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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

731 replies

LittlePudding1 · 18/06/2013 16:47

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?

OP posts:
tomorowisanotherday · 18/06/2013 23:26

IMHO

I'm glad you decided to pay because I would not move for you... and moreover... I wouldn't move when a stewardess told me to move so that a mother and child could have the double air mask that was assigned to my seat.

  • I pay for my seats
  • i don't care which seat it is... just the one we have booked. I don't care if its in the front back sides or wherever - just has to be the one on the manifest
  • I'm scared of flying... i want to be with people i love in case we die/ i have to help my family get out of the plane alive etc
  • What if the plane crashes and the person sitting in my seat dies and i live... I have to live with that for the rest of my life? Have you not seen BOUNCE?
  • If i were separated from my family, i would be anxious to the point of hysteria, and this would disrupt the whole flight
  • I would disrupt the people around me with my anxiety - not on purpose!
  • Why should i put myself through this - when I can pay for a seat that i'm happy to sit in - my assigned seat.
  • if a mum and baby want a double mask.... they should have booked it/the plane should have enough without me having to move.... either way its not my problem. why make it MY problem? as you can see i have enough of my own problems to deal with

For information:

I wouldn't swap with a member of my own family either.... I have the seat on the flight manifest... or I'm not going... and neither is anyone else, because i paid for that booking of that particular seat. and really flights should be that simple.

Now... let me get on the plane, sit in the seat i have booked, and i'll be very happy. I don't care if I'm sat next to your unaccompanied minor... and i'll keep them happily entertained (i'm a childminder, used to dealing with 2 year olds!!!!).

Just
dont
ask
me
to
move!

NiceTabard · 18/06/2013 23:28

RikeBider, people on this thread have said they wouldn't/couldn't.

TBH before I had kids I was clueless and would have sat there like a lummox, not out of evilness just out of not having any idea at all about children. Just would've read my book in my own headspace, and assumed "somebody else's problem" about the child. Not that unusual I think. Also wouldn't have crossed my mind to swap because, hey, no idea about kids. Someone has put kid there so that must be OK. But was always fine to swap when asked. Also many small children won't try to talk to people they don't know, even if seated next to them. So they won't get to the toilet, or fed, or whatever.

Just how is this a good idea again?

BlueSkySunnyDay · 18/06/2013 23:31

Tomorrow the first bit should have read as a quote from someone else "Am absolutely amazed at the amount of people who wouldn't move so a toddler or young child could sit next to their parent."

To which my answer was That will be because we care enough to pay to sit near ours - feel free to judge me, I am judging you for caring more about making a point to the airlines than for your small child's wellbeing

RikeBider · 18/06/2013 23:31

Somehow I don't think ear phones and calm thoughts would drown out a toddler shrieking and poking you because they can't get their crisps open Grin

Actually my kids would probably just be out of their seats and tearing up and down the aisles if unsupervised.

To be honest, if I found myself seated away from my under 5 I would just make a huge fuss until the airline sorted it out. I'd want to know what th safety procedures were in case of a problem/turbulence, I'd want to know what they proposed to do if my child was sick or wet themselves etc.

NiceTabard · 18/06/2013 23:33

tomorrow it is normally people who are travelling alone or with other adults who will be asked to move.

I can see you are anxious so please don't worry.

Am interested to know what a double mask is though, never heard of that.

GColdtimer · 18/06/2013 23:33

And your post tomorrow's sums up precisely why I will not be flying anywhere with my children, especially in busy periods, for quite some time. Flying turns normally sane people into complete loons. Grin

By the way I am not saying I wouldn't pay. Or that I would expect other people with young children to move. It's just the adamant "it's the principle of the matter" attitude I really hate. I mean it's just a seat like every other seat on the plane usn't it?

BlueSkySunnyDay · 18/06/2013 23:35

Actually RikeBider people have been quite amazed by how well I can tune out the world when I need to for my sanity. Grin

tomorowisanotherday · 18/06/2013 23:37

double masks - you know when you crash... the masks fall down.... well some of them have two. one for mum/dad and one for baby.... they say put your own mask on then help anyone else.

But for info.... I sat there HATING myself the whole flight for refusing to move..

what if they died cos i didnt move
the looks i got
the tut brigade went into overdrive!

Leave me alone! I just wanna fly in the seat i've booked.

bluesky i dont understand what you mean?

BlueSkySunnyDay · 18/06/2013 23:38

And actually - I have the aisle seat so your children would only ask to get in and out once after which I would tell them to sit still, behave and amuse themselves as I would mine too

tomorowisanotherday · 18/06/2013 23:39

twofalls normally i'm a sane person... I promise!

