To think easyjet are unfairly taxing families?

[specialknickers]

Really pissed off with easyjet today. We're fllying with 3 year old DS on Friday and I've just gone online to add all our passport details to have found out they've just introduced allocated seating.

I thought I'd better seat us since we're going on a 4 hour flight with a toddler. They've charged me £18 for the privilege of sitting with my own child! Obviously, if I was flying on my own I could have easily avoided paying, but as a responsible parent, I can't.

This is totally unfair isn't it? Am furious. Tempted to cancel the seats now and let the cabin crew sort out the preschooler whilst i relax on my own somewhere else...

[CajaDeLaMemoria]

You and DS HAVE to sit together. There is no choice. If it came to it and there was no way to seat you with your DS without moving someone who had booked, that is what they have to do.

Your son has to sit with one of you. If you don't pay you can't choose where on the plane you sit, but you WILL be together.

[Jins]

OP I never check in online as we always have hold luggage and the queue for bag drop is always big

We weren't the first at check in by any means and we still got extra legroom seats together.

They do still allow priority boarding for people with under fives but because seats are already allocated you don't get the situation where the extended family of the four year old all race to the front as well :)

What you will probably get if checking in at the desk is aisle seats next to each other but that's not a problem I'd have thought.

It's a much better system all round. They know who is on the flight and they know who they can separate. I can't see that young children will be seated away from parents unless they are the very last to check in. Even so unless the flight is completely full there wouldn't be an issue

[CajaDeLaMemoria]

They'd obviously refund whoever got moved, but it is in the T&Cs of booking a seat that this may happen. They have to comply with airline code.

[ComeOnYouTwo]

Even if they are the very last to check in, they will NEVER leave a child on his own wo an adult, let alone a 3yo.
Imagine the situation if you have a child (even a 9yo) on his own who has decided to be a pain the * and no one to calm him down!

[Jins]

The chances of them moving someone who has paid for a seat is very slight. The majority don't pre-book seats

[EuroShaggleton]

You seem to be mixing up checking in and dropping baggage. You can check in online and still drop baggage at the airport.

As others have said, you would have been able to board early with a young child. At that point it would have been highly unlikely that only single seats would have been left and if they had been, the airline would have had to sort it out.

[fedupwithdeployment]

Seems a much better system than when I last flew Easyjet with sons then aged 4 and 6....I was last on the plane and offered the 4 year old to a couple of passengers before being seated all together, almost in the loo (but that has its advantages too).

[specialknickers]

But fedup under he old system you were seated together for no extra charge, and would have been able to board first, if you were at the gate on time. With the new system you will have to pay £24 to all sit together and priority boarding won't mean anything if you haven't all been seated in the same place - which you almost certainly won't have been, unless you've paid this extra charge (because all the seats will have already been allocated, either on selection or earlier check in).

eurosingleton I can assure you that I am not mixing up checking in and dropping baggage. As a frequent easyjet flyer I can tell you that the baggage drop queue at Gatwick is no shorter or faster moving than the one for check-in. Hence checking in the buggy. Always easier to do it in the check-in desk, and you save yourself the bother of printing off boarding passes.

Thanks everyone else for the comments about not sitting children on their own. I'm sure you're right but will quiz them on friday about the new policies, and if that's not the case I'll start another thread. Would hate anyone else to be caught out like I was!

[Snazzynewyear]

I bet you there is something in the small print saying that even if you pay for allocated seats of your choice, cabin crew have the right to override this if they deem it necessary for the safety of the passengers or some such. They would then invoke this if some obstinate passenger refused to move to let you sit with your 3 yo - though in any case I really can't see this happening.

If it's not a long flight, I would be tempted to save the money and take the chance that only two seats will be together and you/your partner will have to sit elsewhere.

Have just seen that Caja said pretty much this above. Oh well, I've typed it out now

[MrsBW]

Bunfags your choice to have children. Don't get narked at those that don't and can then enjoy cheaper, term time holidays.

