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

[correllia]

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 :-)

The CAA page also indicates that most airlines don't actually agree to guarantee pre-booked seats.

We recently flew BA, checked our outward bound flight booking online and had been allocated 3 in one row, 1 in front which was fine so checked in online. To reserve seating at that point(just over a week ahead of return) would have cost £10 per head so we decided not to bother as we weren't sure we'd have internet access to enable online check-in again. However when we looked the day before the flight (managed to access it from our hotel) we had been pre-allocated similar anyway. So my advice is not to worry at worst you will be 2+2 or 3+1 and don't worry about checking in online - the baggage drop off queue was long anyway so I doubt we saved much time.

They are breaking a booking if you've paid for it.

I'm sure I read somewhere I should expect to be sat beside my 3 yr old DD when flying together. It was fine on the way out to Paris, but on the way back, we were placed on seats either side of the isle. The woman behind the checking in desk said it shouldn't be a problem us sitting that way i.e. I should just suck it up, but I insisted that I would not be separated from her. She then, huffily, re-arranged the seating. I had been told before we left (by travel agent - doubl checked with them before flying) that we would not be separated, so I kind of felt justified in insisting on it. My DD would have screamed the place down if she'd been forced to sit on her own next to a stranger, despite me being across the isle from her. I think I did my fellow travellers a favour...

I would have definitely payed the £20 to know that the kids would sit with us and avoid the stress. It's only 20 not 200. Yanbu to think that such young children should be seated with their parents, but yabu to not pre book to ensure this hapoened

Sorry £40 still not a lot for that reassurance

I recently came back from a package holiday to Lanzarote with First Choice. I always pay to pre-book seating because I don't want to be sat apart from my 5yo DS, plus we like to get a window seat so he can look out. On the way back, just before take off the cabin crew made an announcement that a 3yo girl was sat apart from her mum and was in floods of tears - I could hear her crying - and asked if two adults currently sitting together would be willing to swap places and sit apart, so the mum and DD could sit together. So it's not always guaranteed you'll get to sit together because if you happen to be placed apart, it's down to the generosity of other passengers as to whether they'll move to accommodate you or not.

I would pay to pre-book the seats, it's worth it imo.

Airlines only pre allocate 40% of seats, just because there are few seats showing as available on a seat map, that doesn't mean that all the seats are taken

The very best thing to do is to be at check in when it opens, you will have your pick of the remaining 60% of seats ( apart from exit seats/bulkheads etc.)

For the people who have pre-booked their seats there must be something in your agreement that says the seats that can be changed at the airline's discretion.

I've had my seat changed between check in and boarding because the flight was so underbooked they had to spread passengers along the length of the plane to balance the weight. If changes can be this late then I'm pretty sure a booking months in advance can be changed too. If children being seated with an adult is a safety requirement then your prior booking is not going to trump that.

FFS - this really pisses me off - the airline, not OP! It's another way of getting additional revenue. I fly quite frequently (one per month) with my kids, but always with a scheduled airline (not charter) and sometimes we are allocated seats where we are separated. I just ask the cabin crew if we can change, after nicely pointing out that in the event of an emergency, will the stranger sitting next to 5 year old dd be helping her? Will they also help cut up her food, read to her and take her to the toilet? IME people are always very accommodating - who wants to sit next to someone else's child?

OP - not sure what the protocol is with pre-booking seats on line, but if people have paid for a specific seat it unreasonable to expect them to move. But it's the bloody airline which is really unreasonable with stealth charges.

Flashback to my reclining seats thread [rocks gently]

I'd pay but it is annoying.

And one thing I've learnt from mn is that if some people have 'paid' for something - lordy they'll take full advantage of it.

I mean personally if I was travelling without my dc's and I was sat next to some-one elses whilst they were sat somewhere else - I'd be leaping out of my seat to change places with the parent. But for a lot of people - well they've paid for their specific seat so tough luck.

I think the whole paying £5 or whatever to do this is a con and should be stopped.

Perhaps bupcakes could add it in as a policy when she finally starts cunting airlines.

It is up to you whether or not you pre-book, but whether or not YABU depends on how you are going to react if you are not seated together. If you are intending to make a massive fuss and insist on someone else being moved to accomodate you then you would be massively unreasonable not to pre-book. If you are going to simply ask what can be done and suck it up if nothing can then YANBU.

