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?

You have paid for A seat, not YOUR seat. You will be given whatever seat is available.

I have paid for A seat and I am also happy to pay for MY seat. I will be given the seat I have selected.

I am happy to do so.

In hotels you tend to pay one price for adults and another for children - ie when I stayed at the Moat House they charged £80 for me, £80 for DH and £15 to supply DD with a Z Bed.

Oh and my parents always pay extra for selected seating on coach journeys so that DM can be as close to the front as possible.

So it's a normal charging regime.

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

So all those who have paid extra to choose their seats, to ensure they can sit with their children, have just been ripped off then? Awesome!

A fool & his money, as they say!

I think if your kid is that bad you are not doing it any favours by taking iton an aeroplane to be honest.

In over 35 years of flying, and in the last 15 years I fly at least5 times a year, sometimes more, no one has ever vomited. Not even my own kids.

I think we may be going off topic here.

A parent chooses to take their children on a flight and not pre-book seats when other passengers have. That parent does not have the right to expect someone with a pre-booked seat to move just because they could not be bothered to book nor to expect another passenger to babysit their child. If other passengers are prepared to move then fine - otherwise the children either take care of themselves or get off the plane

Well all the hotels U have been in have a (family) room charge, no additional charge. I don't then get there & get asked to pay another $15 per person to ensure we are all in the same room.

twofalls thanks for restoring my faith in humanity. I'd like to think that on any given aeroplane, there'll be enough people endowed with common decency, as opposed to self-righteous I'm-alright-jackery, to ensure that we don't have to give grubby Ryanair a extra 200 quid for the 'privilege' of sitting next to our 2 and 5 year olds. You give me hope that that's indeed the case!

on the other hand, if someone else would like that extremely dubious privilege, and indeed effectively have paid extra money for it, I'm not sure what I'm complaining about - be my guest!

Seating a small child with an adult it knows (or who has agreed to be responsible for it) is not an optional extra, it is a necessity and should be included in the base price of the ticket so that people can accurately compare the price of flying with a particular airline.

Also, I hate Ryanair and happily pay "more" to avoid flying with them but on some routes they are now the only choice so it would be nice if they upheld some basic minimum standards.

It's about £3 on Easyjet to allocate a seat. It also saves having to dash to the gate the second it's announced and then stand there for an hour just to get your choice of seat. I'm surprised BAA haven't complained about the loss of shopping revenue this causes.

I refuse to fly Ryanair.

Having flown a lot in the 80s and 90s when it was an altogether more civilised experience (even in economy) I find the open combat between airlines and their customers depressing.

I may be an adult but being separated from my DH in a confined aircraft could be very problematic because of my condition.

I like children but how inclined I am to babysit yours depends on my mental state on the day. We would certainly ensure that their oxygen mask or life jacket was put on in an emergency however.

flipchart when I flew Australia - London & back again, my kids were dreams to be honest. They slept most of the way. And dh was at the other side of the plane, so I had the 2 on my own. No, I didn't pay to book seats together, because it doesn't work like that on international flights. We rocked up, said what we needed & got 3 & 1 for the first flight, all the others were 4 together.

Dd2 did throw up, but we caught it in time. She was also restless coming home & didn't sleep well.

I guess I was being somewhat OTT with my descriptions, but dd2 would certainly think it great not to be restricted by her parents.

And what the hell could I honestly be expected to do about it? Would other passengers be happy with me constantly bending over them to attend to her? In reality, she would probably spend the entire time on my lap.

On principal, people should not have to pay extra to sit with their little kids & certainly as linked to below, easyjet won't even let you sit away from 13yr olds, so people paying to sit with their under 13s are being ripped off, in essence.

The airlines still have a Duty of Care to their passengers.

By seperating children from parents they are failing in their of Duty of Care.
What if the children get sexually assaulted (under a coat or blanket) or touched up by the random adult they get put next to.

It may be a normal charging regime now, but it didn't used to be.

Budget airlines don't have budget prices anymore.

"Ok, sometimes people can't help but get held up, but it always seems to be the people with special seating requests that get on last."

