To think they will not seat the dc away from me

[inmyshoos]

Flying on easy jet uk flight. Myself and dd1 (6)and dd2(8). Big treat for us. Goung to visit friends. Managed to get flights cgeap enough for it to be possible. Do i really need to pay the extra money to ensure we get seats together. Been a long time since we flew but have never had to do this before.

Aibu to think it is just another way to squeeze more money from you??!

If I'm travelling with my child I pay to book seats because you know what? I like her, want to keep her comfortable and would like to spend as much of the holiday with her as possible including travelling

If I'm travelling alone/with other adults I would also pre-book seats because I want to choose where I'd like to sit. In that situation there is categorically no way I would move to facilitate you being sat with your child if you hadn't bothered to pre-book.

shesparkles no tone intended!

When I've travelled with easyjet I've checked in online about a week maybe before flying and got allocated seats then. Maybe I've been lucky and got seats next to the people I'm travelling with randomly?

Are you able to check in on-line with EJ? I check in on-line with Jet2 28 days before dept and then I am given seat numbers so that I know we are together. If then we were not together I would pay the extra so that at least one adult is next to child.

Is this a possibility?

Someone did look into the details and regs on one of the threads last year and said that the airlines do have a "duty of care" to seat you together if at all possible. Obviously it depends on how many other passengers have paid the extra, although I can't see why most would bother for such a short flight other than fear of flying or medical reasons.

I flew easyjet last month.

Check in online in the free seats as soon as it opens. They allocate seats together on a first come first serve basis. You'll only be split up if you are last to check in and they split you up to fill all the odd seats.

Although you might as well pay the extra £6 a seat to ensure it if your children can't cope on their own.

Easyjet will seat you together automatically if children and adults are all on the same booking reference.

It will only be a hassle if the bookings were made separately. I travelled with DS last summer and because my seat was booked on my work credit card (work trip) and his seat using my personal credit card, I had to be careful about seat allocation. But on a second flight - where we booked under a single booking reference number - we were automatically allocated sears together.

They don't always stick to the sit together thing on busy flights with older children but there is no question they will want a parent next to a 6 year old.

Oh brandy and theoddity that's helpful info. I didn't know they allocated seats now as we have paid to book ever since the splitting up of the family experience.

how much are the pre-booked seats for your flight? easyjet are the cheapest by a long way IME - I always book extra legroom (which has the bonus of priority boarding & guaranteed larger cabin baggage) & they're only £9 or something, the ordinary seats are about £3!

We're going to Corfu in June (booked last Oct) & a standard seat was £2.99 each way. Doesn't seem worth the agonising to me

Maybe they should incorporate a standard seat charge in every fare, like BA etc, to be reserved on booking - then nobody would know or care what they were paying for it. It's not like hold baggage - everybody needs a seat!

We never pay the extra to get allocated seats but we have usually been lucky enough to be seated together. On the one occasion that we were separated I found that my children had been sat next to another mother while I had been sat next to hers so we just swapped children back again.

My girls are grown up teens now and its actually nicer to be sat away from them and sit and read my book in peace and quiet

YABU as it is a risk you can run. It's really up to you - but do try to ensure that you check in as early as possible so that you can be together. Are you going in peak season? It could be possible that the majority of families could have booked seats and there may not be much space left, but then again that's a 'what's if' scenario.

And if DC's aren't used to it, take boiled sweets to suck on for take off and landing just in case for ears

For reference, BA now charge for seat bookings.

I can't imagine caring enough about where I sit on a plane that I wouldn't move rather than sit next to stranger's child

Do people really refuse to swop and then complain about having to entertain the random child that ends up next to them?

I can't imagine caring enough about where I sit on a plane that I wouldn't move rather than sit next to stranger's child

If travelling in regular economy (so not extra legroom/exit row/premium seats), I would happily swap like for like - I don't care about my position along the plane.

But I wouldn't swap aisle/window for middle

We have just paid for selecting seats for an easy jet flight for May half term for 3 people. It added £20 total for the return flight for all of us, it was worth it to make sure we are together.

Take one less bag to cover the cost?

Well yes, window seats are always nicer than sitting in the middle, but if it meant I had to sit next to someone else's small child I'd happily sacrifice!

I'm travelling this year with DH and (my) DC. I am concerned as our surnames are different. But I asked exH. He flew with DC and his gf. Didn't pay the extra.
The (same as we're flying with) airline seated the DC with the gf (different name) and not him. They were all fine with this. But it has made my mind up. Looking at the plane layout (internet is very useful) there are no rows of four. So paying to sit together is a load of crap anyway, they cannot deliver on this. I realise we could be all seated singly. So I am currently waiting on an email from their customer services about what this means.
We always arrive early at airports. Dh and I have always been seated together. But I've never been given this option before. Quite honestly I am tempted to put this airline on my 'don't bother again' list. There's very little explanation about unaccompanied children in their information.

In my experience - I fly ryanair and easyjet for work all the time - passengers are usually willing to swap within reason, although on ryanair people used (before allocated seats) to get justifiably pissed off when parents of small children boarded late and couldn't find seats together and so everyone had to be shuffled around thereby delaying the plane (you can't put a toddler next to a random stranger). I imagine this is why they allocate now.

We booked as four adults and one child (no seat needed for DD as she was under 2). We were sat separately as two couples quite far apart despite arriving early for check-in, I think other seats were reserved. Didn't really matter for us but if lots of the other seats are reserved then you might well have no option than to be split up. Depends if you want some control over the seating, or want to risk it on the day.

Personally, if we were flying now, I'd pay the extra and not worry about it. Especially if travelling with more than one child, we'd just have one bag of snacks and toys, share them across the children, all sat in one row. DH and I able to sort them out together, keep an eye on them if we need the loo etc.

Plus, if there was an emergency (unlikely admittedly), my DD would want to be sat near a parent. I would hate for a strange to feel responsible for her safety in an emergency and I'd hate DD to feel frightened and us not being able to be next to her. As I say, unlikely, but I'd rather pay and be happy.

dont worry- if you aim to get there at a decent time you can get to the front of the queue and board juswt after priority boarding . easy jet far less cuntish than Ryan

wow some really nasty responses on this thread! sheesh

That said, I once flew Ryanair which was so hardcore I did pay for it. we got 2 rows of three between 4 if that makes sense

a woman came on LAST with her tiny baby, and had to sit in the middle seat in the row behind us. she was giving me dirty looks all journey.

they seated my friend away from her dc and refused to reseat them and said they would be asked to leave if they didn't take their seat
I suppose its fair enough though as some will have paid the extra to be with their dc.

Fair enough Eve. Nobody needs to explain why they feel they do want to sit next to their children.

But I don't understand all this vitriol directed at parents who don't think sitting next to each other is a particularly big priority.

I'm not lazy, or care more about money than my DC, or too tight to bother to pay, or wanting to use other passengers as unpaid babysitters .

I don't think sitting apart is a terrible thing. I think it's absolutely fine for a short flight - long haul not so much. But I would absolutely expect my 7 year old to be able to sit quietly and sensibly for an hour or two with something to occupy her, without needing me sitting right next to her. I mean, come on.

Realistically, flying is extremely safe, I'd almost certainly be sitting within earshot, and it's not as though you can get off the plane at the wrong stop . It actually seems to me the perfect environment to allow the kids a bit of independence.

(I haven't ever actually been separated from the DC whilst flying btw, though nor have I ever paid to reserve a seat).

we got 2 rows of three between 4 if that makes sense, a woman came on LAST with her tiny baby, and had to sit in the middle seat in the row behind us. she was giving me dirty looks all journey

Clarify? You took six seats between four of you?