...to NOT pay extra to book pre-assigned plane seats with Monarch

[parakeet]

We are family of four, with our two children, six and eight. It's a 3.5 hour flight each way and we need at least one parent with each child (or one parent with the both of them would also be fine). It would cost us £64 to book assigned seating for all four of us, each way and it seems a bit much. Am I being mad (or selfish somehow) to think "they can't let the children sit by themselves" and let Monarch sort it out somehow once we've boarded, if we have difficulties getting each child with a parent?

I've seen threads on here where people are criticised for not booking their seats beforehand. But to me it seems like this is a problem of the airline's making when they could easily assign seats at check-in, like in the "olden days".

It is just a gamble, it depends whether you are prepared to take the consequences if it fails. Since reading MN on the subject I am not prepared to move.

I have been in this situation. Flying childless on a pre paid seat and entitled mummy telling me to move. My response was fuck off

I've flown about 8 times with ds and dh with monarch, never paid and our seats were always allocated together at check in.

Last time we flew was about a year ago, have they now changed their policy to like a ryanair free for all?

for children 6 and 8 together could mean 1 parent with 2 children, behind or in front of, across the aisle from even diagonally as well as physically in same row, I think same row would be kids under 5 mostly

I see you have decided to book 4 seats together, I would too if they were 10/12 i would not bother

I have been in this situation. Flying childless on a pre paid seat and entitled mummy telling me to move. My response was fuck off

But would you be happy to sit next to a random child who wasn't accompanied by their parent/responsible adult?

Given the tutting and eye rolling I got at the thought that my 12 year old may have had to sit next to someone else last time we flew, I would have thought not many people would - the airline had allocated the tickets in a way that put DH, DD2, me on one side, then DD1 across the aisle, I swapped with DD so no problem, but for the 10 seconds the person thought my daughter may be sitting next to him, from his reaction you would have thought she had walked up to him and crapped into his hands

Why should the onus be on me to pay ££££ ensure someone else doesn't have to sit next to my unaccompanied child?

Airlines shouldn't be putting parents in the position of if you don't pay £££ there's no guarantees that your child will be sat with their responsible adult - I stump up, but I think it's outrageous

I had booked a seat next to DH. We had small toddler with us and wanted to have an aisle seat and a centre seat so that we could a) get up and walk around without having to ask someone to move b) lay toddler across our laps to sleep.

Unfortunately on the window seat next to us there was a man and his girlfriend was over the aisle from us, so they were separated. They BOTH started howling and said that they had to sit next to each other because he was scared of flying. We wouldn't move because we wanted our choice of seats (for reasons above) and because we had paid to sit together. The passengers around us made comments for the whole four hours, encouraged by the crew. It was horrible. I will never, ever fly Thomas Cook again.

There was also a four year old who was separated from her parents. We would have swapped for her, but not for these two. When we explained to the man how much we had paid, his response (and the crew's) was 'Wewwww, it's only money, inni'. Not impressed.

I have refused to move before - I had paid extra to sit by a window and with extra bagage space I was not going to move and sit in the middle - why should I?!

I really wish they would offer a discount to passengers who don't mind where they sit rather than charge to allocate seats, the end result would be the same but it wouldn't feel such a rip-off.

I have always paid for allocated seating on Jet2 -never thought about the online check in giving you your seats 28 days early anyway. Although actually this is first year we will be all travelling on adult fares (DC3 now 2) so I guess I couldn't have checked in online before now anyway.
Bunbaker you may have saved me some cash!

We flew with Monarch last summer, 2 adults 3 dcs and we didn't prebook seats. We when checked in we were told we wouldn't be able to sit together, so basically dh sat at the front of the plane, 13 year old ds sat in the middle of the plane on his own and I sat at the back with the other 2dcs. I hated it, I really wasn't happy that ds was on his own and all sorts of horrible flying scenarios crossed my mind...anyway, flew with Monarch again at half term and this time I paid for seats

Its funny, people are demanding cheap flights (and you can easily get them by booking in advance) but thinking they are 'entitled' to sit together because they are a family!

I have seen all sorts kicking off when they havent pre booked AND ITS NOT JUST FAMILIES.

If its that important to you PREBOOK!

I flew to Austria for 50 return last year. I could have paid extra to sit next to DH but for such a short flight it was no big think. I did see a few people fussing about with seats though.

Now, having had my seat 'shared' by a very overweight person last year on a 8 hour flight - now that's a different matter. She had loads of bags which made it even worse. I went to the crew and asked if they could at least ask her to move some of her hand luggage to be told they were nervous because she might claim they were picking on her because of her weight...

That's awful toospottytofly - why did the passengers and crew target you specifically, couldn't anyone else on the flight - that didn't have a toddler on their lap - move instead. Did you put a complaint in to Thomas cook?

I prebooked seats together with First choice when my Dc were 20 months and 5 years old and they said they had cocked up and only had four separate seats scattered throughout the aircraft!!

I had to wait nearly an hour whilst the staff asked various people if they would move and nobody would for ages. By this time DD had fallen over and had a bleeding lip and was crying her eyes out.

We eventually got 2 and 2 but when I complained, First Choice wouldn't even give me back the money I had paid for the allocated seating!!! Never mind any extra for all the delay and anxiety it caused us.

Bastards!!! Never ever booked anything with First Choice ever again.

