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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do I REALLY need to pre book seats on the plane?

438 replies

StephenKatz · 03/03/2016 16:05

Flying to Spain in a couple of months, Thomson have told me I now have the option to pre book my seats on the plane. The last time I went it was just allocated from the very beginning (different airline and quite a while ago to be fair!) It's going to cost £28 for the four of us, something I wasn't really anticipating and I kind of resent paying it. But if I don't, would they seriously sit DC away from us? They are 4 and 6.

Whilst I don't really mind having a couple of hours peace from them sipping wine Wink , I fear I'll be one of those people that Mumsnet whinge about! I won't demand rudely that a stranger give up their allocated seat or anything! But I'm trying to decide if it's worth paying, or trusting that they'll sit us together? I don't mind DH and I aren't sat together, as long as we have a child each to look after? AIBU not to pay?

OP posts:
cdtaylornats · 06/03/2016 21:41

The CAA website says -

The seating of children close by their parents or guardians should be the aim of airline seat allocation procedures for family groups and large parties of children.

Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults, should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. Children and accompanying adults should not be separated by more than one aisle. Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults. This is because the speed of an emergency evacuation may be affected by adults trying to reach their children.

Whenever a number of infants and children are travelling together the airline should make every effort to ensure that they can be readily supervised by the responsible accompanying adults.

Athrawes · 06/03/2016 21:49

An airline did this to us for a 13 hr flight. Sat the three of us, husband, 3 year old and myself, all apart. We said fine!! Good luck!!

They reseated us.

Why pay extra when you have made a booking together and when on the booking it SAYS that one of the people is a child. If they want to deal with a kicking vomitey kid on their own, good luck to them. Mine's a G&T.

Maryann1975 · 06/03/2016 21:53

We've just spent £100 to book seats together on a package holiday in August. I figured, as others have suggested that the plane will be full of families who also want to sit together and to not book will leave me with the real risk of not sitting with the dc. I do not want to be that mother who has to make a fuss, while everyone stares at me thinking what a cheapskate I am for not prebooking, while cabin crew try (and maybe fail) to find me seats so I can sit by my dc.

The travel agent have told me that although the airline will try to sit us together, they don't have to do this and together can mean in the row in front or across the aisle. They think it is disgusting that the airline are making money like this, but recommended we pay if we don't want the stress and worry of sitting apart (and I want all five of us to be together, a three and a two behind, with two window seats), I've booked and paid and don't need to worry now. Our eldest dd (10) had also heard us discussing this and was concerned she might end up by herself and didn't want to be, so she is reassured it will be fine now.

£28 is a bargain, op, book it and remove the worry.

Bunbaker · 06/03/2016 21:53

"Why pay extra when you have made a booking together and when on the booking it SAYS that one of the people is a child."

Because, if you have read the thread, you will realise that not airline crew will reseat you, nor will other passengers move for you.

DinosaursRoar · 06/03/2016 21:56

cdtaylornats - the key points on that: should be the aim and ideally - basically, if there's space, then put them together, but if not, they don't have to put children with parents. And that's the key - if the plane is full, the airline must "try", it doesn't have to "succeed" in putting children with parents. Asking people to move counts as trying, if the other passengers won't move, the airline isn't obliged to make them move.

kiwikiwi · 06/03/2016 22:05

I don't really think that it's entitled for a family to sit together without having to pay (in some cases massive) charges. I think that the airline is in the wrong. Whenever I travel alone I've given up my seat willingly-- and even volunteered in some cases. There's not much difference to me whether it's an aisle or window seat as I'll either be working, watching a movie or sleeping. To the family it seems like a much bigger deal and I just see it as common courtesy.

Now I have a one year old, I'm not really certain what to do once he's two and requires his own seat… I didn't realise giving up a seat was so controversial.

thebestfurchinchilla · 06/03/2016 22:06

I never do. Just get to check in earlier and have never had a problem. You might not get all together but have always had 1 child with one parent. It's a big money making scandal imo, trading on your worries.

Cath40t · 06/03/2016 22:08

I'm very confused about all this pre booking stuff.
Last time I booked a flight.....about 8 years ago. You booked online, selected seats available online and then you got your tickets in the post.......with the seat number on them. Had a 7 hour flight with my two kids beside me.....and husband 3 rows behind. I asked him to swap. He refused.

