To Thank Thomas Cook for clarifying the matter of paying to sit beside your children

[Groovee]

I flew Thomas Cook today to Florida. I paid extra for seats together and got to choose where we were sitting.

We decided to go on last because we had seats and there were near the cabin door. When I got settled a family were not happy that they had 5 single seats. The cabin crew were quite adamant that they could not ask customers who have paid to choose their seats to move.

So last weeks thread is solved

Is the flight attendant supposed to manhandle us?
You can't even call it a breach of safety if I say that I will look after your child.

I should do that in the first place BriantheMole - it would get results with me- an air of entitlement would make me sit tight at all costs!

You may have to get off Charlotte if everyone refuses to move.

not necessarily true, cabin staff seem to get people moving very quickly or they miss their take off slot. Much money would be lost because the bags would have to come back out of the hold. And it would have a knock on effect on the following flights on that aircraft.

I always would always be polite about it exotic.

My god, this again. The basic point is that airlines are charging for what should be a basic principle of safety - to sit small children next to their parent on flights, in case of emergency and for any number of other blindingly obvious reasons.

The idea that parents should have to pay extra to ensure the basic safety of their children on an aircraft beggars belief. To those who think 'your children, your responsibility' - do you also think you should pay extra for seatbelts? For having a little table that doesn't have razor-sharp edges? For having the 'put seatbelts on' sign lit up so that you know when there is turbulence? Maybe we should only give those safety cards to those who pay a fiver for them?

The mindset is frankly unbelievable. Luckily I've never encountered anyone in real life who thinks this way.

I daresay the cabin staff could as easily move a parent off the plane as another passenger from their seat. I would hope that someone not in a prebooked seat would move if they were asked nicely but the parent shouldn't behave as though they should be entitled to receive a swap as a God given right.

It pisses me off that people are assuming those who are already seated are not moving for selfish reasons. Perhaps they are shit scared of flying or have an invisible disability that they don't want to announce to the whole plane...? Compassion goes both ways.

Well if they had an invisable disability presumably they would pre book, for free, a seat reserved for people with disabilities. Then no one would be asking them to move.

And its not an easy decision to move anyone off the plane because of the time delay in taking off the baggage. The plane can't fly with the baggage and not the passenger these days in light of the Lockerbie bombing.

No I retract that. Moving someone of the plane means offloading their luggage. I still see no reason why there shouldn't be a supplement for assigned seats on budget flights though. Scheduled flights where seats are allocated are different. Of course they should try to seat families together where possible but surely parents can help the process by checkingoin as early as possible to avoid having to sort it out on the plane.

It doesn't work like that though sooty. Families can get there as early as they want with ryanair, but they still get loaded last because all the pre payers go first.

Seatbelts, safe tables etc are a standard need for everyone and not comparable to parents expecting specific seating on a discount / budget airline where the base fare is very low and the chosen extras area for a supplement.

Many disabilities are not physical so many not necessarily require the space. My friend has Crohn's Disease and needs to be near a toilet at all times. My auntie has anxiety and would only be able to sit on the end of the row. Not everyone would want to let the airline know they have a disability and not everyone would realise that either.

Brian I was referring to airlines with allocated seating which is why I think parents should prepay on Ryanair if that is the only way to guarantee seating next to one another. Didn't they let families on straight after the reservations at one time or have I got that wrong?

ilovesooty that used to happen on easyjet but of course going along with a baby / toddlers especially with lots of stairs and stuff means that those with mobility difficulties / not so speedy elderly people and those with small children are last on anyway.

Personally I think they should adhere to the guidelines as I don't see exactly who is benefited by splitting people who are less able to look after themselves away from those who are there with them.

It might as well be a 90yo man as a 2yo child, or someone with a disability. To split people up seems to go against all common sense from a safety POV.

Seating children with parents with children is as much a basic safety requirement as seatbelts. What do you think happens in an emergency if a 2 year old is 3 rows away from its parents? They will trample you to get to their child and compromise the evacuation of the entire flight. It's not an added luxury, it's basic safety for which the airline is responsible. If you want to start delegating aircraft safety to the whims of the passengers, we really are arguing from different universes.

Last time I went sooty the families were the very very last to get on. There was a handful of families that had pre booked, but the majority were singles or couples strangely. Despite people saying they would prebook to sit near their kids on here, the majority didn't appear to.
Crashdoll, its not a space thing, they prebook out seats at the back near the toilets and the exit. They're just normal seats. Although if you have a disability seat you have to sit by the window. This is because if there is an emergency you get off last, in case you get in anyones way.

EasyJet has allocated seating now doesn't It? With Ryanair I think they should load the prepayers and those with disabilities then families and they should the

Sorry
Then let the rest of the people on. I still think files would be better off prebooking but they should if not get on before the adults who chose not to prebook.

I mean families would be better off prebooking.

Couldn't agree more Impecunious! I'm not saying that if you want to book groups together, then you shouldn't pay extra (I could get convinced of the logic!) but as a bare minimum, children under a certain age (maybe around 8?) should be sat with at least one of the adults they are travelling with.

This could mean families spread out all over the plane, but if each child is with an adult from their own party, that would be fine. Anything less is dangerous & inexcusable on behalf of the airlines.

Has anyone actually seen an under 5yr old split from a parent? I certainly haven't.

And a two year old can't be three rows away from its parents as one of the parents would swap.

Not if all 3 were sat in separate seats around the place sooty.

3 rows in front, other 3 rows behind?

Thats assuming theres two parents there and not just one traveling with child.