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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:
WreckaJones · 31/08/2011 14:19

Andrewofgg Yep. Should probably get that post deleted!

WreckaJones · 31/08/2011 14:22

Lying Of course it's a nonsense! That's the point! The airline would have to find a way to implement their procedure under CAA guidelines properly and that doesn't involve charging for compliance.

You're the one saying that the CAA guidelines aren't legally binding so in that case I don't have to be made to sit next to my children and the airline can't require me to surely, seeing as they are meaningless?

mayorquimby · 31/08/2011 14:25

"What would you do with the 2yr old? Ignore them."

Quite possibly. Head phones on, book out and don't talk to anyone when I'm flying.

Fontsnob · 31/08/2011 14:27

Really Mayorquimby? Sad

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 31/08/2011 14:27

Wrecka... I don't know, perhaps the airline might reasonably assume that parents are responsible... what a leap, eh? Wow, just wow, bonkers posts. Confused

Ladymuck · 31/08/2011 14:28

But they have implemented a procedure: it is one where family groups can pay to sit together.

Fontsnob · 31/08/2011 14:28

Or, lying, that they will force parents to pay 'optional' charges.

Fontsnob · 31/08/2011 14:30

Can I just see a show of hands please, who thinks it's okay for airlines to force people to pay to sit with their 2yr olds?

mayorquimby · 31/08/2011 14:31

nah, I don't have a clue what I'd do tbh. In general it's head phones in and don't talk to anyone, but if there was a kid on his own beside me I'd interact with them. Well in fairness I'd look to swap with the parent as long as it didn't mean I was then just going to be sat next to another kid making the swap redundant.

PottyRefusnik · 31/08/2011 14:32

Thanks Scurry and Crazy, I've just phoned Virgin Atlantic and they said they would do their upmost to ensure we are all sat together. She has put us down for row 35 there and row 36 back, which she says are good seats. We can confirm when the online check in opens a 48 hours before the flight. I'm very relieved to say the least!

I've never given it much thought before but I suppose if we fly with a budget airline (unlinkely because we go longhaul to visit family abroad) then I would pay the extra to sit together, I would just consider it part of the cost of the holiday to be budgeted for. That being said, don't think it ought to be like that.

Hopefully it won't come to it but I'd pity the person stuck next to my 2 year old. She isn't potty trained yet, still needs help to feed herself and would cry hysterically on take off and landing!

crazyspaniel · 31/08/2011 14:32

How many of the charges pioneered by budget airlines are optional anyway? The "optional" charge if you want to pay by credit or debit card (there is no other way to pay)? The "optional" charge of £5 to check-in online with Ryan Air (who are doing away with airport check-in)? Seat pre-selection, at least, is optional for a majority of passengers.

WreckaJones · 31/08/2011 14:33

Lying You're arguing my point for me! Awesome.Grin Responsible parents would surely have to be sitting near a child to be responsible for getting oxygen out etc wouldn't they? Or would you suggest airlines start to charge parents for incredibly long emergency robotic hands they can wield across aisles/up and down planes to assist their errantly placed children with their oxygen masks?

Ladymuck No they haven't. The airline is ONLY compliant if a parent has paid. I thought we were discussing the scenario where a parent hadn't paid on this thread?

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 31/08/2011 14:33

Potty, you'll be absolutely fine. Virgin Atlantic is not the same as 'cattle class'. Please don't worry. :)

Inertia · 31/08/2011 14:34

The thing is, as the CAA guidance indicates, pre-booked seats are not guaranteed. So you are paying your tenner to suggest to the airline where you'd like to sit. Therefore, even if all the parents with young children paid their tenners to sit together, they still wouldn't be guaranteed to sit together solely on the basis of their seat bookings anyway. Which makes a nonsense of the argument about being an irresponsible parent if you don't pay to indicate which seat you'd prefer.

WreckaJones · 31/08/2011 14:36

crazy I agree - but that's about practical/logistical/operational 'optionality' (if that's even a word). This is about people paying for a service that the airline are already legally required to offer (CAA) so a seat belt is a better analogy.

Fontsnob · 31/08/2011 14:36

Good point inertia!