It would be extremely cheeky to not book in order to save money, knowing perfectly well that you are intending to demand that the airline deprive someone else of the seat that they have chosen and paid for. You would basically be saying "I am more important than you so I think I should have something you have paid for."

Also, highly unlikely I know, but what if all other seats are taken up by pre-booked groups with children? You couldn't then insist on another group being broken up to accomodate you. I suppose the airline could then refuse to let you fly if they have a policy of small children having to be seated with an adult.

I have prebooked and paid and have a young child. Lets say we all have, what happens then?

Actually regardless of what will actually happen I think it's unfair that it's assumed others will move to accomodate. We have a four hour flight and have taken the steps necesary to make it as bearable as possible. Those that don't but expect to be taken care of of are unreasonable.

Personally I think everyone should refuse to pay these charges. Wouldn't be long before they sorted out their pricing policy. But unfortunately all the 'suck it up and pay it' attitudes are just lining the pockets of these airlines and justifying their insistence on silly pricing rules

On the basis that you are happy to sit in 2 blocks of 2, and that there aren't 4 seats together available I personally wouldn't pay. I would turn up VERY early though and say that you tried to prebook but there wasn't 4 seats together.

They CAN'T sit a 2 or 4 year old on their own!!!!

I think worst case is a 3 and a 1 - this has happened to us before, ie one adult has to look after both kids and the other gets a peaceful flight, we just swapped halfway.

In terms of the person on the middle comments - say to them - oh I'm so glad I don't have to sit next to my 2 year old, she's terribly travel sick, and too small to hold the sick bag, so this way I'll stay clean and you can be sicked on!

Actually actually. I have to stop using this wretched smartphone. meh.

Having been the person sitting next to the unaccompanied minor - the airline will ask whoever your child ends up sitting next to, to look after them. Great parenting there - all for the price of a few quid!

If you can afford to go on holiday, then you can afford to pay £40 to guarantee seats together.

The only people who get split up from their group are those that are towards the back of the check in queue.
If you arrive early and are in the first half of the line, there is never a problem - pre booking guarantees nothing, even when you've paid.

*MrsC) I thought of the reclining seat thread recently. When I was on a short haul (3hr) flight and the person in front of me decided to recline her seat IN THE MIDDLE OF DINNER. She was tiny too (about 5ft) and had the emergency exit row seats with extra legroom. When I looked round (after I had wiped my dinner off my nipples...) it was the only seat on the entire plane that was reclined.

My water bottle got put back in the seat pocket with a little less care than would otherwise have been the case.

As for the OP, I think it's annoyng that airlines make these charges but if you want to sit next to your kids you are going to have to pay. Otherwise you will be asking people who have made that payment to give up the allocated seat they have paid to reserve in order to accommodate you.

Hummelboy, you're a charmer, aren't you?

OP, You will be able to insist that one of you sit with your children as you need to be next to them in an emergency, but you might be split up from your partner.

Airlines that do this really piss me off. Preying on peoples' justifable wish to sit with their family.

The only way round it is to plead with other passengers and someone may swap seats with you. Anything to be away from someone else's child

Can I pay to sit separately from my kids? :o

see if i paid for a the seats so all my family could sit together...i would not move.

OP just pay for the seats.

Foreveronadiet, I had that just last week! I was in the middle of our DD1 (9yrs) and DD2 (6yrs) and DH had a seat all to himself in the middle row.

This was a long haul flight 11.5hrs from South Africa and the people in the row in front of us kept their seats reclined for the WHOLE journey, even at supper time and then I found out why, the seats in front of them had two very lively girls (3yr old approx) and they kept saying "Hello, hello, hello, hello" for almost 2hrs solid.
The parents were fast asleep!

Nightmare journey, so in a way I forgave the people in front of me as they were having a worse time.

If I've booked and paid for a seat and taken my seat and them asked politely to move to a seat that is no worse (not one that does not recline if mine does, and I will check that the reading light works) so as to help not split a family - I will.

But if met with a sense of entitlement, the assumption that I have to move - j'y suis, j'y reste. Here I am and here I stay.