Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not want to pay £100 to guarantee that our kids can sit next to us on the plane

612 replies

mumsnit · 17/06/2015 21:08

DH wants us to pay £25 each to guarantee that we can all get seats together when we go on holiday next month. Aibu to think it's a ridiculous cost to pay out Shock

But I have heard that one airline refused to seat a family together as they hadn't paid the premium and tried to seat a 3 year old alone on the other side of the plane from the parents. We don't go on holiday very often - especially abroad and I'm already nervous about flying so don't want this added to the stress of travelling.

WWYD/WDYD - do you pay the extra cost?

OP posts:
fastdaytears · 18/06/2015 08:31

If your kid was separated because of a mistake the airline made then I'd move, but there was (as there is) a perfectly good mechanism for making sure you were together and you chose not to use it then I'd be annoyed. Yes I'm sure I'd move IRL but I'd definitely come online and bitch about it afterwards...

I don't get this "tax on parents" thing. If I buy a car it doesn't come with a baby seat because most people don't need one. If I buy a baby seat then that's not a tax on children it's just buying what I need. Most people don't need reserved seats so don't pay for them. If you do need them, pay for them. A holiday is a luxury.

LuisSuarezTeeth · 18/06/2015 08:31

I remember the kindness of a lady who gave me her window seat. I was upset leaving DP to fly to the UK and couldn't stop crying. It gave me a little privacy so I could turn my face away. I don't know if she paid extra but it was a lovely thing to do either way.

Anotheronesoon · 18/06/2015 08:31

I would never asked someone who is disabled to move for me and my child- I would be moving for you if you needed me to! ( although may think twice after this threadWink)
Do you not expect people to treat you kindly because of your disability if you should need it?
I don't think this argument is wether a disabled person should move for a child but if there is no reason why you can't move why make it a problem?
Also although flights are cheaper than they have been for a long time please remember that young families often have to travel in school holidays which are not cheap I can assure you - but that is by the by.
I would be happy to give up my seat when traveling alone, and have done before- in fact I offered before anyone had to ask because I could see the distress on the parents faces. Manners and kindness cost nothing

carabos · 18/06/2015 08:36

DH and I were on a short-haul flight last week. We don't pay for, or expect to get seats together - we're adults and can bear to be parted for a couple of hours.

In the queue for boarding we were held aside by the attendant who said "you're not seated together, I'll have to move you" and gave us this look Hmm. A large family group behind us got the same treatment. At this point the attendant was trying to re-seat 10 people WITHOUT moving anyone who had paid for seat.

Mission accomplished, we finally got onto the plane. Shortly before the taxi we were moved again, this time to balance the plane and because someone has to sit in the emergency exit row. The flight attendant brusquely said we had to move and "you're in charge of that door now alright?". DH and I were Confused at the whole bloody palaver. Why on earth the airline's computer system doesn't put people together when that seems to be the airline's policy is beyond me, and why would it leave the emergency exit row empty when it's required to be occupied?

TheFairyCaravan · 18/06/2015 08:43

You wouldn't know I was disabled once I was on the plane and sat down. I look like everybody else!

PtolemysNeedle · 18/06/2015 08:43

People with disabilities who require certain seating positions or who require a carer with them shouldn't be expected to pay for what they need in the forts place.

Being disabled is a protected characteristic, being a parent isn't.

TheFairyCaravan · 18/06/2015 08:47

I expect to be treated within the law regarding my disability. People don't always get up and offer me a seat, especially people with children.

I'm perfectly aware how much holidays cost in school holidays, I am a parent too. But a holiday is not a necessity. If you can't factor in the price of paying to guarentee your seats, don't expect anyone to move. You don't know their circumstances or the reason why they are sitting where they are.

TendonQueen · 18/06/2015 08:48

Out of interest, how would people who don't want to pay this feel about carrying cash onto the plane and then if they're not seated together, they could offer it to those who are so at least they're not out of pocket?

Anotheronesoon · 18/06/2015 08:50

When did the world get such a mean place? I'm off - and will continue being kind and courteous to others regardless of who has paid for what. Hmm

Fromparistoberlin73 · 18/06/2015 08:50

It's a fair point - many people travel for business and when you do an online check in you can get your little aisle or window seat

Things have changed - pay and get over it !

ilovesooty · 18/06/2015 08:53

Exactly Ptolemy

I might well move to a similar seat on a flight where I hadn't paid extra to prebook. I wouldn't on a flight where I had. As has been explained there is a low base fare and the extras are payable. Other people's family circumstances aren't my concern if they choose not to pay the add on fee.

TheFairyCaravan · 18/06/2015 08:53

Ptolemy you don't always have to pay but some non-disabled people have cottoned on to this and are exploiting it according to the rep we were talking to when we were on holiday in April.

