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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:
LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 31/08/2011 11:20

MollyMole... No, the message would not get through. The airlines have no vested interest in YOUR child, you as the parent are supposed to.

If you like to take the risk of seating your child next to somebody who doesn't welcome talking to/helping them, well that's your decision. What price a miserable flight? Doesn't make you much of a parent in my book.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 31/08/2011 11:21

Cocoachanel... Evidently! We seem to have 'no frills/budget parenting' to go with the 'no frills/budget airline seats'.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 31/08/2011 11:23

cocoachanel... I too flew as an unaccompanied minor, same age as you, many times. I loved it. Grin

exoticfruits · 31/08/2011 11:25

Mollymole was close to her DC she could talk to them. I would actually have played games like I Spy across the unreasonable adult who was selfishly hoping for an empty seat. I would have encouraged my DC to go out to the loo and move him each time. And also said 'excuse me-can you help him with his food' -'excuse me can you pass him a drink'-'excuse me can you pass the book.'etc etc. Obviously a terrible mother!!!
The airline has a duty to place the 4yr old next to a parent and not get £10 for it!

exoticfruits · 31/08/2011 11:26

If it was a 7/8 yr old it wouldn't have been a problem.

exoticfruits · 31/08/2011 11:27

A train is different-if the worst came to the worst you could stand in the connecting part. You can't stand on a plane.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 31/08/2011 11:27

Insomnia... I said in my post that the price should be put on the ticket, then it wouldn't be an optional extra and couldn't be avoided. Problem solved.

Fontsnob · 31/08/2011 11:27

pay the surcharge to ensure that their child sits with them

Do you not see how ridiculous this statement is in regard to a 2/3/4/5 year old child.

mollymole · 31/08/2011 11:28

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe
my post clearly states that this occurred some time ago - 19 years as it happens -it was before the pre-booking of seats - you are very presumptious of my 'parenting skills' -

libelulle · 31/08/2011 11:28

I think people here are talking about natural consequences, not a 'fuck you' attitude. If you let a 2 year old sit alone on a flight, then yes they will make life pretty hard for those sitting next to them. That's just inevitable. My tiny children are my responsibility, no-one else's donthateme, that's why I need to sit next to them! An 8 year old is a different matter, I agree, but actually the OP has a 2 and a 4 year old.

And Robinsure, as for 'Having the ability to perform a biological function doesn't get you extra privileges'. Ha! What, the privilege of being able to look after your 2 year old and not abandon them to their fate for 3 hours? Yup, afraid I think it does, actually. Are you one of those people who reckon they shouldn't be paying for schools in their taxes? Or wheelchairs for disabled people? Or (thanks Mark Steel) do you think maybe street lamps should be on a coin-slot system so that you don't have to pay for anyone else's lighting? Why should I pay for someone else to see at night, after all - not my responsibility.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 31/08/2011 11:30

mollymole... I said 'you' as in a general, 'you'. The concept is the same and there are clearly parents here who think that the world owes them everything because they've had a child.

Fontsnob · 31/08/2011 11:31

FFS the world doesn't owe people anything because you have a child. The airlines are ripping people off because they have a child. There is a big difference.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 31/08/2011 11:32

libelulle... Sorry but what do mandatory 'taxes' have to do with paying for a commercial airline ticket?

Fontsnob · 31/08/2011 11:34

By your thinking Lyingwitch, it is okay to force someone to pay for an OPTION extra because they HAVE to sit with their small child. Why do you think this is okay?

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 31/08/2011 11:34

Fontsnob... Well, if it matters to you, don't get ripped off - don't give them the ticket money in the first place. Your choice, no?

Don't foist your child-seating problems on everybody else. Some of us take responsibility for making sure our children are with us. If we couldn't afford it, if £20 would make that much of a difference to our budget, we wouldn't go. What if an emergency crops up?

exoticfruits · 31/08/2011 11:35

It is a natural consequence-an airline ought to be able to work out that an under 5yr old needs to be next to the adult that is responsible for them and not make them pay for a necessity.
They also didn't ought to let 2 people book seats in a row with a space between(unless they promised not to speak to each other)-as a lone adult I would be very irritated to be talked across when trying to sleep or read..

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 31/08/2011 11:36

Fontsnob... A responsible parents wouldn't think of it as an 'optional extra'; it's not really, is it? You NEED your children to sit with you so that removes the 'optional'.

donthateme · 31/08/2011 11:36

I agree lying!

It's the glee with which some parents announce that their little darling will be messy, noisy and generally annoying which I find bizarre (and a bit demeaning to the child'). And as for proudly announcing that your 8 yr old will scream and sob if sat a few rows away... God I would be embarrassed to admit that!

If I found myself sat next to a young child' I would feel no obligation to entertain them or chat if i didnt feel like it. And if the paren tried to make some sort of point by forcing their child to unecessaily visit the toilet, or play enforced i spy, then frankly i would feel sorry for the kid being used as a pawn in some strange 'game'. The bottom line is- most adults are parents, even if our children are older/younger or not travelling woth us that day- weve all been there.

WreckaJones · 31/08/2011 11:37

Oh god have just realised it's Monarch. Brough back traumatic memories of flying 6 months pregnant trapped into window seat having to endure being kneed or elbowed in the stomach every time I wanted to go to the toilet because he was just too obese to fit in the seat. Obviously I should have demanded that he pay for two seats if that was the space he wished to use since if we're going to agree with charging parents to sit with children under 5, carers should be charged for sitting with their people and fat people should be charged twice. Only the 'normal' and childless should get away with paying the basic fare.

Fontsnob · 31/08/2011 11:37

Really Lying, do you not see an issue there at all...pay or else aka blackmail. You really don't think that there is a problem there at all?

exoticfruits · 31/08/2011 11:38

I wouldn't be foisting my child seating problem on someone else-the airline would. I would expect common sense to say that a 2 yr old can't manage alone-not charge me £10 for something they are legally obliged to do.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 31/08/2011 11:38

exoticfruits... Yes it's a necessity. I can't understand the mentality of a 'parent' who would put their child in the position of having to sit next to a stranger, away from their parent, when the solution was within the parent's scope... then again, why not make it somebody else's problem, airline first, then stranger who is asked to move, then stranger who has to pander to the child's whims.

My child? MY responsibility.

Fontsnob · 31/08/2011 11:39

So donthateme...you would spend a whole journey ignoring the 2 year old next to you? The two yr old with it's parent being forced to sit in another row on the plane?

Fontsnob · 31/08/2011 11:39

Because the airline is trying to make more cash out of people who have already paid for their seat.

exoticfruits · 31/08/2011 11:40

How are they a pawn in a strange game? It is what I would do anyway on the journey-if someone wants to sit in the middle and not swap that is their problem.