I fly alone most of the time - I always pre-book because the flight back from the country I live to the UK is long enough for a nice kip and I pre-book a window seat because I don' t want to be disturbed.

For a run of about eight flights in a row I was asked to move for various entitled mothers (and fathers), all of whom had some special reason for not pre-booking, nervous fliers who wanted to be next to partners, people with anxiety disorders and people who we're flying home for their hamster's funeral and wanted their "lucky seat" slight exaggeration it was highly improbable they were all telling the truth. I think they target women flying alone because they think we are a soft touch.

Now I just tell them I will only move if they either pay for me to upgrade to business or persuade the airline to do it. Amazingly nobody has accepted this offer so far!!

Gawd that's even worse hamptoncourt . I always pay the extra for us to sit together as it just saves any worry, but to do that and then not get what you paid for is ridiculous.

I even wrote to the Chairman to complain I know, pathetic of me but they would not accept any liability. It was their cock up because they had booked another family of "Hamptons" onto the aircraft as us and they had not prebooked seats. It hadn't occurred to them there were only three of the other Hamptons and four of us.
I was livid!

Not pathetic in the least hamptoncourt, I'm very surprised they didn't at least refund the seat fee as that was sheer incompetence on their part.

OP I'm glad you have decided to pay, it takes out the worry. This subject is posted about often and on a recent one someone had linked to the Air France crash - turned out that 2 ( I think) DCs sitting away from their parents died. It's all very well to rely on strangers to look after your child but I know if there was an air disaster my absolutely number one priority would be making sure that DS, DH and I made it off the plane. I certainly wouldn't deliberately leave anyone else behind, but anyone who tells you that their priorities would be different are not telling the truth.

I wouldn't pre-book.

The chance is very low that you won't be seated together and even if your not seated together a 6 and 8 year old would be fine sitting alone for 3.5 hours. Give them an I-pad or let them watch the in flight films, open up a sick bag for them and retreat to your seat and enjoy the journey.

Kids can fly unaccompanied from 5 so I don't see the problem with a 6 and 8 year old flying on the same flight but in different seats. It's not like the children can wonder off anywhere.

I don't understand why all carriers don't just allow you to pre book sears when you buy tickets.

I just booked KLM and have seat numbers booked with no extra cost. Same on Jet2.

It's an absolute scam and as pointed out, adds extra risk and inconvenience.

I fly easyjet alot and that is great -Speedyboarders first (the mugs) then special assistance then everyone else. Which means everyone pretty much gets to sit in appropriate seats.

I don't understand why all carriers don't just allow you to pre book sears when you buy tickets.

I just booked KLM and have seat numbers booked with no extra cost. Same on Jet2.

It's an absolute scam and as pointed out, adds extra risk and inconvenience.

I fly easyjet alot and that is great -Speedyboarders first (the mugs) then special assistance then everyone else. Which means everyone pretty much gets to sit in appropriate seats.

I'd have no problem with someone being unwilling to move so I could sit with the DC. They might decide to change their mind once the DC sat next to them though!

CAA Guidelines....

Families, children and infants

The seating of children close by their parents or guardians should be the aim of airline seat allocation procedures for family groups and large parties of children.

Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults, should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. Children and accompanying adults should not be separated by more than one aisle. Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults. This is because the speed of an emergency evacuation may be affected by adults trying to reach their children.

Whenever a number of infants and children are travelling together the airline should make every effort to ensure that they can be readily supervised by the responsible accompanying adults.

Some airlines only allow a set %age of their seats to be prebooked, not all. I know Virgin were certainly doing this in the last 4 years as we tried to prebook our seats and were unable to do so as their allocation had been filled. We were doing long haul 11 hour flight, with an 8y, so it was of a concern to us. I called them and they said there was nothing they could do until check in time. Fortunately we did get seated together in the end but it made it more stressful.

Because not all airlines allow all seats to be prebooked it does usually been that many peoplle won't have prebooked seats. So check in early - online where possible as soon as the time comes up to do so - and get your allocated seats there. If online not available - get to the airport early.

How funny and jolly Fitzgerald and another poster further up.

What about if that person was unwilling to move because they had paid for their seat for specific reasons - say because they were frightened of flying, or say if it was an aisle seat and they had Crohns so had to have easy access to the toilets, or the example above of an elderly couple where they need to sit together so one can provide assistance to the other ? Or what about if it was my family where I pay for the 3 of us to sit together as a family because it matters to me. I don't mind sitting beside your DC but it isn't my job to entertain them, take them to the toilet or look after them in an emergency. If you're happy to take your chances on that basis then grand, knock yourself out.

Honestly I don't know why I read these threads, before I would happily move for a family if I was on my own or even if the three of us were together, now I just think well sod you if you haven't taken the basic precaution of paying to ensure you have seats together then it isn't my problem.

I can assure you that neither 6-nor-8-year-old would be fine with flying alone for 3.5 hours. We don't have ipads for a start. They would be upset and worried about not being able to talk to us, wouldn't find all the books, magazines in their bags, wouldn't hear or understand properly the instructions about seatbelts, etc.

If the people next to them were smiley and helpful, the children would impose on them too much, and if they were cold or grumpy the children would get frankly scared by them.

No, I'm paying up. But agree with everyone that the airlines are unreasonable in charging for basically using a computer program which they had to use anyway. It's like estate agents charging an administration fee to renew a tenancy - they do it because they can. Ho hum.