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?

This is what really pisses me off about these so called budget airlines. Surely the simplest solution to avoid all these shenanigans is to have reserved seating for everybody!

How on earth does it make it cheaper not to have allocated seating??

Why should children be automatically placed with their parents

Really?

Why should tiny, vulnerable children sit with their parents?

Are you thick?

I'm that anyone thinks that sitting next to their small children can be called 'getting the seat arrangements of your choice', as if it's an added luxury. Sitting parents next to children is a VITAL aspect of a safe flight. Ryanair wouldn't be able to charge extra for seatbelts, neither should they charge extra for sitting small children next to their parents. If I'm going backwards down 6 rows of seats to get to my 2-year-old in an emergency, it is everyone who suffers. You really think airlines should delegate safety to whether a parent can afford 200 extra quid to sit next to their child? (and it really is that with Ryanair - 50 quid extra per seat) That really is truly bonkers.

Differentname - I can't think of another explanation why someone might genuinely query why a toddler is entitled to sit next to a parent on a flight!!

different I fear it may be you who is thick.

There is no law which says children have to be placed with their parents. The airlines are business who want to maximise their profits so they charge for having allocated seats. Generally more expensive airlines don't charge extra for this, but you are still paying it within your flight price.

Cheaper airlines give you the option of making the flight price suit you by allowing you to take a chance on your seat allocation or only take on hand luggage in order to keep the costs down.

If you are too fucking selfish to potentially allow tiny, vulnerable children to sit away from their parents by not booking your seats then that doesn't say much about you.

Nine year olds like you are talking about Differnt, are not tiny and vulnerable.

I suspect you have bigger problems in your life if your child would behave so badly if she wasn't seated right next to you, especially with the certainty you have that she would throw up on someone next to her.

What sort of parent wouldn't give their child who they know gets travel sickness some kind of receptacle to be sick in to?

What sort of parent would just ignore their child for an entire flight if they weren't seated together meaning that complete strangers were forced to look after them?

If you want to ensure you sit together as a group you sort out seats in advance, if you aren't bothered then you just get what you can on the day. People with young kids should be no different to anyone else.
When my kids were young I just saw the advance booking fee as part of the flight cost.

Absolutely with Bearbehind on this. Some of the posters here are absolutely outrageous. If you don't like the costs and don't agree with the format - find another route. Don't expect everybody else to suck it up for you. Oh and don't bleat on about human decency - your child, your responsibility - human decent extends as far as you too.

Anybody's child sitting next to me and misbehaving as different describes would have the flight attendant called. No way should children behave like that, unattended or not. I'd be ashamed beyond belief if mine performed that catalogue of attention-seeking antics and they would be told, in no uncertain terms, to stop it.

That's assuming of course that I HADN'T been able to pre-book seats because if I had, I WOULD because it's important to me, you know, to have my children with me, regardless of the rights and wrongs of the airline's policy.

Yes, paying for allocated seating is an annoying expense which shouldnt be an additional charge.

But if I was flying with DC, I would do everything in my power to guarantee we would be together. For lots of reasons, but preomindantly for their safety, my peace of mind, and so as not to distress them or inconvenience anyone else. If I paid to guarantee my seating arrangements, i.e. sit with my DC, then I would not move for someone else.

DH and I are going on holiday just the two of us later in the year. We dont care where we sit. We will try and sit together, but will happily move if someone else has a greater need to the seat we end up with.

But no way would I take a chance on not being seated with DC, or make assumptions about the airlines or fellow passengers' willingness to move to accommodate mine and my children's needs. Your kids, your responsibility to ensure the seating will suit you.

The system may be wrong, but it is what it is. In my opinion, you cough up or take your chances. If you dont like it, dont fly.

I have flown very regularly with my (now) 4 year old since he was 10 weeks old. My parents sadly live abroad and the ONLY airline that flies there is Ryanair. When all of us go (DH too), we drive but on my own it's too far to drive alone in a day really (over 1,000 miles). Anyway, I HATE Ryanair and would gladly pay someone else if another airline flew that way, and would never, ever, ever, pay for sitting next to my child because I don't want to give Mr O'Leary the slimely eyed satisfaction.
Not so much now, but when he was two, and still in a buggy, I HAD to wait until the end to Board as I had a buggy, his bag, my bag and a two year old to get down 4 flights of stairs and then up into the plane on my own. As you probably know, Ryanair staff offer no assistance whatsoever, so I would have to take the bags down the steps, leave them at the bottom, climb back up the 4 flights of stairs, take DS down, then come back up and then take the buggy. The only people that will help normally are kindly other passengers (I don't expect this and would never ask) but they generally do, as I would if I saw someone struggling.
There would be no point paying for assigned seats (as they are not suitable for children and this is only recent on Ryanair anyway) or priority boarding as by the time I've done my climbing steps for the 4th time, everyone else has boarded anyway!
So, I wait until the near the end to avoid the scrum and then make my way onto the plane. I don't mind if DS and I get split up but at 2 (and even now) most people offer to move. Again, I don't expect this.
I think it would definitely make sense for airlines to allow an adult and a child (poss under 8) to Board first - as the inconvenience is mainly to other passengers of not having this rather than to the adult and child. As most people agree, if I'd got on the plane, and then had to move I'd be pissed off. Let them on first (crucially only one adult per under 8 not entire 'families' of parents, uncles, aunts and teenage kids...).

