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.

@@Crikeyalmighty- the headline price hasn't included that for years. Wanting that is just wishful thinking.
Advertising a 'start' price isn't false - it's the price to get you, and a small bag, to your destination. If you want more than that, you can pay. And you can pick and choose which bits you want to pay for.
Not everyone wants to pay to choose their seat, so they can benefit from a cheaper price. But they might want to take loads of luggage. Someone else might want to sit by the aisle at the front and travel with just a small bag. Happy days - it works for them too.

The days of 'all inclusive' flight pricing are long gone.

@toastofthetown

. And consumer trends indicate that this is what people want as well. If people want what a full service airline used to provide as standard, that’s an option but they’ll be paying the equivalent of what that used to cost.

Exactly…I’ve told this tale before but it’s still relevant:

I worked at a full service airline when the LoCos arrived in force in the early nineties and we watched as a big chunk of our customers disappeared over to the new competition... talking to customers before the change we’d hear all sorts of promises of “we’ll stick with you guys for the service” but the minute the low base price option arrived many of those customers (some not exactly short of cash) were off.

It was pretty clear back the traveling public preferred to only pay upfront what they wanted, I doubt that sentiment has really changed.

It’s now tough to find a genuine full service airline if you wanted to use because they have either had to at least in part adopt the LoCo pricing structure or go out of business.

Do not expect people who have paid for their seats to be happy to move. I cannot believe people saying that. Do not expect that.

you can ask but do not expect

I’d suggest you bring some cash to offer reimbursement to people who actually planned ahead and paid for their seat selection, should anyone volunteer to swap seats that they paid extra for seat allocation

otherwise you ensure your child knows in advance they may be sitting next to someone, have their own headphones to watch movies, know his to work that of their isn iPad. Explain about his they ask politely if they need the loo and that it is ok to get up for the loo. Perhaps advising them to come see you before going off to the loo so you can be more comfortable about them getting up and about the plane

truly don’t know how you didn’t know as you have that option multiple times when booking plus the thousand of stories about entitled families thinking they can save money not booking seats together then expecting people to give up the seats they paid the seat selection for.

It's nothing about being disadvantaged though. Automatically assigning seats takes away people's options. Some people need aisle seats. Some people want window seats. Assigning two people to the middle of a row might not work for them. My best friend and I select window seats - one in front of the other - and our other friend selects an aisle seat because she has a teeny bladder. If there are two airlines, one that lets you pick your seat, and another that automatically groups people in your booking together, we would fly with the former airline. I don't think it is right to say people with children are disadvantaged. They aren't being discriminated against. They're allowed on planes like everyone else and can choose their seats like everyone else.

As a carer I am more than happy to pay a little extra for the reassurance that I will be sitting next to the person I care for. What I don't want then is pressure to move.

Actually people who use routes to visit relatives do this all the time. We visit family and only 1 of us will need a bag. If one of us goes, there is no need for a bag. Many are the same. It's rare on holiday hot-spot routes.

The simplest way is for bookings with children on to enforce seat booking before you can pay. And yes, it's an extra charge.
Single or childfree travellers should not be disadvantaged systematically. If families always had priority, they would never get a good seating experience.

That's fair. but I still thinking forcing people to pay for something that costs a company nothing is taking advantage.
eg. if it existed - would you not go for the airline that automatically assigns seats together and doesnt charge to change rather than the one that automatically assigns separately but forces you to pay if your automatically assigned seat was middle of the row?
I'm not saying take away choice but rather charging people for things that cost them nothing is just ... ick.

I found myself strangely eager to find out what happened on the flight. OP, please tell us! Did you get something sorted and enjoy the flight? Are you sorted for the return journey? Hope you have a lovely holiday.

absolutely, but the pressure to move is created by the airline charging and purposefully separating families at the point of booking. not the woman with young children who made a mistake when booking.
Why should you have to pay for that reassurance when it costs the airline nothing?

