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 hate flying these days, it's stressful and no fun. We drive to Italy in the Summer just to avoid all the fuss.

Got to page 15 and no one had posted this yet

You get what you pay for refuses to use budget airlines

I love the link thanks. PMSL

That was funny blessed!

Really funny, my lot are Irish, particularly loved the filthy look she gave the man laughing in the 'sad verse' and also the subtitle for 'eejit'

"We go to the british seaside for all our holidays, in the car

There is definitely allocated seating."

I bet you don't have to turn up two hours before departure or pay extra to take luggage, either.

getting away form it all?

no, taking it all with us!

My husband has a mild disability and virgin decided in their wisdom that he needed me to sit next to him and my 4 year old dd alone in the row behind. They said we were still sitting together as a family. We were fine swapping (and our situation was different as we had reserved seats and virgin changed them for us to ones in the special assistance area at the front) but just be aware that while they will seat you together as a family sitting behind or across the aisle is still considered sitting together.

I have used easyjet recently and reserved seats- on all 4 flights this year. No one has walked on to find one.

Love that Fascinating Aida link

Fascinating Aida have some really good youtube vids :)

mummytokatie I understand that you are baiting me but still.

When you say this bit "If an evacuation was needed I would get my children out. I wouldn't even try and help them. No capacity and any attempt to try would put my children at risk. Not going to happen."

Do you mean that you would do literally nothing even in terms of say enlisting someone else across the aisle to take the child, attempting to tell stewards on the way out? I think they normally evacuate row by row so as to avoid panic and crushes, as they came by wouldn't you draw their attention to the child who was by itself? There are lots of things you could do which might give that child more of a chance which don't involve physically taking it along with you - I assume you would do those sorts of things?

I've never found getting a seat with the children a problem and often travelled with a large family group and we all managed to sit together. This was on flights where seats are bookable in advance but we just checked in online. But even where we just checked in at the airport there wasn't a problem either.

Worst case scenario I'd say OP is that you would be put as two pairs, yourself and one child and your DH and the other child.

I don't think pre-booking is intended so that parents can sit with their young children - or else - but rather for people to book in advance and pay for the extra leg room seats. And to squeeze more money out of us of course.

We just returned on Thomson's flight. Their policy is to keep families together even though they will happily sell pre booked seats. We didn't pre book but sat together on outward and return journey.

I usually pre book 2 extra legroom seats for DS1 and DH, and arrange for DS2 and I to go in the Special Assistance seats as I am disabled and he is severely asthmatic. But last year Thomson made such a monumental cock up with our seats on both our flights (on both legs they sold medical assistance seats as extra leg room) that this year I decided not to chance it.

We are flying with Jet2, so I booked the holiday and booked 3 seats together near the front of the plane, for DS2, DH and I(DS1 is going with his mates). I got an email saying due to unforeseen circumstances they had had to move us and we were no longer seated altogether. This was in February and we fly in July. I was not happy because I have to be seated near to the front of the plane because I can not get to the toilet otherwise as they take my sticks off me, I need help rising from my seat, so can not really ask some random stranger to pull me up!

When I contacted them they couldn't put us all back together in the first 6 rows on that flight, nor the one on the next day, or the day after! I actually got them to change my holiday by 5 days at a cost of £500 to them because of the importance of me sitting with my family, and even then on the return journey DH is separated from DS2 and I.

So if you get on the plane and see DH, DS2 and I all sat together and ask us to move there is no way on this earth that any of us will move. Looks can be deceptive, I look fine, but my crutches will be in the overhead locker and I can't manage without them.

To whoever said that they should charge to take wheelchairs if they are going to charge to book a seat for a 2 yo, just how ignorant can you be? You do know people who use wheelchairs do it out of necessity not just for fun, don't you?

Most people I know who haven't had children would happily blank a child sat next to them, they would literally ignore them or just reply to everything with something like 'ask your mum or press the call button, I'm busy'. There would be none of this helping with getting the tray down, opening food, helping with the entertainment system that others assume people would do for a child next to them. Partly because the people I know without kids wouldn't realise help was needed and partly because they are just not interested. You can't assume people will make any adjustments.

I agree cakebar. And not out of malice, just out of not having children and not having the first clue.

I would hope that the vast majority of people would help with an oxygen mas / lifejacket / emergency egress though. I think they would.

