to be annoyed at BA for seating my toddler on his own, in a different set of seats from any family?

[SuiGeneris]

DSis, DS1, DS2 and I are flying tomorrow morning. I have just checked in online to find we are split in three different bits of the airplane, with me and DS2 (a baby on my lap) in row X on the aisle, DS1 (2!) across the aisle and DSis, who has travelled to London specifically to fly with us and help with DS1, on row X-1. We booked ages ago, was it so difficult to keep us all in the same row? How do we get this fixed?

OP - can you let me know what happens? We're in exactly the same situation for tomorrow. Our online check-in only starts later on today but I've had a look at the seats they've allocated already, and our family of 4 is split over 3 rows, which would mean our 4year old would be in a separate row. From the seat plan it looks like the cabin is fully booked so we couldn't even pay to move our seats together.

phone them, surprisingly they are actually really nice. Also, for not much you can pay for really nice seats.

This happened to me with another airline a couple of years ago for a transatlantic flight. They sorted it out at the gate and we ended up with great seats together, with masses of space. I believe that they keep certain rows of seats free (but can only allocate/switch around at the gate) so they should be able to ensure you are all together. Just get to the airport and to the gate in plenty of time.

Isn't the problem solved now? You've managed to move DS1 and he's sitting next to your sister, who is going along to help anyway.

I don't think this applies to the OP but it's a bit if people don't pay the extra 'preferred seating' or 'board first' charge for the budget airlines and then complain they can't sit together.

DoItOnce - my opinion is that you shouldn't really have to pay for speedy boarding etc if you have young children with you - it's kind of necessary for them to sit with a responsible adult. Not necessarily in one group, but they shouldn't be seated alone.

What if my kids, left alone at the back of the plane, had decided to get out of their seats and run up and down the aisle during take-off? A safety risk, surely?

But I agree with your point to some extent; I didn't make a fuss on that occasion because we were very late to board (traffic problems) and I didn't want to put people out who were more organised than us. It was self-inflicted, in our case!

I was just very surprised the airline didn't insist my kids sat with an adult. After all, you try booking a 5yo to fly "unaccompanied". You wouldn't get far with any airline I know of.

I was on a flight a few years ago (not BA) where a young child was on their own beside my dh and I. We were approached by head stewardess who asked if we didn't mind sitting with the child til after take off and then they would move us so their mum and dad could come sit beside him. We were happy to "look after" the wee boy - who was lovely and chatty, showing me his toys until he could be reunited with his mum & dad. Don't know what they'd have done had we said no bout doubt many reasonable people would. Hope you get it sorted.

Phone them up and ask - they may be able to do something now and it will put your mind at rest, rather than having to stress about getting early.

I have found BA steward staff amazingly helpful. Twice when I was travelling with DH and DD before 2 when she was on my lap (unprompted we didnt ask), they moved the person sitting next to us in the same row of three seats "to give this family more room" so that we got a seat we hadn't paid for. (Not sure I would have been impressed if I had been the poor person who had to move, but we were terribly grateful).

Once when DD was screaming the place down when she was about 15 months old, they let me sit in the galley at the back of the plane with her for most of the journey and came up with lots of solutions, treats, drinks to try and make her happy.

All this in economy class too.

YABU. You know full well your toddler is not going to be sitting on his own. You know you will get it changed at check-in or swap on board and all will be well.

When we travel with my mum, who needs wheelchair assistance, they often change the seats anyway even when we have pre-selected so I am sure they will move things around at the last minute. It's been very annoying for us as we have travelled in large groups, pre-selected seats to be together and then my Mum and Dad get shipped off somewhere else! (she can walk about on the plane but needs help with the long distances in the airport so would be safe anywhere on board)

I often used to fly alone and was regularly asked to sit beside people's children on Ryanair - families who didn't fit in one row. I always did this because I wanted my flight to leave on time but I did question what the limits of my role were? Was I expected to be responsible in the event of an emergency? If not why did I need to be there? It's a really difficult one to sort out and therefore I would hope the airline would try to keep you all together to avoid these situations.

Hope it works out ok for you.

It isnt a budget airline its BA....
Most of the time they fix this at the airport or at the gate. You dont have an option on most BA flights to pay to sit together..... I thought it was a given. So if they really wont help, when you get on the plane see if the passengers will switch with you. Most single people travelling on their own arent going to have an issue with that. If they do then just tell them DS might be sick and so its best if they swap!

