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.

Not necessarily, you can choose or be allocated seats on checkin. Op look at upfront seats , you may pay extra but get additional cabin baggage and speedy boarding included. Or book the fire exit ones which the checkin desk will then amend if needs be,

You wouldn't be the target so you wouldn't have anything to worry about. It would hopefully put anyone off who thought they might take advantage of the situation of a young child being sat alone. Better to ensure the child knows they're protected and what to do if the need arises, even if it makes those sitting around them slightly uncomfortable.

My 7yo has started going into the men's loos alone and I'm afraid I'm that parent who stands obviously outside and yells "Are you ok? Mummy is right here" loudly and pointedly. I don't care who I annoy frankly, it can only make my kids safer that people round about know I'm watching out for them.

Good morning ! Wow well this thread blew up !

I've skim read as Im getting ready - yes will focus on getting the 7 year old next to me as that's who I'm most worried about. Eldest dc will be fine , she said she's taking revision for the plane anyway. Our eleven year old will probably want to be closer to dad so will try to get them two together. Definitely not expecting five seats in a row. Or planning on 'stomping' around and getting angry at other passengers over my own mistake !

If you are going to offer to recompense people who have paid for seats - and I very much suspect that you are not - then remember they paid for two seats together so separating them means they both lose the benefit of what they paid for.

Most people will not believe you that this was a genuine oversight. You'd have to be very isolated from the world to not know that seat allocation is an extra you have to pay for these days, and you only pay the basic ticket price if you don't care where you sit or who you sit with.

Most people on the flight will have chosen their seats and will see no reason to surrender them to you. It's far too frequent for a flight to have a family on board who chose to skip paying deliberately hoping to guilt people into swapping and so get the premium product at the economy cost, at the expense of other travellers, so they will assume that you are doing the same.

If you have ready cash in the currency ofthe country you are flying to and offer £10-£20 to any person who swaps then they will at least believe you aren't being a cheeky freeloader.

You wouldn't be the target so you wouldn't have anything to worry about. It would hopefully put anyone off who thought they might take advantage of the situation of a young child being sat alone. Better to ensure the child knows they're protected and what to do if the need arises, even if it makes those sitting around them slightly uncomfortable.

Well she would be the target if you were loudly explaining to your child that no one should be touching them in the presence of someone sitting next to them - who else would you be concerned about. Better to ensure the child is protected by booking seats next to them, I very much doubt anyone intent on doing your child harm would be remotely put off by your loud parenting.

'Isolated from the world' 😂 what can I say I must have crawled out from under a rock. I don't care if anyone believes me or not! We haven't travelled easyJet, and I had no idea. Make of that what you will. I don't have time to sit here arguing over it.

Thank you to all the helpful replies , will deff update the thread on the other side 😅⛱️

If I wasn't flying with my toddler I'd be happy to swap seats, always have whenever I've been asked.

Karma came back around on our flight to Jamaica when DH and I booked a row of 2 (baby on knee) and across the aisle a couple had a row of 3 to themselves but were still sitting together. We asked if they'd be willing to swap and they were more than happy to! Baby got her own seat! Happened on the way home too, bliss. Hope it all gets sorted for you OP!

I wouldn't count this as a mistake. You're saving money by not choosing seats, which benefits the children. I never book them together! I always live in hope that they will be put with their other parent, giving me some me-time - not that we fly very often at all.

Mine would have killed to sit on her own at that age. But if you have one of the children you describe you’d be really checking to see where you were seated.

And there'll be a thread from the people OP asked to swap seats with...

Also, I have very happy memories of sitting by myself, apart from my parents, when I was 4 or 5!

It’ll be fine OP but i get the stress of traveling and we’ve not got 3 kids!
When you get a minute, and the panic has gone, look up Fascinating Aida’s song “cheap flights” on YouTube, its hilarious if a bit rude about Ryanair type budget travel…
Hope you have a good holiday.

Where are you going on easyJet for SIX hours?

A toddler I would understand. But with a 7 year old why is this such a drama. He is more than old enough to entertain himself with a book/activities/snacks and come and see parents every so often during the flight. It's not like he can go anywhere or needs constant looking after!

I can't believe people would get upset about a young child sitting alone being reminded what to do if they are being made uncomfortable for any reason.

I would never expect someone to swap seats, but it's not reasonable to say "ok I won't swap seats, but I also object to you telling your child what to do if they need help."

So I've never paid for seats on EasyJet. Now I have older kids with long legs and over 16 I've been getting my son and husband extra legroom seats. However you can't just pay for them and let me and my daughter sit wherever. I have to now pay to reserve all seats.
Anyway I don't quite know how you miss the book the seat memo. You get reminder after reminder. But I guess you might think it's like BA where you check in 24 hrs before, and the 30 days is not so obvious (but I think you do get an email to say check in is open).

Where are you going to move to if the flight is full but you don't want to swap with the parent?

To add to everyone's disbelief, I had no idea check in opened 30 days before flying . 🫣 otherwise I would be in there like a shot booking it ! The email i used to book is not a working email anymore, (mailbox full, tried emptying it several times but not happening) so that's probably why i missed the emails .

Water under the bridge I guess but airline policies on this have evolved (many of the legacies now have seat related charges) and TBH these days when looking to book with an airline..indeed any airline, Short haul or Long haul, it’s probably safest to assume there’s a seat related charge lurking somewhere…it’s nice when there isn’t one.

Hope your flight works out OK.

I fly once or twice a year but not usually by budget airline and I am used to checking in around 48hours before flying. I booked ryan air for this week ages ago and was amazed to discover check-in already open when i bought the ticket and many seats already gone. I honestly don't understand the point of 'check in' when it's months in advance? how does that confirm in any way whether you're likely to turn up or not?

This is bonkers.

You are just going to make your child anxious thinking dangers lurk everywhere. They are quite frankly extremely unlikely to be touched up on an easyJet flight. Madness

Egypt, presumably.

I hope I am never on a plane with you
So entitled.
Reasons people don't swap are many, the first being 'Why should I facilitate your lazy, entitled attitude to flying as a family and expecting the world to revolve around you...'
Set you kids of crying - go ahead, noise-cancelling earplugs work very well

It certainly wouldn’t work with me Lola’s I would just put headphones in and ignore. The cabin crew would have to find the parents to deal with them. That poster is the exact reason why some people roll eyes when they see families coming. And yes I have flown with my four young children but would never be so entitled as to demand others move because i didn’t want to pay. If someone asked me nicely and as long as it was an aisle seat I would swap but not otherwise.