But all plane seats aren't the same. If i've booked it.... that's where i SUPPOSED to be

megsmouse · 18/06/2013 23:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BlueSkySunnyDay · 18/06/2013 23:41

Tomorrow I thought you assumed the first entitled comment in my post was what I thought but actually I was quoting someone else and the second bit was my response

You may have been saying "I'm glad you decided to pay" to someone else.

BlueSkySunnyDay · 18/06/2013 23:42

Yeah the ones who wont pay for their children to sit near them. £8.50 per adult and £4 per child so £12.50 for peace of mind...shocking.

tomorowisanotherday · 18/06/2013 23:45

I was glad that the OP decided to pay... I HAVE to pay.....

I preferred the old way, where seats were automatically booked when you booked the plane. then i dont fret at all.

That will be because we care enough to pay to sit near ours - feel free to judge me, I am judging you for caring more about making a point to the airlines than for your small child's wellbeing i agree with this too. if you care about where your child sits then pay the booking fee.

Am i being contradictory?

Concreteblonde · 18/06/2013 23:46

'Wow, lots of shockingly selfish people on this thread!'

I agree. It's shocking how many selfish parents there are who risk their small children being distraught, tearful and upset upset for the sake of making a point against airlines. And who expect other parents to compromise for them. Awful.

NiceTabard · 18/06/2013 23:48

tomorrow so there are seats which have oxygen masks especially for parent and under 2 - where the child is carried on the lap - and you refused to give that seat to a parent travelling with a baby on lap, even though you didn't need the extra mask?

That is a bit, Wow.

I understand you suffer from anxiety, but still.

The AIRLINES should be sorting this stuff. ensuring that babies on laps can access a double breathing thing. I just got it - so there are 3 seats but 4 breathers. So in an emergency, a parent with a baby on lap would have to choose between them and their baby to have the oxygen.

So even more. The AIRLINES should be sorting it. They know how old the passengers are. The idea that two people, one a baby, should only have one oxygen mask to share, while one person has two because they paid for extra legroom. I mean, seriously???

BlueSkySunnyDay · 18/06/2013 23:48

I don't think its right we have to pay but there are loads of things in life I could drive myself crazy over that I don't think are right so I just part with the money and am now going to be hoping no one asks me to move.

I totally understand tomorrow - I get a bit crazy and anxious at the airport (hence the music and meditating)

megsmouse · 18/06/2013 23:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NiceTabard · 18/06/2013 23:52

bluesky 2yo are very small. your post sounds like you are thinking of older children.

Many 2yo are still in nappies for eg and have limited speech. The idea of them "getting in and out" is unlikely.

Still. I know I had no idea before i had kids. And certainly 2yo need looking after. So all the more reason for airlines not to separate them when they don't actually need to.

CelticPromise · 18/06/2013 23:53

If no-one paid this fee everyone would be seated with their families. This is an airline created panic. They are not only getting you do the seat booking admin, they are also getting you to pay for it, and when their greedy system doesn't work who gets the blame? Those who didn't pay, who must be bad uncaring parents Hmm

I won't pay, because no-one will sit my 3yo on his own and the rest of us aren't bothered. I don't expect you to sort it, I expect the airline to sort it. If they get a stroppy passenger because they have oversold the reserved seats although they know exactly the number and ages of children on the flights, well that is not my problem. I am happy to swap for others, I did on the last flight I took.

You're all angry with the wrong people!

megsmouse · 18/06/2013 23:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NiceTabard · 18/06/2013 23:55

It is understandable that a person would keep a seat designed for a parent and child, with 2 oxygen masks, and make them sit in a seat with only one oxygen mask, even though there are 2 of them?

I've heard it all now.

I'm honestly a bit baffled. Thank god people don't act like this in other situations. And the worst thing is the airlines have made people feel this way - induced anxiety - to make money. People in the UK don't generally act this way.

It's awful, frankly.

tomorowisanotherday · 18/06/2013 23:55

Nice tabbard my seat wasn't the ONLY one on the plane with double oxygen masks.... But i was told to move, and i refused and said that wasn't appropriate to move me.

Now had it been the ONLY one on the plane .... I'd have got them to offload the woman and the baby. I don't care where about on the plane i sit, but I'm not flying anywhere without my family around me in seats which are on the official manifest. THIS IS THE AIRLINE PROBLEM NOT MINE We shouldn't have been able to book these seats if they were reserved for those with babies on their lap.

Why is it my problem that they didn't have oxygen masks?

I bet you'd have been one of the ones tutting

TolliverGroat · 18/06/2013 23:57

Nah, mine wouldn't be distraught, tearful or upset. They'd just be annoying.

tomorowisanotherday · 18/06/2013 23:58

Annoying kids... i can cope with.

seat moves... i cant

Oh i'm in the UK by the way.

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