And would you believe people are asking for Assitance at airports when they don't need it too? So airports are starting to ask for evidence and proof that you need that too!

ilovesooty · 18/06/2015 08:55

You mean you'll continue to feel you have an entitlement because you're a parent Anotheronesoon

ivykaty44 · 18/06/2015 08:55

AA sorry to dissapoint you but they are rules and that little bit of paperhas indeed worked....

I can understand why people who have been scammed by airlines want to stay put but airline are being reckless

If in the event of a crash a child tried to get to s parent against the flow of people and this caused lives to be lost - then the airlines would be held responsible and this is why the rules are in place.

Anotheronesoon · 18/06/2015 08:58

I love sooty -
No, not entitlement, I just would have hoped that there weren't so many selfish people around!

ilovesooty · 18/06/2015 09:01

Sorry it sounds like entitlement to me. If you want the service, pay the fee. Don't expect someone who has paid to move for you.

Anotheronesoon · 18/06/2015 09:01

Maybe selfish is the wrong word- but I wish there were more people who thought about others more. But I think my views are not common place on mumsnet!

SomewhereIBelong · 18/06/2015 09:03

On a bus, you pay to be transported from a to b, you do not pay for a seat, I would give up my seat for anyone who needed it more than me.

On a plane, you GENERALLY pay to go from a to b, not for a seat, I would give up my seat for anyone who needed it more than me.

IF I have paid for a seat, chosen it carefully according to my needs, and you have chosen NOT to do that, then go fish.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 18/06/2015 09:06

It has never been cheaper to fly than it is now. You can not expect to fly from Spain to the UK for less than the average train fare and have everything thrown in. Paying for guarenteed seating and checking in baggage is just the way of making up the price of the plane ticket to what it used to be.

This^ It is not the airlines being "grabby" or "scamming" you. Airline flight is expensive, and highly competitive. Some airlines choose to compete by charging lowest possible price for a very basic flight. If you are a single traveller with no luggage a budget flight is ideal. If you are a family with young children it is less so.

I also think there is some confusion about what being "seated with" your children means. This does not mean that the whole family must be seated together. It does not mean that every child is entitled a seat immediately next to a parent. It just means seated near is across an aisle or a row or two away.

TillHammerZeit · 18/06/2015 09:07

They are most definitely guidelines and not rules. There's an MSE article on that subject here which explains it.

AssembleTheMinions · 18/06/2015 09:13

So if they are indeed rules and not guidelines, then why do the airlines repeatedly break them? Perhaps because they can due to the fact that it's not actually the law. Surely they would all be facing huge fines each and everytime a child was split up from the parents.

Camomileteaneeded · 18/06/2015 09:15

I' m with you Another, this thread over something really quite small in the great scheme of things shows how harsh people are to each other. A little kindness in the world goes a long way .
My own teen DC's volunteered to give up their seats last year to a family separated with preschool age children. Not begrudgingly or with complaints but because they are kind considerate human beings .

Allbymyselfagain · 18/06/2015 09:17

This thread has moved a lot since my last post , very interesting. To the person who asked what business class on ryan air gets you, it's all the paid for extras. So my £170 return flights to nuremberg gets me speedy boarding, front row extra leg room seats, 20k Baggage, ability to change my flights or cancel no charge and I don't have to print off my paper boarding pass. So all those extras that you normally have to pay for. Out of interest i added it up seperately and it came to £190 so I saved £20 doing it that way.

As I'd said before I wouldn't offer up my seat unless the airline had cocked up. If you turn up and rely on the kindness of strangers sometimes you'll have to accept your on a very early morning flight witha bunch of tired grumpy people who don't really want to be on that plane either but have paid for the priveldge of knowing they get the seat they want, either aisle or window, close to the front for easy disembarkment. It's a bit like going to the supermarket and not having enough money/forgotten your purse when you get to the till, sometimes I'll step in and pay for your shopping (I am a nice person really) but sometimes I wont.

HayFeverHell · 18/06/2015 09:17

I am surprised by how many people on a parenting website are coming down in favour of the airlines effectively applying an extra levy on parents with young children. Because, lets face it, if you are all adults in your party you can choose to pay extra to sit together; however, if you have small children you are forced to pay.

We have never paid and have always sat together, or been split into two groups where each child is with at least one parent. I hope other people don't pay and continue to make it awkward for the airlines.

I am old enough to remember flying in the 70s. Sheer Bliss.

BadLad · 18/06/2015 09:17

My own teen DC's volunteered to give up their seats last year to a family separated with preschool age children. Not begrudgingly or with complaints but because they are kind considerate human beings.

These teens had paid to sit with the rest of the family, had they?