we were upgraded to business. We were fortunate there were empty seats in business but the crew were great.

You took a panicky 10 yo suspected ND on a 6 leg long haul return journey when she hadn't flown since she was 4?!

I don't see how paying for your seats contributed to this, they all would have happened anyways?

Not read whole thread but was there a reason you booked 3 legs for this holiday knowing that you have a very tall DH and a n anxious child - wouldn't it have been easier to go somewhere else direct?

Exactly
I doubt if people would ask my 6ft 3 bald and tattooed husband to move

but I’m sure they would ask me

depending on what seat I’ve got and if I paid a lot for it I’m not moving
but I’m happy to keep an eye on any lone child that’s sat next to me

You can't really judge the entire system based on one bad experience.

I've literally never had an issue with seats and I've flown multiple times a month for years. By that metric problems must never happen.

I think you can have a preference about where you sit and not really want to move (for example because you have chosen an aisle seat at no extra cost because it was included in your ticket price) but suck it up and move because a member of the cabin crew is telling you that this mother and her child need to sit together and the plane won't take off until everyone is seated, or you can be ideologically wedded to the idea of sitting in your specific seat because you have paid an arm and a leg to choose that specific seat so you don't see why anyone should be able to tell you to move, particularly when they can't guarantee you'll get that money back.

In both cases you don't really want to move, but in the former case you can probably be persuaded, whereas in the latter case many people would dig their heels in and stubbornly refuse to move unless cabin crew were actually threatening to kick them off the flight.

I agree that it’s a system that unfairly penalises families but having said that we fly as a family a reasonable amount and I have never paid for specific seats. And we have only been separated once on a flight, which was after my son turned 13 so fair enough and I had no issue sitting separately. But it might depend who you fly with. Low cost airlines are going to be much less accommodating than the larger airlines. We’re currently away and have taken 5 flights with one to go and no issue with seat allocation or needing to pay for seats together. I think you were very unlucky last time. But it does depend as well on the airline.

I actually think the whole flying experience is now pretty broken to be honest. Ironically, the ONLY time I haven't felt this way about the whole mess was during covid when airports/flights weren't crammed with people, badly organised and chaotic.

Other than that, I find the whole thing so deeply unpleasant and traumatic that I am no longer willing to tolerate the chaos for the sake of a holiday abroad. The seat debacle is just another nail in the coffin for me.

If you can't afford first class (as I can't), it just isn't tolerable.

I just don't think it does. People who don't care where they sit don't pay, and because they don't care where they sit they are more likely to move for someone else. People only pay if they want a certain kind of seat, meaning they would have the same attachment to it if they'd got it free.

I think a three part trip will always be horrendous. Try splitting it so you get an overnight stay. Its just how bad air travel is.

It’s not attitude with me. It’s a very specific reason that I need an aisle seat so I pay for it. I’m not declaring my private medical reason to a stranger either so no I won’t move. Not unless it’s a free upgrade to business or first class.

I do take your point, but on the whole I think it is easier to tell someone to move if they haven't paid extra to choose their seat. This system encourages people to be emotionally attached to their particular seat number as a matter of principle, which is not a good thing when you're cabin crew trying to get everyone safely in their seats so you're ready to take off.

They paid because they wanted a certain type of seat. If they'd got it for free, they still would have wanted that seat.

If you'd been seated with your daughter for free, would you have moved for someone else who wanted your seat? No.

You had a massively rough ride with your recent long haul flight. I travel mid to long haul several times a year and have not had any issues. I always book and pay for an aisle seat if travelling solo. On the odd occasion I have moved if it’s like for like.

Yep,.

The brutal reason is that sadly when the generic "you", the general public, were given the choice of paying more for everything bundled into a blanket fare with a legacy old deal airline or OTOH the appearance of a lower price with a LoCo who had unbundled the public went with the LoCo model in big numbers.

The legacy airlines, certainly in Europe saw customers migrate to the LoCos where they could and so the legacies had to adapt or die.

Those things would all have happened if you could choose seats for free. People in the middle seats still wouldn't have wanted to move to window/aisle, and other groups still wouldn't have wanted to split up to accommodate the OP.

People can refunds. When they've had to move people to accommodate me for disability reasons I've heard the cabin crew says that they can contact customer service for a refund.

It's an absolute pain. I like the pp suggestion that cabin crew have vouchers they can hand out when it's the airline's fault that things haven't worked out. Also regardless of whether they have paid extra or not to book specific seats, children really need to be seated with one of the adults they are traveling with. If people don't care where on the plane they're sitting why should they pay extra? It's not about keeping someone company. Frankly any flight with my DC is much harder work than a flight when I am sitting on my own. But if there's any kind of an emergency there is no way on this earth I am leaving a plane until I have made sure that my DC is safe and that might result in a delay for other people. I know that's very unlikely but the other much more likely scenario is that my child could be a pain in the backside to sit next to. He is ND and needs frequent reminders about awareness of personal space for example.

Sunflower lanyard gets priority boarding?