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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect to be allocated airline seats next to my kids?

751 replies

correllia · 30/08/2011 13:24

My partner and I are off on holiday to menorca at the end of September with Monarch. They have emailed us to tell us we can check in online now, which saves time at the airport.

So far so good - but to complete the process I have to prebook my seats at the cost of £5 per seat per flight. We are on a tight budget and deliberately haven't bought the seats in advance to save the pennies.

Kiddies are 2 and 4, whilst I don't mind our sitting 2 and 2 apart from each other but looking at the seat plan even this option is fast disappearing! Can the airline force such young children to sit next to strangers?

Am I unreasonable to demand that we sit with them?

PS this is my first post, so please be genttle :-)

OP posts:
jellybeans · 31/08/2011 00:31

We didn't pay it, as long as you get there 3 hrs before you will probably be together. There were 6 of us and we were in 3 and 3 with ailse in between. We did pay it in resort for the way back though as it was offered for a tenner for us all to be guarenteed to sit together and as we were a coach pick up with the other passengers, we had no option to get there early so felt it was worth peace of mind.

IwanttobeShirleyValentine · 31/08/2011 00:49

All this is the airlines fault for trying to charge for a service they cannot akways be guaranteed to provide because under CAA Rules young children should be sat close to parents whether they have paid for the privelidge or not.

Its the airlines taking the piss out of families and hoping that most dont know or realise the CAA Rules.

If everyone complained to the CAA when an airline has not sat parents and children close (not next to) together as in their guidelines then action against the Airlines would be taken by the CAA - usually fines enforced.

If this happend frequently enough we would probably find ourselves going back to the old and much more sensible system where everyone was booked into their seats as they checked in, in family groups/friend parties etc etc.

All this stress and issue has come about through greed of the airlines.

Mytholmroyd · 31/08/2011 00:49

Agree with bemybebe - it has never worked out cheaper on budget airlines when I have factored it all in. Come on SOMEONE has to watch the YouTube cheapflights song by fascinating aida I posted earlier! It's really funny and as others have said - its the airlines greed that's turning us all into selfish people. How can anyone think its ok to sit a small child on its own? Where is your compassion folks? I don't understand.

libelulle · 31/08/2011 02:36

I'm agog at this thread. Are there really people out there who reckon it's ok for a 2 year old to sit alone on a plane because its parents haven't shelled out a fiver for the privilege of sitting next to it? Damned right I have a sense of entitlement. If I pay for an airline ticket i should not have to pay extra to ensure my child's most basic safety needs are met. Do you think airlines should have the right to charge extra for seats with seatbelts? Completely astonished that anyone reckons that their having paid a fiver means that they have the 'right' to their special seat even if it means a 2 year old has to fend for him or herself for 5+ hours. Now THAT is what I'd call a sense of over-entitlement. I feel like I've walked into a gathering of crazed libertarian loons.

differentnameforthis · 31/08/2011 04:45

I can't believe that airlines charge to pre book seats...how money grabbing is that? We are due to fly from Australia to UK new yr for a holiday & if my airline, going either way want extra to the $10k I will have already paid for flights, they can stick it where the sun don't shine!!!

But I will happily let the unfeeling person who won't move sit next to my 3yr old...she has great vocal range, accompanied by a great talent to talk non stop about stuff that I don't care about, let alone a stranger... terrible sit-still ability & a great talent for crying for her mumma! OH & a wonderful art of playing with her food, which means that it goes everywhere....

My 8yr old will probably loudly whinge & sob the whole flight.

The airlines can go fuck themselves if they think I'd let my children sit nr a stranger for almost 24 fucking hours.

I agree with who ever said that people should refuse to pay these stupid extra charges, just for the possibility of an allocated seat!

Do people like being ripped off these days? I really get the sense that they do!

differentnameforthis · 31/08/2011 05:09

Everybody is going on about the sense of self entitlement of parents wanting to sit with their children, and not have to pay extra for a seat they have already paid for to guarantee that!

What about the sense of self entitlement to stay put in YOUR window seat, cos you prefer not to to be sat in-between people, or your preference not to sit in a seat near the toilet, or not wanting to sit next to a toddler, or needing to be close to the loo??!!

Same thing, no? And as said before, you are giving the airline MORE money so you have the possibility of sitting where you want, they don't guarantee it. But go ahead & pay...and if you end up on my flight next yr, good luck with my toddler! Grin

TheBride · 31/08/2011 05:20

Yeah, those greedy airlines that charge you a tenner to get to Croatia. Fucking bastards. How dare they.

differentnameforthis · 31/08/2011 05:43

Equally, why should someone's choice of seat be based on their ability to produce offspring

How utterly stupid...slacksally. My choice of seating has nothing to do with being able to 'produce offspring' but my right & my responsibility to keep my children (and the rest of the flight) safe. I don't want my child to be penalised if she makes the passenger next to her tip scalding water into their laps, nor do I want my daughter to feel bad if she causes someone else to spill their food. Or throws up on them.