We flew with Ryan Air and got on last because we had assisted boarding as my son has Autism. Passengers sitting on the plane wouldn't have known he had Autism when we boarded the plane.

We didn't pay to book our seats as disabled passengers have to sit on certain rows on the plane anyway. However the rules on which rows these are changed between our outgoing flight and return flight. When we got on the return flight the wrong seats had been reserved and people had to move around.

People probably just thought we couldn't be bothered to get to the gate early and wait like everyone else though and couldn't be bothered to pay the extra to reserve seats together.

I naively thought that if I helped someone out, they would be grateful

If you gave your seat up for my family I would be grateful, buy you a drink if you wanted etc. I certainly wouldn't be laughing at all.

I would laugh however, if you refused & got stuck with my (apparently) gobby 4yr old!

I won't be swapping, sorry This implies that you think people would expect YOU & YOUR child to separate to accommodate people who don't want to be ripped off. I wouldn't expect that.

I wouldn't ask any adult to move from their child at all. I just don't see why you have to pay for the privilege to be sat with them.

but still have the seats you want if you have children

I don't want any particular seat, just one next to my children. That shouldn't have to cost me extra.

theoriginalandbestrookie - they decided dad would go, and mum & child would follow later. As it happened the airline sent 2 smaller planes so it all worked out. But we just couldn't believe the stupidity of the check in staff.

I have to say I didn't take much notice of the option to reserve seats when I booked the other day (Ryanair).
I have just been back to look, and you can't add it after booking online, although you can by calling and paying an even more inflated charge.
BUT looking at the seats there are (on Ryanair) very few seats available to pre-book anyway, and some of those wouldn't be available to families because they are emergency exits.
So, if flying with a small child there aren't many seats available to pre-book.

I didn't know about under 13s not being allowed to sit away from their parents on Easyjet!

There have been many many occasions I have flown with EasyJet and We haven't sat with the boys.
I just checked with DH but we flew to Zurich with Easy Jet when DS1 was 8and DS 2 was 6 and we were apart then. That was the first time both boys were separate from us.
I remember flying from Dusseldorf and the announcement at the gate was for families with children to board. Dss were 9 and 7 then and it never occurred to me to go because I thought it was for toddlers. The gate staff got us and I was so embarrassed, I felt like a fraud!

i would be quite happy to swop seats with anyone as I travel on my own.

Last time I swopped my aisle seat that I had asked for because I needed to be near the loo (kidney problems) with a lady who was claustophobic and didn't want to be in a window seat.

I did say that I might have to squeeze past them to the loo a few times though.

Ok, sometimes people can't help but get held up, but it always seems to be the people with special seating requests that get on last

Wanting to sit with your child is not a fucking special seating request, it is a given, surely!

Why is it so difficult to understand that companies like Ryanair advertise the lowest possible price for the seat and that everything else is added on top?

Why should children be automatically placed with their parents, inconveniencing others who have paid, just because the parents chose to ignore the opportunity to reserve particular seats at the time of booking?

If it is a safety issue then I would make parents pay extra to reserve the seats together. If they dont want to then I would decline the booking.

There seems to be an assumption that the charge for a child should be automatically lower than the charge for an adult. However there are times when children do cost more eg increased boarding time, stowing buggies in the hold etc. This being the case what is wrong with compulsorily making a surcharge for children?

Wanting to sit with your child is not a special seating request, it is a given, surely!

Book it then, like everyone else if it matters to you.

different some of your comparisons are bonkers. If you book a hotel you get a set room type for a set fee. If you want an extra bed in a double room there may or may not be an additional fee but if there is a fee, just as there is to book seats on some airlines, you either pay it or you take a chance that you might not get what you want.

And you are not paying twice for your seat. Your booking enables you to get on the plane, paying a surcharge enables you to sit in the seat of your choice.

I am completely at your totally selfish and entitled belief that having children exempts you from a fee that others have to pay if they want the seat arrangements of their choice.

My children are still young enough to need to be seated beside me. So I pay for them to be able to do so

This is why airlines charge, they are preying on your insecurity that you may not be able to sit with your children. They are breeding fear just so you pay to avoid it.

Or, they are ripping you off.