NeverNic · 06/03/2016 22:12

I pretty much always pay. In fact we normally pay more and fly business (though we book months in advance so pay about the same as economy booked late). On the occasions we don't fly business we pay for lounge access. To me the expense is so worth the far better flying and airport experience. A husband with knee problems (and a nervous flyer) and two under 4's can make for a hellish experience with crap seats and I will happily spend money here and forego a few drinks on holiday to get a relaxing start / end to a holiday.

That said, we have been moved before after checking in online. The plane originally allocated had a fault and the replacement had a different layout and our row was deemed out of action because of leaky air conditioning units. We ended up the last row on a night flight which wasn't ideal with crutches, a baby, sleeping toddler and all our hand luggage shit. We got avois points as compensation but no refund.

Peaceandloveeveryone · 06/03/2016 22:13

I wonder if the person who is guilt tripped in to moving and has paid to book their seat of choice ever gets a refund? It ends up being other people subsidising them if not.

Blu · 06/03/2016 22:14

Roookie: I would just say ' is the seat an aisle / window seat like mine/ Is it next to the toilet, or over the wing? I would rather not move anywhere less comfortable than the seat I have'.

Blu · 06/03/2016 22:16

"There's not much difference to me whether it's an aisle or window seat as I'll either be working, watching a movie or sleeping. To the family it seems like a much bigger deal and I just see it as common courtesy. "

I would always be happy to move to help someone else, to aisle or window - but NOT , on a long flight, to mid-row.

expatinscotland · 06/03/2016 22:22

'I think that the airline is in the wrong. Whenever I travel alone I've given up my seat willingly-- and even volunteered in some cases. There's not much difference to me whether it's an aisle or window seat as I'll either be working, watching a movie or sleeping. '

Some people on here have tried to explain why it is a big deal and why they pre-book so won't move, especially if they paid. All kinds of reasons - they take sleep aids to sleep so want a window so people aren't climbing over them, they pay for extra legroom, they have a condition, etc.

My DS has autism and this makes him have meltdowns, particularly if he is tired, which he usually is on long haul flights, so I book seats together to minimise disruptions on other passengers. That's common courtesy, not expecting people to move for you because you CBA'd to take your situation into consideration and book your seats together and then expecting others to compromise themselves for your oversight.

ivykaty44 · 06/03/2016 22:24

It's a rip off, the airline not only charge you to sit in seat A next to seat B, but they charge seat B to sit next to seat A - this is ultimately posting twice for the same deal. If everyone on the flight didn't pay what would happen is most people would sit next to one another and the airline would make less money for doing nothing.

It is a company purely making money for old rope.

I have never paid to sit next to one of my dc and never would. It's not the passengers that are public enemy number one it's the airline for ripping people off

EveOnline2016 · 06/03/2016 22:25

I have never flown before, but going long haul next year.

I have already booked my seats.

I want my holiday which I'm paying £6000 to be a stress free as possible. All 4 of us are sitting together there and back.i wouldn't move for nobody. I paid for this privilege so others can whistle and tantrum all they want. I have amazing seats as well as I had the whole aircraft seats to pick from

MadisonAvenue · 06/03/2016 22:30

Only £28? I booked flights for the four of us to LA with Virgin yesterday and they want £25 per seat per flight, so a total of £200.

expatinscotland · 06/03/2016 22:33

We booked our seats last month for a flight in July. It's a row of three which works well for us as we will be three on the flights. I also pre-board with DS. Crowds and all that sensory overload going on are not a good mix for him.

EveOnline2016 · 06/03/2016 22:42

Can dh and I swap seats through out the flight.

MadisonAvenue · 06/03/2016 22:45

Can dh and I swap seats through out the flight

Yes, we have in the past when we've had to sit in different rows.

Belshels · 06/03/2016 22:56

We flew back from Menorca last summer and pre booked seats on Thomas Cook airlines. I had my Dh and 2 children sat in a 3, and my seat just across aisle so could be next to DH. I couldn't believe I had 2 small children sat next to me, and quite clearly needed their mum.
They hadn't pre booked and it annoyed me as I had. I was forced to swap with the mum and be sat away from my family.
We had paid for seats, they hadn't!!

expatinscotland · 06/03/2016 23:07

'I was forced to swap with the mum and be sat away from my family.
We had paid for seats, they hadn't!!'