BA areshocking wrt seating chilren apart from parents.

a few years ago, they repeatedly moved dd1 (then 3) away from our seating, and into aduifferent cabin (we had selected seats upstairs in business class, they kept moving dd1 downstairs, on her own )

we changed it back, everyday. they kept changing it. we spoke to them daily, to tell them they were putting a (disabled - dd1 has severe ASD) 3 year old on their own, away from family. they agreed it wasn't on, and that it shoudln't happen.

but it did. again and again.

in the run up to that holiday (from about 4 weeks out), I spoke to them everyday, ensuring we could all sit together. got to check in, and the bugges had moved her again

apparently it was a computer glitch .

BA will sort it out
phone them now

happened to me with BA in July - they put my 18 month travelling two rows ahead of me and my husband, and our 4 and 3 year olds on another row - this despite speaking to them MONTHs before hand and having had seats booked 3 in front, 2 behind. when I rang them a week before hand, it was all out again, and I was told that I should just wait till check in at the airport as there was no way they would split the children up from us!
it was however all very stressful.
I was told that the reason the seats changed from the ones they allocated, to really stupid seating, was that the type of airplane had changed and so the seat configuration changed.
personally I think they were just being useless.

A couple of years ago, when I was returning from the UK to Australia, I couldn't check in online for whatever reason. Anyway, got to the BA desk at Heathrow and it took some time for the woman to check me in - the reason being that they couldn't seat me and DS (then 3) together in World Traveller, so we had to be upgraded to World Traveller Plus to keep us together.

In short, they upgraded us to be together rather than keep us separate.

Funnily enough my Which? Magazine arrived this morning with a report about this exact subject in it.

Basically it says that you can (have) to pay extra if you want seats together but "seats together" simply means in the same area of the plane and the companies are not obliged to make sure you are sitting next to or in the same row as the rest of your party!!!!!

The problem occurs because it's a computer that assigns the seating, so there isn't a person there to know that it's crazy to put a 2 year old on their own.
What people shouldn't do , under any circumstances, is check online if they are not happy with allocated seats - 40% of seats are held back for normal airport check in - so it's always best to get to the airport nice and early and have the pick of the remaining seats.

We flew with RyanAir a few years ago with 4yr old twins, and, due to car trouble, arrive too late to pay for advanced boarding, (It wouldn't have helped anyway, as, I think, nearly all the passengers had paid for this so called preferential service, so most went in early) Due to this, we all got seperated and nobody would move. DT1 screamed his head off on take off, then carried on crying, and DT2 threw up! I'm afraid I thought it served the people right as nobody would move to allow us to sit with one child each!

There is a Civil Aviation Authority rule that says in such circumstances a child must be seated next to his or her parent or carer. This is not because the CAA are being nice, it is because it is a risk to other passengers to have lone children impeding a safe exit from the aircraft in the event of an emergency, and having a parent or carer sitting next to them minimises this risk. Airlines are obliged to comply with this rule and passengers in this situation do not therefore need to pay for speedy boarding to ensure that their children have a parent/carer next to them. If Ryanair or BA refuse to make these arrangements, including getting someone to move, then they are at fault and can be reported to the CAA.

silverfrog, I had the impression that BA generally don't put children on the upper deck if it can be avoided, which may be why she kept getting moved (but obviously if their system was going to keep doing that it should have moved the whole party rather than just the child).

bubby, thank God you fly Ryanair. I can relax in the knowledge that you and I will never, ever end up on the same plane. If you do ever choose to use a decent airline, please alert me first so I can change my ticket. I don't mind children on flights but I do mind indulgent, arrogant parents who think that the fact they have procreated makes them superior. It doesn't and your kid puking on people is not funny, it's as gross as a sweaty pissed middle aged businessman puking on you.

Two lessons there - don't fly Ryanair and karma will get you (the vomitting twin story!)

It happened to us on virgin that they had sat one of us with DC and one of us at the other end of the plane despite me originally sitting us all together. No way was I allowing DH a peaceful child free 12 hours while
I sat with a wiggling 3 year old so we had to pay for their extra legroom seat upgrade. I swear it was a money making scam!

Thing is, it is BA, not a.n.other budget airline, so they can/will fix it at check in. As long as you get there in plenty of time (which I would anyway, travelling with 2 small DC) then they will sort it out - so it's a non-problem, IMHO. Seat allocations are always subject to change anyway.