To not book reserved flight seats for us and the kids?

[LittlePudding1]

Hi, I have a 6 year old and a 3 year old and was under the impression that even if we weren't all sat together together on a plane they would sit me with 1dc and dh with the other but a couple of people have told me they can sit you anywhere. Surely they wouldn't sit a 3 year old away from a parent and next to a random stranger, would they?

How about coaches? Yes, you can pay $300 for your coach holiday, But you want to travel on the same coach as your kids? That will be $15 each extra per journey!

I am shocked that no one can see it is just one huge rip off.

You don't get it. You are not paying twice for your seat.
You have a seat. You are paying for a particular place where you want to sit.

I am very good at putting eye masks and ear plugs in. I've had years of practice!

I'm glad these days that I don't have to go on the cattle run. It's tends to be peak time eg school holiday weekends that this is a major problem.
I just don't go on a plane to popular places then!

why would you object to paying the extra charge to ensure it doesn't happen?

Might have something to do with the fact that I have already paid for my seats?

If the airlines planned properly there would be no need for parties to be separated (other than across an aisle or row immediately in front etc).

I'm not a parent but had a bad experience a few years ago. I have Aspergers and anxiety and being separated from my DH would be extremely difficult so we always book either seats together or speedy boarding. We were to fly to Palma to join a cruise - the cruise line would not book setas together for us and the airline said that they could not pre-book our seats without a booking reference which the cruise line would not give us. In the end I persusaded the airline to get it from the cruise line. This same company were more than happy to arrange airport assistance for passengers with visual or mobility impairments.

With. Hotel you have booked a room with beds.
Sometimes there are surcharges.
If I stay in a hostel and there are four beds but i have gone without DH and just the boys I have paid for the extra bed so I can guarantee the room to myself.

Once I didn't do this and it was a 5 bedroom room and I booked 5 bed, and at 3.20am a young bloke rocks up. (This was is in Slovenia). He had the right to be there, my fault for not booking the 5th bed.

Are you deliberately being dense?
You have paid for a seat.

If you desire a particular seat there is a surcharge.

Have you misunderstood the concept of the reservation fee, differentname?

You wouldn't get my seat because you didn't want to pay for yours "twice". .
And yes, your vomiting 9 year old would most assuredly remain your problem, likewise your gobby 4 year old. I wouldn't be playing nanny to anyone else's kids when I've paid "twice" to ensure I was sitting next to mine.

Your selfishness is quite astonishing.

NO, YOU don't get it. YOU HAVE PAID FOR YOUR SEAT! Common fucking sense (you now that, it isn't that rare that it needs to be a super power just YET) tells any airline that children NEED to sit with their parents. PERIOD!

And if you are too stubborn to facilitate me sitting with my 4yr old, good luck to you!

It is principal. I am not paying for common sense to put into place!

"twofalls would you reimburse me for the money I had paid then.

If not, then no, sorry. Why should I be out of pocket."

Yes, of course I would in theory. I don't carry much cash so you would probably refuse to move anyway as it is unlikely I would be allowed to stand in an aisle counting out my small change to find the £8.50 you would need in order to move. But I would hope there would be one decent person on the plane putting the needs of a small child above their own (remember, I tried to prebook my seat but couldn't because I was too late).

But lots of people on this thread have said they still woudn't move even if someone was willing to reimburse them because it is their seat. Someone said they would rather see a mother and child off the plane because they need to be in the seat that is on the manifest, I mean fgs.

Honestly, this is why I holiday in the UK. Sharing a confined and potentially dangerous space with people who would put £8.50 over the needs of small child doesn't bode well if there actually was an emergency on board.

My 9yr vomiting wouldn't only be my problem until I needed to tidy her up, it is not me she has thrown up all over.

If you booked a concert which had a choice of general admission tickets or allocated seating would you buy a general admission but if you found you couldn't gets seats with those you were with expect those with allocated seating to move to facilitate you?

Yes, my example is silly but so are those talking about buses, the same principles don't apply in either case.

My selfishness to not have to pay anymore than the advertised price for my seat is astounding?

Good! I am not often selfish, but I refuse to pay greedy airlines to line their pockets, because that is all it is.

What is equally as astounding is how fucking easily we, as the consumers accept this bullshit.

Its sadly becoming a fact of life that to sit together you have to pay. The sensible thing to do would be to factor it in the budget for your holiday if you do want to sit together.

I hope you're being wilfully obtuse instead of just plain stupid, differentname
Everyone will have paid for their seat.
Some people will have paid extra for the privilege of choosing their seat, and will object to meekly handing it over to someone who has not.
I hope we meet on a flight someday...

(I still think that when a child under (say) 8 flies then they should automatically and inclusively be allocated with one of the adults travelling with them btw, in my mind it is still a cost trade off with them being so much lighter so using less fuel.)

I would probably move if you would reimburse me.
For some people the price of a reserved seat between £8 - 10 is the equivalent of an hour at work. Some people work bloody hard in that hour, so yes I would want reimbursing.
I wouldn't mind if it was in cash or if you bought me an in flight meal or drink with your credit card.

Now you know the pitfalls of not booking twofalls maybe have some cash on you for your next flight.

Buses, perhaps a little out there, but certainly not hotels.

And I don't go to concerts, they are way too overpriced over here.

Good god, I am so tight, I should be a millionaire by now.

When I last flew, I paid over $11,000 for my flights. I would hope that choosing my seat would be given at that price, to be fair.

Yes, I wouldn't bother paying extra either

easyjet.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5552/~/flying-with-children

Looks like easyjet accept kids need to sit with their parents and say u only need to book seats if u want particular ones.

You have paid the advertised price.
If you want an optional extra, in this case a certain seat, you have a surcharge to pay.

Anyway I'm bored with this now it's going in circles.

I am very good at ignoring sickly whiney vomiting children if their parents are there.

Well I am not stupid, Floggingmolly

I am very good at ignoring sickly whiney vomiting children if their parents are there.

Even when they vomit on YOU?

'your 2 year old would be lifted into the aisle and told to find his mother'

You sure as hell aren't entitled to move anybody, toddler or otherwise, from their allocated seat, and I'd love to see the stewardesses' response if you tried, especially during take-off. If you have decided you'd prefer to sit next to an unattended 2-year-old rather than move seats, that's your lookout not mine.

And if the response is 'well I paid to sit next to my dd/dh/whatever', then fine. There are likely to be enough adults travelling only with adults on a given plane to make it entirely straightforward for small children to sit with their parents.

Is there really anybody who thinks the desire of (say) an able-bodied, non-flying-phobic 40 year old to sit in seat 6B rather than 4F trumps the needs of a 2-year-old to sit with a parent?!

In all honestly flipchart, this really is just hypothetical. I don't fly with the dc at the moment. I fly too often for work and see how hellish it can be for families. My last flight to DC I spent helping a woman with 3 children by jiggling her baby up and down the aisle and talking to her 7 year old. I didn't mind because I put myself in her shoes and thought how hard it would be to be in that situation. Which is why i have always moved for other people. But then I am empathetic like that. We can't all be the same.

I agree that the airlines should be made to ensure a child is seated with a parent.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned CRB yet.