Paying for seat choices on planes

[EmpressSoleil]

DS is in Japan at the moment and flew into Haneda so I was watching the news about the plane crash.

An aviation safety expert was commenting and he said (very strongly) that the practice of paying to choose your seat needs to stop as when people don't pay they are often separated. Then in a crash scenario, they will be looking for their partner or child etc and it could delay evacuation with fatal results. Which all makes sense.

So I wondered how many people don't pay and what they think they would do in that situation? I have adult DC I sometimes travel with and we've sometimes sat a few rows apart. On a short flight especially we dont see the point in paying the extra.

It's made me think that I probably would now have a conversation before our next flight and say that in a worst case scenario they need to just evacuate and not look for me, and vice versa. Although in practice it's probably very hard to go against your instincts.

@FictionalCharacter Interestingly, Norwegian hotel room doors open outwards into the corridor to make an emergency evacuation easier (doors opening in direction of escape route).

Never pay, and we've always ended up sitting more or less together depending on how many of us (from two of us to nine) and usually at the back of the plane. That's with the budget airlines (EasyJet and RyanAir) and packages (Tui, Jet2, Thomas Cook).

And the majority of passengers ignore the safety video. I was airline crew for years before moving into operations. I know exactly what to do and could open an emergency exit with my eyes closed but I always watch the video and count the number of rows from my seat to the exit behind me but I look around and hardly anyone is watching.

I never pay. I would instinctively look for OH even though i know we should both focus on evacuating ourselves.

Also disagreeing with paying because what can families do when they go to book and there are only a random selection of middle seats left.

I only ever travel with DH and we always pay to sit next to one another because he's my support animal and I need him close!
If we didn't pay and we crashed, yes I'd absolutely go against advice and look for him before I got to safety.

Never paid, never been separated from party. I do refuse to fly Ryan Air though.

@Grapefruitsquash I worked in H&S in a high risk industry and the most important message was that when things go wrong they go wrong very fast, so always be prepared. I’ve known people that have safely got out of major accidents and it’s because they knew the drill and executed it.

He makes a good point. Particularly where children are involved.

I always pay to sit together. But I do have anxiety, autism, adhd and ocd. So having control over where I sit and advanced knowledge of where I'll be sitting is a big factor in that. But I also enjoy spending time with my partner and would be bored without someone to talk to.

I don't care about the cost and factor it in. Our kids are little, 6, 7 and 2. Even if it's just turbulence or keeping an eye on them I'd rather be close to them whilst flying.

You don’t have to pay for kids though? They have to seat them with you. I’ve never been seated away from my kids. I’ve never flown Ryanair but normal airlines don’t routinely seat you away from your family.

They state that with a parent is same row, or one row behind or in front.

3 ABC DEF
4 ABC DEF

So you might be in 3A and kid in 4E

We always pay for seats together for convenience, it's usually only a few pounds, a very tiny percentage of the cost of our holiday. If airlines can't charge for seats they will just recoup the cost elsewhere, most likely with higher flight prices.

Well that’s ok - it’s hardly like they’re miles away. I’ve personally never been seated anywhere but next to my kids but if someone was happy to sit next to my 2 year old in the row in front, and have me standing in the aisle for some of it, it wouldn’t be a huge drama.
For safety I would be ok with them being in front or behind. But if there was an emergency I would definitely be up and helping them first.

That's because the chances of needing to know where your emergency exit is is next to zero.

I always pay even if travelling alone - in fact especially if travelling alone - because I want an aisle seat. The thought of being "trapped" by a stranger in the window seat even in a 2 seat configuration makes me feel a bit queasy.

Never paid aside from once, to give my 6’4” dad with size 14 feet some extra legroom.

Whoever makes the booking checks everyone in and we always get seated together. It makes no odds on short haul flights. I’ll sit anywhere to get away on holiday.

I don't pay and of the last 6 flights we've had with Jet2 the three of us were sat together with the exception of 1 very late booking for a prime time flight. I was sat with my son though. If you have children I'm sure they seat you with them. I agree though, groups should be sat together as standard unless you opt for extra leg room.

Until you do really need to know …

It’s about 3 minutes to listen to the demo and have a look around you.

Quite possibly the stupidest thing I've read on here. Wait until you do need to know and the cabin is full of smoke with almost zero visibility. Then you'll be sorry you don't know where the exits are.

People who don't pay the nominal charge to pick a seat and sit together are just cheapskates! They're probably the same people who spend thousands on a holiday then expect someone to give them a free lift to the airport! 😂

@toastofthetown completely agree with you. Having pricing that is flexible suits most. Those who travel alone with no bags other than under-seat get the best fares. Those who need more aspects, be it a cabin compartment bag, or a seat next to their companion pay more. Agreed you can do the seat lottery and hope that it all turns out OK, but if it doesn't - then that is that. Pay for what you need. As an aside, anyone who does not pay for their child or teenager to sit next to them to save a few quid is abhorrent, nothing to do with the risk of the plane going down and them trying to find them and blocking the aisles, more to do with expecting a random stranger to have to parent your child if required .

I've never paid and am never going to. I've never been sat more than an aisle apart from my DP either. Even if we were apart, I'm sure I can get through a 4 hour flight without him!

I would rather the airline or holiday company just raised the cost of the holiday by £30pp or whatever it costs. Yes I know I'm paying the same overall but it just seems wrong to me to have to pay extra to sit together!