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

[mumsnit]

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

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?

Would anyone expect to book a parent & child onto a train and have the baby in one carriage and the adult in another?

That actually happened to me not long ago! I booked online tickets for 4yo and myself. I didn't pick the specific seats, but let the online system allocate us seats. When we got on the train, I discovered that they were about 4 rows apart! A nice person moved to accommodate us. I am always careful about checking the seat numbers when booking train tickets now.

Openwindo the obvious course of action is to declare the disability on booking as I said previously.

I've already pointed out that accommodation of such a disability should happen by law.

Open yet again, ignoring the attempts to make it personal, I regret it if you interpreted my words in the way you did.

I do not feel it remotely justified three pages of whining.

Jingly so did I.

Quite Jingly And it is

My 20year old would go ballistic if she knew I was in another seat so no swapping on the way home.

I have a mamma's boy too, but he can sit on his own now he is 25

I think it is one of those things, you pay and relax or you don't pay and don't moan.

When there are lots of families on the plane someone will always be moving away from their own child.

Wow we're still going with deliberately misreading elderflower's posts are we?

I love the fact that ruperta has been rude to whoever he/she can on this thread ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Threatened to flounce off several times and yet is still here misreading and insulting.

Agreed fastday. Elderflower it is clear what you meant in all of your posts. I cannot understand why you have had such a hard time

Thank you! Was honestly getting quite upset!

Has anyone suggested a flounce emoticon? A proper teenage doors slamming (but hanging around just outside the door to make sure they're all talking about you). Would be super handy esp on this thread.

Yes I would too elder. Not getting upset is easier said than done

Flounce icon like this?

Genius!!

Elderflower, I can't see an issue with what you've said either. I think it's fine for OP to decide not to apply for DLA, and the emotional difficulty of filling in those forms is a very valid reason (it is an utterly brutal process) but it was a perfectly reasonable thing to suggest, and I totally agree that DLA is not a "hand-out". I prefer to think of it as an (inadequate) tax that society pays for setting up infrastructure and systems that are so bloody inaccessible to people with disabilities.

If the plane crashes I want my DD to die in my arms with her mum telling her she loves her, not seated next to a stranger screaming for me. It's my choice.

You have a very romantic notion of a place crash.

Its just not like that at all.

Well, quite.

I am puzzled by the implication that paying extra for seats would mean the family would be unable to go on holiday at all but claiming DLA would be taking 'handouts.' I am fairly sure David Cameron claimed it for Ivan!

When my brother was entitled to DLA it was largely because his epilepsy meant he couldn't drive, so DLA helped pay for taxis and the like. It DOES help, as even with a diagnosis some people will always say 'oh, well doctors will say anything'.

Sorry - massively off topic. I still think it's UR and rude to expect people to move for you!

I (a childless woman) on a plane if it were a short flight would let a baby/toddler/under 5 sit with the parents (eg swap seats with me).

Older kids - hmmm if I'd paid for my seat well for a short flight they would be fine.

on a longer flight (USA etc) I'd prefer to sit next to partner/friend/family etc but it would not be the end of the world if toddler really wanted to sit in my seat. However if I've paid for a window etc seat then no I would not move.

Parents with kids should pay to reserve seats see above but generally too. I have to so they should.

*Cuntycow - I really hope on your next flight you are sat next to a separated 2yo during take off & landing. You would have to console/deal with tantrum/entertain like it or not - I doubt you would have much of a choice really (oh but you could have moved - but them your name wouldn't have suited you).

Terrible state of affairs if grown adult women are too precious about your seat allocation to swap with a terrified 2yr old. Yes I would have bloody repaid you whatever money you had spent - if it was that big a deal.

People like you make me despair*

Then why not just pay the extra for a pre-booked seat in the first place.

I thought that was only for tall people or slightly unhinged people, or for those speedy boarding weirdos who then have to sit on the plane for hours whilst everyone else boards.

Wow!

Oh don't worry Weebirdie that's only rude if you think "unhinged" might be a bit insulting. I know I'm unhinged so no point in getting wound up!

So there I am, valium-ed up to the eyeballs,

In and emergency how would you have helped yourself and ensured others weren't put at risk because you were valiumed up to the eyeballs and a safety hazard?

some rude people on this thread. There is no need to tell someone to shut up Ruperta. Funny how the rudest people seem to be the ones telling everyone else how rude they are for not wanting to help entertain someone else's toddler

Well Ruperta's post has now been deleted anyway.

those speedy boarding weirdos who then have to sit on the plane for hours whilst everyone else boards.

I paid for early-boarding on the last flight we took (many years ago). I am almost blind, DH is flight-phobic, and we had 3 children under 4. Having to fly was bad enough, the idea of trying to board in a crush of people was a step too far. Waiting while everyone else boards was the lesser of two evils. Does that make us weirdos? I imagine that many other early-boarders have their own reasons for doing it too.

I think that too many people have difficulty imagining that other people's circumstances might be different to your own!