I effed up our holiday

[poppysgalore]

Flying out tomorrow on easyJet - family of five - first time on easyJet- had no idea we had to book our seats in advance. Just logged in and seen there's only random single seats left. Except for two rows that are near the fire exits so can't be allocated to under 16s. I'm gutted ! What do we do now , my youngest is 7 and the flight is 6 hours long. How could I be so stupid and not know this.

Another one who has never read the actual terms and conditions of plane tickets.

With increased turbulence these days, it is actually dangerous for you to hover in the aisle. You need your seat belt on as much as possible. I don't think the staff would let you do that, and rightly so.

I've met and raised a good number of 7 year olds. If the child doesn't take a hint I'll just tell them straight, but nicely, that I would like to watch my movie/read a book/sit quietly, so don't feel like talking right now.

Being stuck that close to any stranger usually results in an unpleasant flight. I've had plenty of adults being fidgety and attention seeking next to me too. You're right, it's unpleasant, but I'll still pop my headphones on and do my best to zone them out, regardless of age. Longer flights I've usually taken something to help me relax and sleep, too.

The point I was trying to make was that winding your kids up in order to scare me into giving up my chosen and paid for seat will not work. (If I really want that seat for a reason - sometimes I care about where I sit, sometimes I don't, depends on the flight.)

Fair enough but you must realise that not everyone's first thought when flying or planning a flight is 'what if we crash'? Although there are statistically 'safer' seat locations on an aircraft, so maybe you want to look into that.

Comfort, sleep, amenity, lots of factors at play when people decide to pay extra to sit in a certain spot. I have a specific reason why I need a specific kind of seat, it's to do with an injury. On an upcoming long haul trip I've paid $400 return for seat selection to minimise the pain I'll experience. You can call me an arsehole all you like but I'm not moving.

You can say in front of the 7 year old, "I'm not swapping seats because if the plane crashes and we all die, they can identify me by correct seat." 😂 Give the parent another problem.

Neither of those cover seating a family together! But there will always be those who 'forget' to book sears, 'don't know they have to book seats' or are 'too tight to pay for a booked seat but are entitled enough to think they can disrupt everyone on the plane'

Why did you disrupt someone else's seating arrangements?

Hard of reading? She didn't, the airline staff did, to adhere to their policies and guidelines (compliance).

You sound like a real peach.

So op what happened on the flight

Every airline makes you pay for seat selection. It’s not an easy jet thing. It’s the little bit extra button as you book.

Oh yes, very witty
The poster I was responding to said that 'the steward moved somebody so that their 4 years-old child could sit next to them'. So, the poster had not booked seats together because the child was sitting elsewhere, and the cabin crew had to move an adult passenger to allow the poster's little treasure to sit next to them when they should have booked the seats initially. That's how the poster disrupted the other person's seating arrangements. It doesn't mean that the poster was literally moving people around in seats
Hard of comprehension, @Bansheed?

But the person could have booked seats together with the 10 year-old and chose not to.

I'm not sure where the sense of entitlement comes from. The option to book and pay for seats together isn't a secret, it'd there for everyone yet you get cheeky fuckers deciding they don't want to pay out for it and are happy for others who have paid to be moved

It says more about you if you don't see a problem in people who would rather save money but are happy for others to lose money or are you one of these that thinks it's "beating the system" and are proud to do it?!

This. Ridiculous. It's impossible to book with easyJet and not know you need to choose your seats or accept whatever's left. Don't get me started on not having a working email address.

Also, this business of people saying to just have a word at the check-in desk. My UK airport has self-service bag drop-off and our tickets are in our iPhone wallets. Staff are mainly there to direct the queues.

I don't understand this. I booked flights with easyJet last night and it automatically allocated our seats, outbound and inbound. How did you go through the booking process without being allocated a seat?

@ExitViaGiftShop I've flown with easyJet dozens of times and never ever been allocated a seat automatically. There's the option to select one (which I always skip because I couldn't care less) but it's never been automatic.

Also not every easyJet flight is booked on their own website, so without knowing exactly how OP booked it's pointless comparing. Other third party websites will differ.

You aren't alone. I haven't flown easyjet for over a decade and I also didn't know about the 30 day check in. I hope you are having a lovely holiday. x

I’m just an adult that’s too stingy to pay for seats together

At least you're honest enough to admit it, @Holidaysandsunshine, instead of pretending you didn't notice / were distracted from the seat booking bit

Fascinating that you split other passengers into "lovely and kind" and "utterly selfish" though, based on whether they'll hand over to you something they've bought for themselves. I encountered just such a mum when flying back from Rhodes yesterday - all sweetness and light when asking, but you could tell from her expression that things would quickly change when I refused

And so it proved ... didn't make any difference though, and happily nobody else was conned this time either, so she flew sepaarated from her (approx) 8 year old

All this is by the bye if people get their acts together and book the seats they want in advance.

I'm very puzzled why people don't read their emails from EJ. A month before the flight they tell you that you can check in. If you check in straightaway, chances are, you will be seated together for free as they allocate seats. If you want to be totally sure you sit together you have to buy them!
I put a reminder on my phone anyway, and check in as soon as it's available and my DH are always sat together, and for the first time last week we were across the aisle from each other.

If you leave it till the last minute, the chances are, you won't be seated together, and you won't have the option to buy seats after check in.
As for seat selection, during the booking process, you are reminded constantly to book seats and you actively have to opt out by clicking 'skip seats' about 3 or 4 times.

Why can't people manage this?

You see so many stories over ‘entitled’ people expecting others to move, how could you not know. I get you say you genuinely didn’t realise but I do find it odd that you have never come across even a story where people say they were asked and applauded for saying no.

We went away on our first family holiday recently, prior to having kids we never booked our seats but it seems to have become a thing, my bf said not to book them but I ended up booking them at a later date to avoid this as there could be many more families on the plane who aren’t willing to split up.

Just say that your child is prone to projectile vomiting and see how many move to let you sit together !! 😏 Seriously though, I think the airline will try and get you seated together, as its a long time for children that age to be seated apart from their parents.

Why can't you book seats and be sure?

Any excuse like that wouldn't have me moving if I'd paid for a seat

I did this many years ago with our daughter. We were all sat separately, the cabin crew made an announcement after take off asking if anyone would move seats, the couple my 4 year old was sat next to shot their hands up straight away 🤣. This was before they charged for seating and allocation was made at check in, we nearly missed the flight and were last to check in, hence the seats 🤦‍♀️

Egypt or Cape Verde is also 6 hours?