Fontsnob · 31/08/2011 14:38

But crazy is optional for a majority, but not if you have kids, okay? Really? Plus what Inertia and wrecka have been saying.

SDTGisAnEvilGenius · 31/08/2011 14:39

"CAA guidelines ask airlines to develop procedures for the seat allocation of family groups, particularly when a group includes children. It is probable that family group members would seek each other out should an emergency evacuation be required, an action that could adversely affect the passenger flow rates towards emergency exits and might seriously affect the outcome of an evacuation.

Additionally, children and infants should be seated where they can be adequately supervised by an accompanying adult in the event of turbulence or a decompression in the cabin"

I've cut and pasted this quote from the CAA guidelines from WreckaJones' post.

Two things occur to me - firstly, that they are guidelines not rules - therefore they state what should ideally occur, not what must occur by law.

Secondly - the guidelines say that they 'ask' the airlines to develop procedures, and that children/infants 'should' be seated where they can be adequately supervised - in both these phrases, I can't see the CAA saying that this MUST happen - they are 'asking' that it 'should' happen.

silverfrog · 31/08/2011 14:39

Potty, you will probably be fine.

but I would like ot point out that all of my nightmare child-on-a-different-level/children separate form me scenarios were on decent airlines, not cattle class budget jobs.

BA worst for this, ime. they couldn't ever even manage ot seat dh and me together, and when challenged on it woudl exclaim "well, we weren't to know you were travelling togehter" - er, no. what with us booking our seats together, and having the same (highly unusual) name and all, it certainly would not be obvious, would it Hmm?

Pendeen · 31/08/2011 14:45

Amazing this is still going......

One of the most sensible post I have seen is from 'TheBride'

^What they are saying is that for £10 they will fly you to X. It then pretty clearly states that there are extras. You pay for

  • baggage
  • snacks
  • if you care where you sit
  • if you want to get on the plane before someone else
  • if you want them to print your boarding card
  • if you want to check in at the airport

All these things cost the airline money- that's why they charge.^

I couldn't agree more and I think this makes about 7/8 of the entire thread superfluous.

donthateme · 31/08/2011 14:45

I would love to see a parent try to insist another passenger signs some half baked ' guarantee' Which would be laughed all the way out of court - if it ever came to that, Which of course it wouldn't!!

Wrecka I still don't see your point. If the airline has seated your child next to another adult, they are quite clearly confident they are complying with guidelines. If the parent starts questioning this, and insisting on all sorts of written assurances , I imagine the cabin crew will pretty swiftly tell them to accept the situation or disembark! Why on earth would you question their safety procedures? If you were kicking up a stink it would obviously be because YOU wanted to sit next to your child- not because the airline needed you to!

PottyRefusnik · 31/08/2011 14:47

I don't know why I hadn't thought about it really. Ages ago, when I was still young (!), free and single I took an EasyJet flight and a couple got on with twin babies,probably about 6 months old and a toddler (2?). They had been assigned a single seat up front and two together further back.

They asked if anyone would be willing to move, everyone looked at the floor, the woman dissolved in tears. I said my friends and I would happily move and the woman hugged me! My friends were less than impressed but we all moved, meaning they got a row of 4 and we all got split up. EasyJet gave us all a free glass of wine too.

I think people have every right to say they won't move, and validly so if it would mean splitting up their own young children just to accommodate someone elses. But if its just a case of adults having to sit separately, I'd be proud to be the one prepared to move to make someone else's day a little easier. Hopefully if the situation arises someone will do the same for me one day.

Pendeen · 31/08/2011 14:49

And I am also v poor at formatting..... !

Amazed this is still going......

One of the most sensible post I have seen is from TheBride

What they are saying is that for £10 they will fly you to X. It then pretty clearly states that there are extras. You pay for

  • ^baggage
  • ^snacks
  • if you care where you sit
  • if you want to get on the plane before someone else
  • if you want them to print your boarding card
  • if you want to check in at the airport

All these things cost the airline money- that's why they charge.

I couldn't agree more and I think this makes about 7/8 of the entire thread superfluous.

Fontsnob · 31/08/2011 14:52

Actually Pendeen, I think the most sensible post is the last one from PottyRefusnik!

PottyRefusnik · 31/08/2011 14:55

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