Paying to chose seats on flights

[PinotAndPlaydough]

We are going away on our first family holiday soon. Kids have never been abroad and DH and I haven’t been abroad for 10 years. We have scrimped and saved for this and literally every penny counts.
Have just looked at reserving seats and to book them there and back is £65. That’s a fair chunk of money for us and money I’d much rather spend when we are out there.

Despite this I think we should book seats, eldest child has asd and I’m not sure how they’ll react to flying and the youngest is only 5. No way would any of us be happy about having to sit separately. DH says that while one of us might be sat away from the kids there’s no way they’ll separate two young kids from their parents.
It’s been so long I don’t know how things work any more, is it worth the risk, can we just queue up and try and make sure we board first?
I’m really not sure this is a risk I want to take? Any advice from more seasoned travellers?

Poppins not poplins!!!

Mine are old enough now but one has ASD and I paid to be seated next to him. Wouldn't move for you. Still wouldn't.

If it's ba you can choose for free the day before (well last year) and was fine, if it's Ryan air you will get zero chance of sympathy (in fact I think I read in their terms and conditions it was half price for families but compulsory. You can claim any taxes they have taken back for under 16's by the way. Call your airline or travel agent

Oh I was on a Jet 2 flight this summer where the entire plane was full except from the four (super pricey) extra leg room aisles.

Obviously nobody had booked them because they’re about £40 each for a 1.5 hour flight. But they HAVE to be filled as they’re emergency exit aisles.

An air hostess came and asked people to move to these rows (acting like we were being offered a free upgrade) but everyone said no as they were already settled. One chap quite loudly said ‘nah love- luxury like that ain’t for commoners like us’ 😂

A few minutes later they did a voice over call to say if some people didn’t move we couldn’t take off. It honestly made me giggle the entire way.

DP and I are in a financially priveledged situation but I won’t pay for stuff like that as I think it’s ridiculous. Extra leg room should be offered to those who actually require it.

Pay it if it's important to you to be together.

People always come on these threads and say by law you can't have a 5yo on their own blah blah blah, but that's only the guidelines.

I travel a lot and have seen numerous families totally split up, so it can and does happen. The people who say they'll always put an adult with a child haven't been on the planes that I've been on where that hasn't happened.

I move if I can help but 95% of people won't and it's distressing for the young kids imo.

Oh god, it's Norwegian. Pay pay pay.

Good choice Pinot. Not worth the risk. I was asked to swap for a child of about 10 because I had an aisle seat and it looked like I was on my own. But my family were across the aisle from me and I'd paid more than that. In the end she flew in her allocated seat. The plane was full of families with children who had paid to sit together (school hols) so weren't prepared to move.

It's galling that they deliberately separate you to make you pay, but I'm afraid when it comes to it, it's down to the cabin crew asking people to move on your behalf. We once didn't book thinking why should we...? Who else would want to look after our three year-old twins if we are separated from them...? But it was chaotic and farcical with the cabin crew asking people to move as we boarded and I wanted the ground to swallow us up. We grudgingly accept it and pay to reserve now, as don't want to rely on a stranger's goodwill. Shame on the airlines though.

It is disgusting the airlines do this as you need a seat on a plane and people generally want to sit with their family/friends. Book train tickets and you get a free seat reservation; on LNER (and their various predecessors) you can even change the seats at no extra cost.

You have a child with a disability so the airline should book seats free of charge to ensure he isn't sat alone. Call the special assistance number on the website and they can organise it. They may only do it for him and one adult, but then you can just pay for the other child and adult and half the cost :)

I think the fact it’s the first time the kids are flying and I don’t know how they’ll be makes it worse. If they had flown before and were fine I might risk it. I would feel awful if they became scared or upset and I couldn’t comfort them.
With DH taken off it’s down to £40ish which seems more manageable. It jut means the Easter holidays will involve park trips, woodland walks (probably a lot more tv ) and picnics instead of bowling, swimming, cinema, lunch out etc.