If you don't understand that, then you are either stupid, or are spectacularly missing the point, BIG TIME!!

differentnameforthis · 31/08/2011 05:44

Well them thebride, maybe they should charge more for the flights & do their job properly...and not leave seat allocation to the people who they are taking money from to do their job!

Andrewofgg · 31/08/2011 07:24

Animation on many trains you can book a seat and if I know soon enough when I am going I book a table seat. Should I give it up and sit with a seat-back in my face to allow a family of four who have either not booked seats or were too late to book to have a table together? I try to be considerate but that is a bridge too far.

exoticfruits · 31/08/2011 07:50

It is just pure common sense, not to say a safety rule that under 5's must sit with a parent. The mind boggles at what would happen if you had an emergency and the 2 yr old was left to cope! Airlines shouldn't charge for a necessity-it is a rip off.
It isn't rocket science to know that if you have 4 tickets with the same name you want seats together-you do not need £20 to do this. I would rather they just put the price up, than do it by stealth.
I didn't have any difficulty and mine are past the age where it matters, but I wouldn't do it on principle.
I can't believe that someone wants to sit next to a howling 2 yr old (and mine would have howled) with me saying 'you will need to help him with the meal-he won't be able to get the lids off and watch out because he is a bit messy!'
It doesn't apply on trains because a family of 4 only need 2 seats together and they wouldn't have a DC on their own as they could sit on a knee.
You don't know how many passengers are getting on a train, if you don't book you know that you may have to stand. On a plane they know how many people, they know which names and they know they have to have a seat.
A family of 4 could cope with 2 sets of seats-but not a 2 yr old on their own!

exoticfruits · 31/08/2011 07:53

You do not have to give up a table seat Andrew-it leaves 3 seats free so that one parent can sit with 2 DC and the other adult find a seat or they can all sit there with one DC on a lap. You are not going to be left with a DC on their own who can't manage a meal and needs help with a seat belt etc.

MJHASLEFTTHEBUILDING · 31/08/2011 07:53

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Catslikehats · 31/08/2011 07:57

This isn't about entitled parents it is about airlines trying to charge for something that they are both legally and morally bound to provide.

Why posters are angry at the parents is beyond me, anger should be directed at the airlines who think this is appropriate way to make money.

And as I said upthread it is not just the budget airlines that pull this stunt, BA are charging increasingly ridiculous fees to book seats in advance and it has long been acknowledged that pretty much the only way to secure a basinet is to pay the £60 for extra leg room seats.

Viva I am shocked at your experience and it genuinely makes me really sad that not one person moved so that a distressed 5 year old could be a little less distressed, IME people are falling over themselves to get away from the lone toddler that the airline have decided to seat alone.

Andrewofgg · 31/08/2011 08:00

exoticfruits that would be no problem of course.

QueenOfDenial the first moral responsibility is on the parent(s) with the child to do everything possible - and that may mean paying the fee.

Catslikehats · 31/08/2011 08:07

Andrew I disagree. Airlines are not allowed to sit parents and young children apart. To then charge extra money to ensure that something that they have an obligation to ensure happens, happens is dishonest.

Frankly parents should stop paying it on principle.

MJHASLEFTTHEBUILDING · 31/08/2011 08:11

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clam · 31/08/2011 08:12

No one has answered the question: do you get a refund if you are commanded by airline staff to give up a seat that you have paid extra for?

Catslikehats · 31/08/2011 08:13

MJ that is why I said "legal and moral", in that order. Primarily they have a legal obligation to ensure the flight is safe, secondly they have a moral obligation not to leave young children distressed.

treas · 31/08/2011 08:16
exoticfruits · 31/08/2011 08:19

Of course you should get a refund if you give up the seat.
Airlines shouldn't be allowed to get away with something they have to provide.
I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't give up their seat. If I fly alone the last thing that I want to do is be responsible for someone else's 4 yr old!

upahill · 31/08/2011 08:21

How many people on this thread have actually had problems?

There seems to be a lot of opinion about what should happen but not too many personal examples.
I normally fly with my family at least three times a year and fly with friends a couple of times.
I usally fly with EasyJet or Jet2.com. I've never had any problems at all in all these years. We normally have 3 seats in a row and one either next aisle or aisle in front or we have had two and two.
Last year the eldest sat away from us because he wanted a good view of the tv screen but that was his choice.

MJHASLEFTTHEBUILDING · 31/08/2011 08:23

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exoticfruits · 31/08/2011 08:25

I have never had a problem and I never book seats. We were once given seat numbers that didn't exist! We ended up having to sit 2x2 behind each other but they were very apologetic and we got free drinks.

Andrewofgg · 31/08/2011 08:28

MJHASLEFTTHEBUILDING see my earlier post (7.24 today) and exoticfruit's answer about trains; to be sure of sitting together you may indeed have to pay.

exoticfruits I have been asked to give up my table/window seat so that an entire family of four could sit together. I declined, politely but firmly,and they were not happy. They had to sit two-and-two on opposite sides of the aisle, and I am sure they enjoyed the journey less than if they had had a table, and it was just too bad.