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?

I can't believe you just wrote that.

So you will dump a 2yo in the aisle and tell it to "find it's mother", rather than asking a steward to do something with the child, because you have paid extra for your seat? It's just waving or pushing a bloody button!

I suspect we are done here.

Wow at all those parents that think they have a right to move someone out of their seat that they have paid to pre-book. How bloody entitled are you all? What makes your family so much more important than others that you think you can move someone because you could not be bothered to pay for pre-booked seats???

I would not move if I had paid for pre-booked seats unless compensated there and then for the seats that me and my family/friends have paid for. I have a 3 year old and no way would I not pre-book seats because he is my child, my responsibility and his safety is up to me and if that means I have to pay to re-book seats then I will. It is not up to someone else to look after my child, entertain him or to move because I am a tight cow who won't pre-book.

You're starting to sound a bit like a bully, NiceTabard, keeping on and on about the same point, which has been explained. There IS a difference between a child in distress and a misbehaving child and most, I think, can tell the difference. If I were separated from my child for some reason, my ears would be so finely tuned to any nuance of noise that I would be present, hovering. The 'gleeful' taunts of "Don't give your seat then put up with the consequences" are truly pathetic.

Nobody knows anybody's circumstances or background unless they know them. A child's or adult's behaviour is judged on its merits and there's no reason why anybody should feel they have the right to impact themselves on anybody else.

There's been a lot said here about the 'needs of the child'... well, those needs are to be met by the parents FIRST, not society at large. A parent making a 'point' really doesn't deserve sympathy. They can, if they feel so aggrieved, make their travel plans using alternative methods of transport. If they don't then the 'point' isn't really that pressing, is it?

All this thread has done is cause bad feeling... mission achieved perhaps?

Peace and love MNers

It hasn't been explained.
She has said what she has said and now compounded it by saying that she would send the child off rather than calling a steward to take the child.

Why on earth defend that. Sending toddlers off from their seat on a plane is a stupid and dangerous thing to do.

They would have already asked me to move NiceTabard, because that was the point - that I said that I would not move if asked because I had paid for selected seats. Then we had all the gleeful posts about how badly behaved the child would be and how it would be the own fault of the passenger who didn't move and how they would have to put up with it.

And the other seat would have to be close or there would be no point in asking one person to move? If that wasnt the case surely you'd have to ask two people to move, or am I getting confused?

I can't imagine that anybody would unbuckle a child and physically lift it anywhere. Too much risk of accusations of 'abuse'. I would imagine that most would summon a flight attendant for help.

How nice for the child. The parent could have avoided it all where pre-booking of seats was possible.

I'm defending nothing and nobody but the 'tag team' is a bit much. There's no 'them and us', nobody agrees with the airline policies but they are what they are and whilst people want cheap flights the airlines will recoup where they can. I'd love to see the end of them all, make flights what they truly cost and make them a proper service again, but that's just my opinion.

You would only need to ask one person to move, to swap with either the parent or the child. The location of those seats isn't relevant. You'd be asking either the person next to the child's seat or the person next to the adult's seat. They could be at opposite ends of the plane though.

Please don't send small children off by themselves on planes. Please call teh steward and ask them to take the child to it's parent. It won't take you a minute, it's just pressing a button and then saying a few words.

NiceTabard, I don't know what your issue is with me, because you have done this before but my "I won't" was in direct reply to your "if you find yourself sitting next to a 2 or 4 year old".

I won't, meaning I won't find myself sitting next to one, because I pay to sit next to my family, not an unaccompanied 2 or 4 year old.

I hope that clears things up.

"Beyond this, it's a reasonable analogy. Looks like I need to spell it out... You are talking about leaving a 2-year-old to fend for itself for several hours unless their parent pays money. That's about as reasonable as asking a disabled person to pay for their wheelchair. Both a wheelchair user and a 2-year-old need reasonable adjustments made in order to fly safely."

You need to spell our nothing, in fact, it appears it is you misunderstands. The term 'reasonable adjustments' comes from the Equality Act 2010 within which children are not included as a protected characteristic. You could pay for your 2 year old to sit next to you, a wheelchair user can do nothing to magically make their disability disappear.

To be fair, even if you pay to sit with your family you could end up with an unaccompanied child, unless your family grows or shrinks to exactly the number of seats on any given plane you use.

Our family flight this year will be on a plane with rows of six, three seats either side of the aisle. We are a pre booked and paid family of four, so have chosen to take a row of three and the aisle seat on the other side.

That still leaves two seats in next to us, that could be taken up by two children, or by an adult who has paid to sit next to the window and a child from a non paying family who has been allocated the middle seat.

How many of you are travelling? You could be seated in a grouping with 2, 3 or even 4 seats.

I must admit I was imagining eve and her partner sitting in two seats near the window with a child in the third seat on the end.

I have been imagining it quite vigorously, and feeling very anxious about it (that may come across in my posts!)

We are a family of 3 and paid for 3 seats together in a row of 3. I have found that Most short haul planes have rows of 3.

But I get CloudsandTrees point as we have previously been on a flight with a 3, 4, 3 combination (still paid for the row of 3 though)

So it could happen.
Please tell me you would call for the steward.

Tabard honestly I think you are getting way over worked up about this thread. In the nicest possible way, please step away from your lap top and enjoy your evening.

I haven't read all the posts so apologise if I'm just repeating what may have been said already. I have flown with Thomson for the past 8 years & I have always paid extra to guarantee seats together. This year, they changed my flight to another airline & refunded my reserved seat fee as this wasn't an option the other airline offered. I phoned them a bit concerned about either of my kids (8&3 yo) having to sit separately. I was reassured that it was against air/ flight regulations to seat a child away from us and though the party may be separated, both children would be guaranteed to sit with at least one of us! I will never pay to reserve seats again.

I've never booked seats.

Never had kids separated from us.

'Tis merely a money-making scam.

It would only happen NiceTabard if I hadn't pre-booked into a row of 3. I book early to ensure I don't have that problem because sitting with my family is extremely important to me and I wouldn't fly if I couldn't, no matter the cost.

If I found myself seated next to a distressed child whose parent wasnt seated close and whose parent hadn't approached me to move and who didnt know where their parents were seated, yes of course I would ask the steward to take the child to their parent.

Going back a couple of pages but Moogalicious, the policy says "wherever possible" and on a crowded flight full of families it may well NOT be possible

Well thank god for that.

If I were you I wouldn't rely on a 2 or 3 yo indicating that they knew where their parent was, I think better to get the steward to take them anyway. Just in case.

I wouldn't move for a family to sit together unless the seat I was being asked to move to was a better seat (extra legroom etc)

And I would complain to the steward if i was seated next to an unsupervised child. It's no good for either of us!

If you're flying with young children then pay to sit with them, check in as soon as it opens, be first at the gate.

Airport Live is on the TV right now... hearing them talk abut their dogs....

I get that some people don't want to pay on principle but if it would distress your "a tiny vulnerable child", can you really afford those principles?! Pay the damn money and take the stress away.

So what happens to the non movers here if for some reason they have to fly more last minute (also paying the more expensive flight cost) with their kids and are too late to book their seats? Wouldn't it be nice if airlines and adults could be reasonable to ensure a parents isn't separated from a young child? Whole families don't need to sit together but young children should be placed with a parent.

The airlines are ripping people off and turning people against each other (similar to the government) knowing some people get stressed with flying and lining their pockets. If you accept this without thinking about it then be surprised and don't moan when they start squeezing you in other ways as people have shown they just take whatever shit they dish out.