I pay to sit next to my husband. He keeps to his own seat (had a man take over half my seat), smells nice (4 hours flight once next to serious BO man which made me queasy) etc. Since we have paid for both seats you better believe I will not move. If a child sits next to me I ignore them. If the child has an issue I’m happy to call the stewardess to deal with it. If you want my seat you will need to pay me the money for both as we had to book two to make sure they were side by side.

If one of your kids has ASD you can book "special assist" through the airline. You present yourself at the assist kiosk in the airport 2 hours before your flight and they will fast track you through security also most airlines will precook your seats together for free as you are your child's carer and therefore have to be seated with them.

I paid when it would have been awful if we'd been split up. Now we take our chance as it wouldn't really matter.
You need to pay.

I have a child with asd and we fly a few times each year. You need to contact the airline and tell them about the asd. You will then be booked special assistance which basically means you will be walked through security and passport control and be sat together. It us free as a disability adjustment. If you have already payed they should refund you once you contact them.

I certainly when paying to book my seat in a position I want to be in would not be impressed to be asked to move to accommodate a non paying passenger... Headphones in and a sorry no.

We chose and booked our seats when we booked our holiday (booked in Oct for following june) and even then there was limited choice, (There is 3 of us though) lots of single seats dotted about, but very few together.
Have a fantastic holiday. Hope you manage to get seats together. 😁

I might just pay for the kids and I to sit together as that saves me 20 odd quid. DH can enjoy the randomly selected seat.

If you’ve booked for 4 to travel, you won’t be able to pay for only 3 seat allocations.

Moreslidingdoors

I have always been able to do that when booking flights, you can also book seats in one direction if you wish.

Book train tickets and you get a free seat reservation; on LNER (and their various predecessors) you can even change the seats at no extra cost.

And train travel is considerably more expensive than flying. They haven’t adopted the “you want it you pay for it” model that budget airlines have.

Definitely, book the seats if you want to sit together it’s the only way to guarantee you will, lots of airlines intentionally seat you separately, it’s stinks quite honestly.

On our last trip, Xmas eve, the plane was full. There was so much fuss because of seating, people asking to swap with other passengers etc. It delayed departure.

Train seats aren't always available - last time they hadn't had time to put allotted tickets up so it was a free for all. And there is no diagram of train so a window seat can be a 6 inch edge of window seat.
It will depend how busy the plane is surely. And you will get the middle seat rather than aisle or window, who wants that?

Pay up. Certainly not worth it. We've always paid, and have seen families kicking off on the aircraft demanding to be moved. Problem is, everyone else has paid for their seats so they're hardly going to give it up for someone who hasn't.

We were split up by Tui on our return flight in February. The airport staff said the seats are booked before check in and there was nothing they could do. We had to ask on the plane and the lovely cabin crew sorted us out but it was a right pain. It felt very deliberate- there were rows and rows of adults, but we had been seated rows apart (children 4 and 6) not even opposite each other or anything, literally 3-4 rows between each seat. The flights had been booked a year in advance and our friends who had booked at the same time as us and checked in after were seated together (they hadn’t booked seats). There were a few empty seats on the plane (but not together).

It got sorted but it was a hassle we didn’t need having been up since 4am. I also felt bad that the crew had to ask other passengers to move. I’m torn on what to do next year- we go as a package deal and tui don’t market themselves as a budget airline so it feels like the seats should really be included and that small children shouldn’t be completely split up from parents anyway. On the other hand it did really stress me out and I wonder if I should just cough up to save myself the stress!

The op has a child with a neurodevelopmental disability and is entitled to be sat together as a reasonable adjustments for free. Also paid or not paid, tHey can move you around before takeoff if there is a need. I was flying the other day and so done with a mobility issue had booked a seat in extra legroom (which is beside the emergency exit). He had paid to sit with family etc and initially insisted on this but was given the choice of moving or be taken off.
Contact the airline and advise of your child's disability.