The entitled don't care, Snakebite61; just so long as they can get what they want everyone else can go hang

I'm smiling once again though at the many suggestions that they offer what the seat would have cost those who've already paid. I once checked this with a friend who's been cabin crew for years, and she assures me that she's never - literally never - known this to happen

But then why would it? If someone believes they're entitled to somehing just by asking, the thought probably wouldn't occur

the pressure to move is created by the airline charging and purposefully separating families at the point of booking. not the woman with young children who made a mistake when booking

That would be true if the option was somehow hidden, CuriousEgg, but it's very obviously not, and as said before good luck convincing anyone asked to move that this was a "mistake"

It's a business though. Their purpose is to make money. They do that by saving money where they can and making money where they can. It's not exploitative or discriminatory when it applies to everyone.

Sorry you missed this process OP, but thank you for not being one of those families who expects or demands people to move. If you ask nicely, people might, but it's good that you accept that they may not.

I often travel with nothing but a small underseat bag, if it's to a warm destination, to somewhere with laundry facilities, or to my sister's home where I keep a dressing gown and a few other items.

Again, people should plan to pay for things they want to consume. Including specific seats.

Therefore forced to pay more for circumstances that are often out of their control

Um, so having "young children" is a circumstance out of your control????

I said often not always.

@CuriousEgg

I still thinking forcing people to pay for something that costs a company nothing is taking advantage.

It’s not about the costs of facilitating seat selection.(which I agree will be stuff all)…seat choice is simply a revenue stream, one of many, that all adds up hopefully to the airline making a profit.

If the airline can encourage some people on a flight to pay for seat choice then it allows the airline to reduce the base fare for the flight.

It really doesn't "cost the airline nothing" to seat groups together. Seats exist generally in sets of 3 on most planes. People travel in groups of 1-8 and on any plane it's generally not going to be easy to create a seating plan where everyone sits next to the people they are travelling with. If it was the airline's responsibility it would have to be someone's job and that someone would need a salary. That cost would then be shared equally between all passengers including those who don't give a toss where they sit or who they sit with.

There are enough people who don't care much where they sit for it to be a valid marketing strategy to reward those people with cheaper flights, and enough people who do care where they sit and who they sit with to be able to market that as a paid-for privilege because it's never going to be possible to give everyone their favourite choices so you might as well use fees as the gatekeeper: those who want it enough pay for it, and the benefit to those who don't pay for it is cheaper flights for everyone else which is a good thing

I think airlines should introduce an on-the-spot fee which is twice the normal seat-booking fee for anyone who asks to be swapped out of their assigned random seat if they don't pay the fee in the first place. That would deal with the freeloaders who try to wangle the seat they want without paying for it.

Totally agree but my problem with it is that it disproportionately impacts people who are disadvantaged to begin with. if it was just a case of seat selection was a luxury or something that was nice to have for everyone then I would have no issues with it but for some people its not a luxury, it's a requirement and so they are profiting from misfortune effectively.

But flying itself is, in most cases, a luxury.

Also, in this example, the youngest child was seven years old - most children this age can sit away from their parents on a flight (it would be "nice to have" but not a requirement).

If you have a genuine disability that means you need a particular category of seat then you can almost always get this for free via the special assistance facility. That's dealt with in an entirely different process.

Having children is not being "disadvantaged". It is no secret that children come with expenses. You take those expenses into account when you have children. You shouldn't just expect the world to bend so it doesn't cost you money to have the children you want.

yes it is a luxury for many people but because of additional charges for things that you would expect to be basics included in the cost your ticket (such as sitting next to a carer) it is even more of a luxury for people with additional needs.

honestly it just makes me a bit sad that people who are disadvantaged are further disadvantaged and it is seen as entirely acceptable for airlines to profit from it.

I'm not referring exclusively to people with children.

@Commonsense22 in that case I think an opt out method is better - base price flight comes with over head bag and seat ( which you go in and choose) and if you don't want an overhead bag you 'opt out' - that way your flight price would come down and it's not false advertising- at the moment I think it is because on an average flight I would predict maybe 10% absolute tops have no luggage at all -

Who is disadvantaged and then further disadvantaged over paying for a plane seat?