But quite honestly wouldn't most people who haven't had children switch seats rather than sit next to a strange child for a flight? I certainly would have, and still would, and have done when I am on my own.

So I'm not sure how likely that particular scenario is.

TBH most people who have had children would switch rather than sit next to a strange child for a flight. Especially a toddler. An 8 yo or something not so much.

The thing is nicetabbard is that you are expecting people to say how they would react in an emergency situation and then them acting in that way. Noone can say with certainty how they would react unless they had been in that situation. Or been trained like a steward.

I've posted about this before under a different username, many,many years ago......a woman had her handbag stolen, she chased after the thieves and they run her over with her own car and she died. I had a conversation with my dad, and I said 'there is nothing in my handbag worth dying for...I'd have let them have it'

Two weeks later I was held up in a bank by a bloke with a gun. He said 'you're going to give me £200 and your cash card or I'm going to shoot you.'

I said ' you're going to have to shoot me then, because I don't have it'
I had £190 in my pocket.

So you see I didn't actually act /behave like I thought I would.

Also you hear incredible stories about how mums lift cars off their trapped kids.... And the mums say...I don't know what came over me.
Well, if my kid were trapped (in say a plane wreck) and needed the superhuman mummy strength - then I want to be the one sitting next to her if it happens. If I have to pay to hold her hand through that flight. Then I will or I won't fly.

Do you suppose you would get that extra bit of strength if you were not related?

I think though that is entirely the point - people are saying in advance how they would behave and I would expect most/all people to say they would try to help but obviously when it actually happens reactions can be unexpected.

I have also been involved in a gunpoint situation when working in a summer job from uni - I froze, as did 2 of the other people. I don't know how I would have reacted if I was alone. I have been mugged twice as well and well what can you do. OTOH I have stepped in, in some violent situations, and also walked out into traffic because a bus hadn't seen a kid but he would see me.

So yes I know exactly what you mean. But until it happens you don't know what you will do - and when it happens what you do might not be what you expect. There are so many elements - who you're with, who else is there, bystander syndrome, how you are feeling and so on.

But for people who are not in that situation to say in advance, nope not interested wouldn't help, I find that unusual.

Oh just seen you think there is such a thing as "superhuman mummy strength". What about fathers, what about other relatives, what about strangers? That man who went into the factory in Bangladesh and rescued scores of people, at huge risk to himself, that was a good thing, no? On the tubes in London, when they were bombed, I knew a couple of people caught up in it, others helped them, that is good, right? Surely we would all hope to help a person in need? For someone to help us if we were in need? Although of course when it happens we all react how we react and that is the way it goes. But to say beforehand, in the safety of your home, no I definitely wouldn't help, not interested, nothing to do with me. i find that very cold and unsettling and it makes me shaky.

The thing is that I wouldn't rely on strangers to help my child. That's MY job. I'm the parent. I don't want to take the chance of my son sitting next to a person who may or may not be on the sex offenders register. I don't my child causing a nuisance to a stranger by constantly asking for help. I don't want to trust that in an emergency some stranger will develop superhuman strength and try and help my child.

So I'd pay.

Fortunately Australian airlines (well at least Virgin and Qantas who are the only ones I will fly with) haven't yet moved to this model of charging. But if they did, then it's my choice to either pay, or if I feel so morally outraged at the charge, then I don't fly with that airline.

Should airlines charge for sitting families together? No, of course not. But they are a business, just like any other business. They make an offer of what it will cost to fly with them. You can accept or decline. But you can't expect a for profit business to not attempt to make whatever profit they can for shareholders. Do you really think that refusing to pay the charge on those airlines is going to make them see sense and stop charging? They look at any money they make as a bonus, and it's not their problem if you sulk about not sitting near your child. You have to either refuse to fly with them altogether (and tell them why) in order to make some sort of point. Then they will review their additional charge either a) remove it, b) decide that they still make enough money from those who will pay and keep flying with them that your business is not such a loss to them, or c) increase the cost of all flights to make up for the charge.

Megsmouse - at xmas dh, dds and i flew BA to the uk, then dds and i flew to North America for a few weeks and dh flew back here by himself. I wanted a bassinet for 7 month old dd2 and also wanted dd1 (6) to sit beside me.
Due to our complicated tickets, we booked ours and his separately. There was no charge for the girls and I to reserve seats, but dh had the option of paying £20 to book his seat.
i think BA is great at accommodating families, it seemed odd a single person had to pay for a reserved seat though.