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??!

I'm amazed how many people feel that their little kids would be happy seated on their own and are prepared to take the risk. I know mine wouldn't have been ok when they were young.

well, yes, it was automatic...but you couldn't pre-select a seat in the 'good' old days, you were assigned a seat at check-in, & you got what was left at that point. the cost was included in the fare - not free.

I like it this way - at least with the low-cost airlines. I prefer an extra legroom seat & I can make sure I get one.

People have always moved for us.

After all, what's the difference between sitting in seat 15 B, or 14 B?

From experience they may well try to seat you apart. I personally don't pay to reserve seats however I'm online the minute the online seat booking opens (usually 2 days before flight) and book seats then. Yabu if your children would mind seated with strangers - my eldest would prob think it was a huge adventure

"From experience they may well try to seat you apart."

How could an automated online allocation system "try" to sit you apart?

Still don't pay extra though because I fly BA
I've already mentioned this upthread but for regular customers, BA charge for advance seat selection now. Rather nicely though, any groups with children who don't reserve in advance are assigned seats (presumably together if available) 72 hours before flight, where the free-for-all online check in is 24 hours before flight.

BA on travelling with infants:
When you travel with an infant (under 2 years) who won't be travelling in a seat of their own, you can reserve a seat for yourself and everyone in your booking, free of charge, as soon as you've made your booking. If you don't choose a seat in advance, we'll reserve a suitable one for you three days before the flight.

BA on travelling with older children: You may be able to reserve seats for free if you have an infant in your booking, otherwise there will be a charge. If you decide not to reserve your seats in advance, we'll do it for you 5 days before departure. If you can't be seated together, we'll make sure each child is seated with an adult from your group.

After all, what's the difference between sitting in seat 15 B, or 14 B?
While I might agree with this, it's not really your right to query that though.

People might have lucky numbers, prefer a specific place in relation to engines, always sit five rows behind an exit, be closer to a loo, have a window slightly ahead than behind them, whatever.

flew Easyjet about 2 months ago. I was sat with DD2 (who is 3 ) and DD1 who was 7, was sat in the row behind me. They asked the person sitting next to me to move as they said DD1 was too young to be allowed to sit on her own. - what if that person had paid for his selection of seat, and quite rightly refused to move? Anyway a 7YO is perfectly able to sit alone/one row behind.

I flew back from Berlin recently and there were 2 children alone on the flight (Unaccompanied Minors - up to age 14). They were about 8 and 10, and looked to be seasoned travellers!

(ANd can we stop the 'was sat'? You are/were seated, or you sat. 'Was sat' is awful)

Easy jet have allocated seats now. If you check in on line pretty much as soon as it opens (usually 24 hours before the flight I think) you can reserve seats together free of charge. I've found EJ have improved massively in the last couple of years

Check in opens 30 days before the flight, in my experience of Easyjet. Get online as soon as check in opens and choose your seats if you don't want to pay the extra.

I'll be doing exactly this ahead of the flight I'm taking with ds next month as I'm prepared to risk us not sitting together. He's 14 however - if he was little I'd pay the extra to guarantee seats together.

ffs - rtft fail on my part! Glad it's sorted, op :)

In the 'good old days' flights were more expensive. If I were sat next to an unaccompanied child due to a numpy parent not ensuring they were sat together, it would be zero % of my interest. Vomit away. Nothing to do with me.

It's nothing to do with being too cheap to pay! OP has paid for her seats, any airline that seats a mother & 2 young dc apart are wankers.

If you all stop paying, they will stop charging. IT IS just another way to get you to pay more.

They won't stop charging. They'll just increase the cost of everyone's ticket, meaning those that don't care where they're seated can't get the flight more cheaply.

You pay for A seat, not a specific seat. If you look at any airlines T&Cs that is very clear.

The airline is contracted to get you from A to B on a specific day. That is all they have to do for the money you pay. If they fly you part of the way and bus you the rest of the way, they have still fulfilled their contract. As long as you have a seat, you have no comeback.

They can charge whatever they want to charge for it, whether the passengers agree or not. They can also seat a parent away from their child because there is no 'rule' against it, only a 'guideline'

They may be wankers, but I'd still rather pay the extra to sit next to my child than risk her being seated without me.

Big multi million pound companies causing such vitriol, don't you know that it's them that are the problem, paying to pre book seats is a swizz, travelling with young children is shit, why can't they make it a bit easier......oh and my 3 yo weighs next to nothing yet I'm still paying full price.

I just booked the five of us on a BA flight from London City, small plane, straight on and off at Malaga, it cost me £1700, Monarch wanted not much less when all the baggage and seat allocation was taken into account. My eldest is 13 now so I have been traveling with kids for a long time and I'm at the point now that I'd rather go away every two years and have decent flights and suffer the hell that is budget airlines.

Just because you have paid to reserve your seat, doesn't mean you also get to dictate who sits next to you, whether it is a child or not.

Maybe the airlines should bring in an extra charge for people who are scandalised at the idea of having a child next to them who might not be right next to their parents.

If I felt my children needed constant supervision, I might pay extra to sit next to them. But I don't feel that, and so no way would I pay extra.

I actually hate choosing a specific seat, I'd much rather be randomly allocated one. In fact, perversely, I probably would prefer to pay more to not be able to choose a specific seat.

You have only paid to reserve your seat, if my child is seated next to you it is not your affair or concern, or responsibility. I'm not paying an unnecessary fee because someone might not want to sit next to my child. I will ensure she is well-behaved, if she starts to vomit (unlikely) I will come and take her to my seat. But as her parent it is up to me to judge if she can sit apart from me, and I judge that she can.

What next - should overweight people have to pay extra to reserve specific seats because people might not want to sit next to them? People who smell? People who suffer from travel sickness? Perhaps people who want to recline their seat should pay extra because people might not want to sit behind them?

It's not a swizz. You can get a return flight to Europe for £50. Have people really lost sight of how cheap that is? And why is it so cheap? What's the business model? Strip everything away to the bare minimum (get one arse from A to B) and let customers choose which extras they pay for.

I just booked the five of us on a BA flight from London City, small plane, straight on and off at Malaga, it cost me £1700, Monarch wanted not much less when all the baggage and seat allocation was taken into account

Exactly. And if you factor free drinks etc on BA....

Budget airlines CAN provide the same service as 'premium' airlines. They can transport your suitcases, sit you where you choose, serve you a hot meal, give you gin and tonics, bring you a towel. But they don't do this any cheaper than the 'premium' airlines. They can offer cheap flights because they allow you to opt out of all of the above if you want to save money.

Has anyone listened to/read Mick O'Leary (?) on Ryanair's mission statement. That is: to create a position where it is possible for a passenger to pay no more than the fuel, minimum seating standing, plus proportionate cleaning charges and a penny or whatever towards provision for disabled travellers. Hence the suggestion that toilet use should be charged - why should I pay towards cleaning it if I don't use it?

Continental airlines in the US were happy to sit my 3 year old on his own on an overnight long haul flight!

Our previous flight was delayed due to fog in new York and previous flights from there had been delayed so the plane was full when we arrived. OH and DS1 age 4 got two seats together in middle of plane and DS2 and I were directed further up the plane and shown to 2 singles middle seats about 3 rows apart on opposite sides of the plane. They weren't interested in trying to rearrange, they just wanted us to take the seats and get the plane up.

Thankfully there was a large party of men who were on a drunken golf trip that were taking up most of the back of the plane who ore-arranged themselves so we could sit together.