To not pay for seats?

[benetint]

We've booked to go to Spain tomorrow with Dh, Ds (2) and Dd (5) to see my Dad.

Monarch charge £8 per seat to book in advance, which on top of the cost of the trip is a bit much for us. (£72 extra both ways)

Do you think there's any way we could be separated from each other if we don't buy allocated seats? Or would monarch not let that happen? Do they give priority to young children? As long as one of us is with dd and one is with ds I'll be happy.

Or do you think I'm being right risking it

Or you could argue that by stripping all the options out of the price, more people can afford to fly

Exactly Soup. I am flying to France in the summer. Although easy jet had a low headline rate when I added on the cost of checking in a bag it came to the same as a BA flight.

I would just turn up early and make sure I was one of the first to check in, or check in online as soon as it opens so I could make sure we got seats together. otherwise, it's a 2 hour flight - hardly a long time - so even if DH has to sit with one and you have to sit with the other, or one of you has to sit with both alone, I think you'll manage.

Considering OP said that she would pay the extra on page 1 and is in Spain by now, I'm surprised this thread is still going!

Personally I'd pay the extra too in her situation.

OP if you are still reading, hope you are having a lovely holiday!

That would be because people are discussing the whole issue of "having" to pay to pre book seats together.

I'd risk it. Who's going to want to sit next to an unattended child?
If I had the choice between sitting next to my husband (in the seats we had chosen and paid for) and an unattended child, OR moving to the other side of the plane so the child could sit with its parent (who hadn't bothered to book their seats), then sorry, but I'm staying put.
Someone else's unattended child is not my responsibility. I would help them with opening packets or that kind of thing, but no more than that.

Is it not the case that even paying doesn't even guarantee the seat?? Or have I read that wrong?
For operational reasons, there may be times when your paid seat allocation has to get changed. They reserve the right to make changes, but they rarely do. It's to cover things like a change of aircraft or to meet the needs of a disabled passenger.

There has to be an adult with each child for safety reasons.
As has been explained, any adult will do and seated together means not separated by more than one row, so you could end up in front of, or behind or across the aisle from your child.

Way up there ^ I mentioned our situation. 4 adults, one needing assistance on and off the plane and one child. I phoned up today. We can't reserve seats for part of the party, leaving mum and dad where they get put at their request, so we're at the mercy of Thomson airlines or the kindness of other passengers to ensure that DD(3) is sat next to either DH or I.

I was happy to just leave it as it was and take what we were given, but DH is such a stress head over things like this and has managed to transfer his stressyness (is that a word?) onto me, while he's happy as Larry now .

DH reckons the way to get the seat you want is to get on first wearing a T shirt saying "ASK ME ABOUT JESUS" and pat the empty seat next to you, with a big smile.

Surely if you are on first you've got the seat you want regardless of what T Shirt you are wearing.

A woman told me to F off when I asked her to vacate my seat on my last flight (well technically I asked her to move her child). She made me feel really guilty about depriving her child of a window seat.

I am a very nervous flier and have discovered a window seat lessens my anxiety considerably, so I always pre-book my seat. It cost us £100 extra to do this but to me it is worth it.

I would consider swapping if half the family were in row 6, half in row 8 and I was in row 7 as the actual row makes no difference. It really irritates me though when people don't pay but expect others to move to accommodate them.

Drives me nuts when people don't pay for seat but expect other people to move around for them.

They are not extras that you are being forced to pay. They are services that you are opting out of by buying a cheap ticket
Well said. It always amazes me that people fail to grasp the business model.

And I've said on other threads: have people really lost touch with how cheaply they are flying?

Can I thank the OP for starting this thread because it prompted me to reserve seats for our flights in June/July and to order a childs meal. It is with Emirates so was free.

free = included in higher price (usually, although sometimes I've found BA cheaper than easyjet).
You do generally get what you pay for with planes. Going with a no frills airline and then complaining you haven't got frills like seats next to who you want is just silly. If you want it pay for it, either by booking it at extra cost or flying with an airline that includes it.