BA flights - do I need to spend £300 to pre book 3 seats together for me and kids? Or will this automatically happen?

[mummybearSW19]

Just booked 3 flights to the US in the summer with my 10yo and 14yo. Flights are British Airways.

I have the option to pre book 3 seats now. Or wait to be assigned / choose when check in opens 24h before the flight

would we be assigned 3 seats together?
or do I need to pay £600 to secure that now?

don’t really want us to be split up on the flight. (Unless it’s them together in the back and a mummy upgrade to first up front of course!!!)

BA are better than others at giving you seats together - you can usually reserve a few days before for free.

They sat us together. Could see where a few days before and change 24 hours before for free

This is what their website says: https://www.britishairways.com/content/information/family-travel/seating

With BA you’re usually ok. We’ve always been assigned seats together. They’re not like Ryan Air who will deliberately split you up. And with kids of those ages I’d personally be willing to take the tiny risk of being sat apart but that of course is up to you.

I didn’t bother on a short flight up to Edinburgh and we were seated together.

We’re going to Greece this summer and I’ve not bothered again (they’re 13 and 15).

I always do pay on long flights but these short ones it seems like a waste of money.

Just out of interest, what would you do if there was an emergency evacuation?

Would you be happy to get off the plane hoping they will manage the same or would you try to and get them?

Oh no I’d definitely go to them.

Generally you should be ok. BA should sit you next to your 10 yo - the policy is to seat a child under 12 with a parent or if no parent travelling then their adult travel companion. Technically the 14yo could be seated away from you, but ime (and I have some considerable professional experience here 😉) as long as you check in when check in opens 24hrs beforehand, you should be able to get seats together. At the very least your 14yo might be in the row in front or behind you, or across the aisle. There are no 100% guarantees, but I can’t recall ever seeing families split up by many rows. FWIW, as a very regular airline industry discount staff traveller, I’ve often travelled on standby where my children are not seated beside me, and they really don’t seem to care! As long as they have their own devices and snacks they seem to manage very well. However this has been primarily on SH, and on all the LH flights I did with kids even on standby BA shuffled seating plans around to ensure families with children under 12 are together.

We regularly fly British Airways and easyJet with a toddler and preschooler. The only time we’ve been split up as a family (which was one adult having to sit elsewhere rather than all of us in one row or two and two) was when we booked a flight the day before departure.

Both airlines have always sat us together without us having to pay extra.

You don’t need to pay it but they can only put you together if there are empty seats together available and looking at all the possible cancellations due to the higher costs of fuel due to the war, my bet is that the likelihood of it is zero. They will cram everyone in a smaller number of flights.

If you want to sit together pay for it, as they may find a place for you to sit with a toddler but the other children will be seated elsewhere, I have been traveling next to children as young as 4 whose parents didn’t plan ahead. They simply can’t move anyone who chose and paid for their seat to make space because you wanted to save some money.

One flight we did with Etihad, my (then) 13 year old was in the “row” in front (in business class) but it was actually kind of in the next cabin, past the galley. He was perfectly happy about this but the steward insisted on moving people around so he was closer to me. Luckily he had a window seat and was swapped into aisle so the swapee didn’t lose out.

In that case you need to be paying the money to sit beside them because you trying to get to them on the aircraft in an emergency situation could very well put others at risk. It is an everybody off immediately situation- not a go up and down the aisles locating kids and delaying others getting off situation.

Well that’s up to the airline. If they split up people flying together, especially minors, they have to accept that in an emergency parents will want to get to their children.

The 10 year old should be fine, but the 14 year old could very well be seated seperate ly

Erm… no. It’s up to you to ensure you are seated with your children.

As if you could… there’s no way you can walk against the crowd heading into the direction of the emergency exit. You are not even allowed to walk to your luggage for an EpiPen in strong turbulence… for very good reasons as well.

Thankfully, these emergencies are rare.

Just be aware that "next to" can usually include directly in front of or diagonally across an aisle from. BA are pretty good but I've also had them reassign us into 4 separate, scattered seats with a 7 and 9 year old, even when we had paid to ensure we were sat next to them rather than just nearby. This is not the norm though, and they did move us when I put up a fight.

we’ve never not been seated together so I wouldn’t pay. I think on one occasion the older one was sat on the row in front, but that was fine because then they both got window seats and all were happy 🤣 My kids are older though and not bothered where they sit.

I can’t remember with BA but I think your seats are automatically allocated straight way, so you can see if you’ll be seated together and pay to change them.

been several times to the us for work in the last 6 months. Tbh increasingly the flights are not full, and you have your pick of seats at check in. Last two flights home we’ve had a row each.

BA are usually pretty good at putting you together ... unlike Wizzair which put me and DH at opposite ends of the plane. I didn't care but it seemed like they were making a point as we weren't prepared to pay any more.

On a separate note ... I was reading about a woman who paid for three economy seats on a long haul flight, which worked out much cheaper than upgrading to business. She could then lay down when the seatbelt sign went off.

I was thinking though ... you'd surely get people trying to move into these seats if they were in shit ones ... you'd be constantly explaining and proving that they were all yours!

It will come down to what seats are available. If you want to guarantee a rowof 3, paynow. You are happy with the nearest seats possible which could be three seats in a column, or two together and the other slightly apart, dont pay.

Most airlines dont deliberately split but they cant allocate seats they dont have.

Does anyone know what it’s like with TUI for a flight to Tenerife? We are 2 adults and a 5yr old.

Tui are brilliant at putting at keast one adult with a child.
If its a dreamliner, the sitting is 3x3x3, so even more likely.
However adult only groups were split up aroubd the families on our flight last year.

Haven’t flown with a child yet but BA separated me and my husband last time we flew with them. Since having our daughter we always pay to secure seats together.

This is the reason that I always factor in the cost of seats into the travel costs. While my kids are old enough now to sit away from me and DH, I know in an emergency they would want to come to us / us to them and that would just not be possible. So I err on the side of caution and pay the extortionate pricing to ensure we are sat together.

I’ve never actually been separated from my kids on any flight - BUT I’m in Australia and maybe things are different here. Plus on long haul ones you don’t have to pay. But even the few shorter ones we’ve done in Europe, I’ve not paid and never been placed apart.