To assume that allocated airline seats would be included in a package holiday

[rookiemater]

We are going away in a fortnight for the october break (YAY). We booked through a tour operator in December and I got out the docs today to precheck in online only to discover that we have no allocated seats and that these would be an additional £10 per person each way.
This has not been mentioned to us before and as such non essential extras such as airport lounge were included I naively assumed that we would have allocated seats. I complained to the company because a) it should have been mentioned at time of booking and b) why on earth would they offer things that you don't really need when they can't even offer the basics like a family sitting together on a plane.
In the end I will probably end up paying for at least one of us to sit beside DS there and back because otherwise we will be reliant on the airline following guidelines or the kindness of strangers ( who have probably paid for their seats) and I would rather have the certainty of knowing that DS aged 5 will be ok.
Oh and yes we can afford it, but had we known about this at the start we may have taken the decision to book independantly like we normally do due to comparative costs.

However am I being unreasonable to assume that if you book a package holiday your airline seats would be included, particularly if the company markets itself as a high end one?

OH PM if you don't want to put resort etc details on the thread.

We have booked last minute, package and completely independent holidays as a family. In all cases we expected to check in as "normal", which we did, either on-line or at the airport or, in one case, the evening before at the airport (actually not the best option). On only one occasion, where we were prepared to pay to upgrade our flight, we were unable to sit together as there were not enough seats in that category so we did a 2 and 1.
As other people have said, if you arrive in very good time to check in, most airlines will try to seat you together.

Oh and allocated seats or even online check-in are not immune from changes in 'plane at the last minute. I got caught out the other week, when I checked in online, carefully selecting a seat in the row behind and emergency exit (I like to put my handbag and laptop on the floor under the seat in front to save them being squashed to death by the inconsiderate business travellers who cram all their stuff into cabin bags and dump them in the overhead lockers). On arriving at the 'plane I discovered it was a differnt model (bigger as flight was obviously very overbooked) and I was now same seat, but emergency exit row. Grr.

I would have expected a £60 surcharge to have been pointed out to me OP, so YANBU.

I refuse to pay to sit next to my own children. If someone else wants to listen to the endless whinging and entertain them for a few hours while I enjoy my book and a vodka and tonic then great. The reality is no one wants to do this so dont fret too much- even if you are not allocated seats together at checkin the crew will always try to get people to move rather than leave a child seated with strangers.

I phoned up the agents acting on behalf of the airline and they have said provided we arrive on time ( which we plan to do to take full advantage of the airport lounge) then we will be seated together, pity the travel company were not able to let me know this when I phone initially but alls well that ends well.

Thanks youarekidding, we are going to costaadeje any tips welcome. We went last year but our accomodation was a couple of miles out from the centre and the beach so we didn't do loads.

YANBU. It's sneaky to say "here is your total price" and not include important extras.

I know a lot of people are saying suck it up but I still think the extra "sit together" cost should be in the total package price even if it makes that price higher. It's deceptive.