Why did you swap?

moreginrequired · 06/03/2016 23:32

The airlines are conning us !!!!!
the more mugs pay for allocated seats the more the selfishness rises. I want to sit next to dd but I couldn't give a fiddlers Fart whereabouts on the plane we sit, other than together so why should I pay for that? If I go to a restaurant and pay for dinner I expect we will be on the same table to eat it so why is this different...

And safety wise, I don't want to expect someone else to look after my child put on their mask in the event of loss of cabin pressure, nor would I want that responsibility for someone else's child...

And what about who is sat next to my child if they are on their own, would the airline accept responsibility if someone does something to your child? I highly doubt it. When airlines will no longer accept children travelling on their own they are accepting that they need looking after, but charging for the privilege??

Its blackmail by the airlines and quite disgusting, they'll be getting no extra money from me...

So yes, come June I may be making myself unpopular on a flight near you Shock

PersonalTAgent · 07/03/2016 01:44

12 pages, 298 posts, wow! As a long standing home working Travel Counsellor of many years in the industry I have followed this thread with interest.

Some do seem upset at the thought that they are being ripped off. Hopefully this may give a different perspective. There was once a time long before low cost airlines when you paid for your flight, got your meal, luggage and seats together as part of the whole deal and you paid your price. However in those days not all people were happy. Some didn't like having to pay for a meal they never ate, some didn't take a lot of luggage on their holiday and managed with just a small bag. People used to be unhappy as they didn't like where in the plane they were seated.

Then low cost airlines arrived and they listened to the people and decided that they would give the people the power to do what they liked to do and gave them the 'choice'. They broke up the prices and created separate elements that would cost extra if people wanted them. The scheduled airlines saw this worked well and wanted to give people choice so they followed suit for some elements of the trip.

However, then some people were unhappy because they were having to pay extra for their meal and their seats and to carry luggage. Word got out that they were being ripped off, and this spread. The fact is the prices were lowered and have been lower than they ever used to be and the majority of your flight is made up of taxes.

It really isn't a rip off, or a scam. It's about choice. There are people who take their flight graciously and enjoy the journey stress free and there are others who try and blag what they can even if it disrupts other on the flight. However because many people (myself included) do opt to pay the extra to be sure they are sat together, it is becoming more of a problem when families who have opted not to and have not been able to be sat together because the seats have been pre-booked by the majority, when they try to demand someone is moved. People who have pre-paid to be sat where they choose on the plane will not be moved so easily these days, and really, why should they? The problem is you can't please all of the people all of the time.
My advice would be to factor in your seats as part of your holiday. You are paying for choice, and to be able to sit where you prefer, together. What is £28 or £50 when you will have a stress free and comfortable start to your holiday and happy family all together as they should be? Your balance is paid 3 months before and all done and by the time you board that flight you won't have even missed it. The chances are if you opted not to in the hope of taking your chances on the day, you will have spent it on something else anyway!! For what it's worth coming from me, travel comfortably, book your seats, holidays are for looking forward to and removing stress. And trust me, if you opt out, (as more people opt in) the chances are you may have been lucky on your last flight, but might not be so lucky on your next. Do you really want to have the worry? I know I wouldn't. Happy Travels all!!

BitOutOfPractice · 07/03/2016 04:28

Sport personal but I'm struggling to see Ryanair as consumer rights champions no matter now patronising interesting your post is

YoungGirlGrowingOld · 07/03/2016 04:43

I was thinking of this thread when I just checked in online for my flight to London on Wednesday (work). Lo, I was upgraded to business at check-in and I chuckled heartily. I hope Betsy isn't on that flight because I don't think they will have put it to the vote amongst the other passengers in business class yet. Naughty Emirates! Grin

I agree with Bit that it's difficult to see Ryanair as anything other than massive twats. But personal is also right in that flying used to be super-expensive and the preserve of the better off. Now it's often cheaper to fly than to get the train. Ryanair and it's ilk may be utter shite but they give you the chance to fly for pennies really and that is progress of a sort.

Also, I understand that most flights are massively overbooked (talking scheduled flights really) and if everyone actually showed up for the flight who had bought a ticket, they wouldn't get on. This makes sense to me because it used to be fairly normal to get 3 or 4 seats to yourself whereas that seems quite rare these days. If they are so over-sold then it explains why cabin crew and check in systems can't always sit groups in the configurations they want.

It's probably worth factoring this in when booking flights for families - an airline which lets you select seats for free will not necessarily be more expensive once you factor that cost in.