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Original poster

Paying to chose seats on flights

138 replies

PinotAndPlaydough · 07/04/2019 22:08

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?

OP posts:
Bagpuss5 · 08/04/2019 07:50

So people who Have paid for seats can be asked to move for people who Haven't paid for seats - yeah, that's fairHmm

Frazzled2207 · 08/04/2019 07:55

Yeah just pay.
Is shitty though.

With Easyjet it's fine if you check in a month before, never had a problem

ivykaty44 · 08/04/2019 07:57

If your child has ASD surely you need assisted boarding and then get sat together anyway

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Flying Holidays
ivykaty44 · 08/04/2019 08:01

Bagpuss aviation rules are that you shouldn’t separate children from parent due to in the event of an emergency, the child would try to get to parent and may cause blockage for people leaving flight. It would be unfair on others, it’s the airlines that flout these regulations with there dubious practices

ivykaty44 · 08/04/2019 08:04

What’s even more bizarre is airlines won’t let children fly alone under 16 .....

Madwomanuptheroad · 08/04/2019 08:15

Aviation rules take precedence over people who have paid for a seat. It is also a health and safety issue. The making people pay for seats is an moneymaking exercise for the airline. It does not guarantee you an absolute right to a seat. The airline can and will move you if they need to.

EmpressJewel · 08/04/2019 08:16

We have always paid.

I begrudge paying, but always do. Our children (8 and 6) love flying and see it as an integral part of the holiday. We book a row and so have two window and middle seats.

When we were coming back from holiday last year, the cabin crew made an announcement that there was a family hat needed to sit together and they couldn't take off until someone moved. I thought that was really unfair to put it on the passengers when the airline would have known about the issue in advance.

taybert · 08/04/2019 08:28

Bagpuss I felt really bad about it, but it should never have happened, we booked a year in advance and had small children with us, aviation rules suggest they should have been sat with an adult each (when you choose seats on Ryanair, you can’t actually choose not to have an adult next to every child). The airline shouldn’t be offering the facility to book seats if those seats aren’t available, which they really shouldn’t be if they are seating adults with children.

As it happens, the lovely people who moved for us had actually paid and booked their seats but still hadn’t been given what they asked for, so the whole thing is clearly a farce anyway.

Thanks for reminding me to complain OP!

SnapesGreasyHair · 08/04/2019 08:38

My 15yr old has ASD and we flew to America for the first time. I wouldn't even consider NOT paying as the added stress isn't worth it. Plus l needed to do a schedule for DS1 so needed to know who was sitting where.

Madwomanuptheroad · 08/04/2019 08:40

People need to realise that there are aviation regulations, health and safety regulations and disability rights. All those take precedence over someone having paid for a seat without a needs for it. Airline staff will ask for volunteers and if nobody volunteers they will order people to move.
Airlines are trying to make as much money as possible so they play on people's fears and worries. When booking a flight you give the age of the child. So it should be easy enough to automatically seat families together and avoid all that stress.
The responsibility for this lies with the airline, not with the family who not paying extra charges

ForalltheSaints · 08/04/2019 08:41

Try the reasonable adjustments route and if not then you may have to pay. If we had a transport secretary who was not the worst in 55 years then airlines could be required to sit all who book together sitting together (would be worth requiring just to upset Michael O'Leary).

TheFairyCaravan · 08/04/2019 08:45

Pinot I've messaged you.

ChoccyBiccyTastic · 08/04/2019 08:50

Try phoning the airline. I did this with Monarch a couple of years ago as I just didn't believe that they would split us (3 DCs, aged 7, 4 & 8 months on lap). The man I spoke to laughed and said there's no way in hell they would split us, or it would be a miserable journey for the whole plane, and they didn't.

MrsJBaptiste · 08/04/2019 09:22

Definitely pay.

My 3 year old niece was sat separately from my brother and SIL as they didn't want to pay the extra charge. The cabin crew asked everyone on the plane if they'd swap seats but nobody would and wht not? They had all paid the extra which is what my brother should have done.

I did feel sorry for my niece though.

Inniu · 08/04/2019 09:25

To the pp who said it is in the regulations and the airline must seat children near a parent if it is a busy midterm flight with lots of families this may prove too difficult to do without significantly delaying the flight you can be asked to come off the plane.

CarolDanvers · 08/04/2019 09:29

Both my children have autism. I call customer services well in advance and we get allocated seats. They’ve always been very helpful with this.

havingtochangeusernameagain · 08/04/2019 09:41

Which? has been looking into this and is campaigning against airlines charging for parties to sit together. In my view, if you book together, you should be seated together, regardless of age. Ryanair deny they deliberately split people up but Which's evidence was pretty clear. I can't remember whether they said anything about Norwegian.

I don't know why they think someone wants to sit next to someone else's child either! I would definitely swap. In fact I swapped on the last flight I was on, it suited me because I got to move from row 22 to row 10, so got off the plane that much quicker and was one of the first through passport control.

havingtochangeusernameagain · 08/04/2019 09:41

(it was two adults in my case, they hadn't split a child and adult by 12 rows!)

JustTwoMoreSecs · 08/04/2019 10:01

Honestly some people are so entitled!

The airline is offering a discount to people that don’t mind where they are sat. So solo passengers for ex pay less because they can be be used to fill gaps between groups of people.
Why on earth would people that want/need to seat together feel like they are entitled to this discount??? You want to seat next to your DC (or DH or friend etc) then you don’t claim the «solo passenger discount»!

People are either greedy or thick.

BarbaraofSevillle · 08/04/2019 10:31

It's not really a discount, it's an attempt to make the flight look cheaper than it is, makes comparing costs difficult and to extract extra money from passengers.

They're not 'filling gaps between groups of people'. It's been proved that, with Ryanair at least, they will deliberately split people up, and give them the middle seat, unless they pay. Which of course leaves lots of single aisle and window seats too.

It costs them no extra to seat people together. Plenty of other airlines manage it.

And I say that as an adult who only ever travels alone or with my DP and we never pay extra to sit together, so if fares rose because it was standard to seat passengers together, we would probably end up paying extra. But I think it is fairer to allocate seats in groups on check in, without paying extra.

It also makes it easier to know how much you're paying, without having to decide which of the 101 different 'optional' extras you want and how much they are.

MillyMollyMandie · 08/04/2019 10:47

He had paid to sit with family etc and initially insisted on this but was given the choice of moving or be taken off

It was a safety issue.

BartholinsSister · 08/04/2019 10:53

If there's four of you then you only need pay to reserve two seats, one next to each of the two seats you and DH will be allocated for free.

letsdolunch321 · 08/04/2019 11:19

As much as it is an added expense to your holiday, you have made the right decision.

Have a great holiday.

whitesoxx · 08/04/2019 11:26

The posters telling you that one adult will have to be put with the kids are wrong.

It's annoying and costly but pay for the seats. My 3 year old was once allocated a seat 6 rows in front of me. Obviously I paid to change that.