[EnjoyResponsibly]

if everyone choses not to pay they wnt be able to allocate the seats.

work together and fight back people!

[foreverondiet]

I wouldn't pay they won't make your toddler sit next to someone else!!!!!

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

We flew with them in January. Didn't pay any extra for our seats, were all sat in a row (aisle inbetween) and you still get to board after the speedy boarders (why anyone pays for that is beyond me!) if you have a child under 5.

Sorry OP, I think you've wasted your money in this occasion but at least you'll. ow for next time

[Jins]

But fedup under he old system you were seated together for no extra charge, and would have been able to board first, if you were at the gate on time.

OP this is only the case because you have a child under five. Believe me there were no guarantees about sitting together under the old system and it was hell on wheels for those boarding in group B

The new system is so much better.

[SquinkiesRule]

Prority boarding with under 5's is a joke, I traveled with Dd who was 3 and my elderly mother, and were sent down the steps to priority boarding, along with a couple of other families, then they allowed everyone down not more than a few seconds later, we were almost bowled out of the way and elbowed out of the way on the steps up to the aircraft, it was chaos.
So if you pay to prebook seats together how do the hoards stampeding onto the plane ahead of you know not to sit in those seats? Do they put little tickets on like the trains?

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

Everyone now has an allocated seat squinkies. If you don't precook one, they'll just allocate one to you.

[fairylightsinthesnow]

its not a tax, you don't have to pay, you don't have to fly. You have chosen to. That's like saying you are being taxed because you have to buy nappies and childless people don't. Life is about choices - once you have made them, don't moan about the consequences - that also goes for the term time holiday thing - its a business, supply and demand determine the prices.

[13Iggis]

Why on earth can't be moan about profit-crazy businesses? Or how expensive it is to have a family?
Have I misunderstood what mumsnet is for ?

[SunsetSongster]

I was a bit confused by this when I booked EasyJet flights last month but looked on their website and found this..

It?s important that we know if you have children in your booking in order to make sure they get an appropriate seat and are seated with you. When you make your booking for your family, please make sure you clearly identify any children in the booking. Just add the number of children and infants in your party in the relevant section and include their ages when prompted

I didn't pay for seats and the three of us were sat together (DH, DS and I). I've always found EasyJet really good when we've flown with them - we were once last on the plane as we had been delayed and they had saved us a row of 3 at the front of the plane.

[MidniteScribbler]

Never not got the seat I wanted when checking in on a flight. EVER! Never paid a cent for priority/allocated/extra leg room either. You just have to show up early to check in, be nice to the check in staff and you can pick and choose what you want. Pre-kid I was always given the exit row (extra leg room) seats for free, and now post-kid I've always been allocated a spare seat between us. You just have to be organised and not show up five minutes before check in closes then moan because you can't sit exactly where you want.

[Startail]

YANBU
The whole allocated seat thing is a con.

If you have a small DC they aren't going to separate you and if you have an older DC I'm sure people would swap.

We've always got two twos or one and three near enough to talk and pass drink bottles without paying.

[ceeveebee]

Yes I think they would move other passengers. When DH and I flew with our baby twins we sat together (this was unallocated seating) they made one of us move as you are only allowed one lap infant per row of seats due to number of oxygen masks, so they made other passengers move to swap with me (we were so popular...)

[notactuallyme]

I don't see the issue. Just flew easyjet with a child. Checked in online, didn't book seats, allocated seats together. This was about a week before the flight. Printed off boarding passes, instead of paying 20 quid at the check in desk - you are happy paying this?
Then arrived, queued to check luggage in, and all was well.

[Christelle2207]

It actually says on the website that they'll sit you together where possible. Its not a con.

[13Iggis]

I wonder does it only go up to five? I can see why there might be a cut-off, but my five year old would be a gibbering mess if away from me on a plane. Or maybe he would surprise me! Either way, if there were sore ears or turbulence he would be looking for me.