I wouldn't pay extra for sitting next to my child. Bloody rip off.

I would always swap seats to help out a family. I would expect other people to swap seats if I was separated from a small child. Its common decency and safety innit!

Much as I love my DC I can't see why anyone else would want to sit by them on a flight anyway tbh. Other people's children are annoying!

Yeah, of course...it is me who is thick. Stupid me. I thought it would be common sense to sit little children next to their parents.

If thinking that make me thick, I agree!

we came back from Disney land Paris last year, me, DH, dc, aged 5,3,1. Plane had seats in rows of three. DH and dc, me, dc and baby on the row behind. Along comes a family who had all been split up. I ended up with their three year old sat by me for the journey. Her parents weren't happy, nor was I tbh. My own children fell asleep, she didn't. Pay the money and book your seats. And that was on air France.

Anybody's child sitting next to me and misbehaving as different describes would have the flight attendant called

And what would you expect the FA to do if said child cannot be moved?

So if ryanair started charging for seatbelts, that would be ok? (shouldn't give Michael O'Leary ideas...) And if you don't cough up and die in a crash, that's just your own moral turpitude at fault? Nothing at all to do with the airlines, no no. It's the 'your child your responsibility' kind of attitude that allows Ryanair and the like to get away with the kind of outrages they do.

Nine year olds like you are talking about Differnt, are not tiny and vulnerable

Well 9yr olds are vulnerable, but I am not talking about 9yr olds being tiny, I was meaning toddlers!

I would expect the flight attendant to find the parent and instruct them to come and tell their child to behave. Because if they didn't, I would.

The thing that shocks me here is the sense of entitlement and sanctimonious rambling from the people refusing to pay for seats together. Because you see here's the thing: -

It doesn't matter whether you think the airlines are thieving idiots or not. That is the process in place. So you either decide its rather important to have to sit next to your children and pay. Or you run the risk of not getting a seat with your children and then having to ask people to move.

Now when we go on holiday we go together - so should I fly an airline that operates this policy I would pay for myself, my husband and our daughter to sit together. If you hadn't paid for the same privilege well, quite frankly, tough.

And to all those saying "hoho how funny for those that don't move, won't they be gutted to sit next to my child as he eats like an animal, kicks the seat, behaves in a generally appalling manner" - don't you teach your children to behave??? Because my child is fully capable of behaving both with me and when she isn't with me

Ooh, how about charging for the privilege of using stairs to access the plane? Those who don't cough up have to use a climbing wall to get onto the plane - if they're lucky. The disabled can just pay extra or not fly, I guess.

There is a limit to what airlines can decently charge extra for. Seating parents next to small children comes squarely under this heading, and I refuse to indulge Michael O'Leary in his disgusting money-grabbing any more than I absolutely have to.

differentname, you can "think" what you like - it doesn't make you thick, but it doesn't actually matter what you think, airlines are going to keep charging for selected seating and it is up to you alone if you want to risk it. They are businesses that are out to make money, if you think they care what you think, then yes, that is pretty thick, sorry.

I do what's best for me and my family - no matter what the cost. You should do what you think is best for your family. Just don't expect others to feel obliged to assist, especially if they have made the opposite decision to you (ie paying/not paying)

If you are too fucking selfish to potentially allow tiny, vulnerable children to sit away from their parents by not booking your seats then that doesn't say much about you

So now you are calling my parenting into question because I won't be conned into paying more for what should be a given. I am not selfish, my children come first, but I refuse to be conned into allowing that to happen. Good job I don't give a fuck about what you think of me, seeing as you don't know me & have no idea about my parenting, but judge away on this one aspect why don't you. Go for it.

It is because people like you buy into the anxiety that the airlines give off that we are in this position. If people stopped paying, there would be no issue.

different I'm not saying you are thick to think it is common sense to seat children with their parents but when did common sense come into a commercial airlines charging system.

They charge and you either pay or you might not get to sit with your children.