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

[StephenKatz]

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 , 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?

Don't pay-just check in online as soon as online check in opens. It's normally 1-2 weeks before the flight date. I have never known anyone to be selected from their young children ( apart from on mumsnet where it apparently happens all the time!.

What many call money grabbing many others would call good business.

I have never been sure why we expect flights and other services to be as cheap as possible, that isn't how all business works. Not all companies need to use the pound shop philosophy.

Separated not selected!

Exactly Misti.

And Blancha good manners are not 'rocket science* either. It would be good to get the full facts before you insult someone for bringing up a perfectly justified question.

When we flew at Christmas with BA, you could only either book all seats or none - I would have booked two for dd3 and me, but you couldn't, had to be the whole party. They were £15 each, and there are 6 of us - we didn't book, but I did check regularly to see how full the plane was getting (and watch the seat booking price fluctuate). Our online check in opened 24 hours before the flight (which was v. early in the morning and we actually overslept as dh had set an alarm but left his phone on silent) and we had no trouble getting 6 seats together, there and back.

No treats, that isn't what I meant.

In business if you have share holders you are obliged to work in their best interests. So if you ignore a revenue stream it is not unlikely that your investors will want to know why. As many pension companies invest in large corporations it isn't impossible that anyones pension pot includes an airline group.

So whilst you think fuck that and would rather invest in your own pension pt, you may still find yourself benefiting from an airline policy - or that of any other money grabbing corporation.

Companies should make profits by providing goods and services that people want at a price they're happy to pay - they shouldn't need to resort to devious charging for 'extras' to make profits. those 'devious' charges are at the heart of all secondary revenue streams. Those are often a significant % of overall profits. Thinking that they shouldn't isn't going to stop them. They are in business to make all the profit the fee paying customers will bear.

That's what a free market is! If you really want state controlled pricing you need to move to a communist country.

I think it's fine to pay extra for baggage, and for priority boarding or whatever, or for an extra leg-room seat. They increase the comfort of travel and some people are prepared to pay.

But you should NOT have to pay extra to be guaranteed a seat close to your
small child, as this is a basic prerequisite of a safe trip. It's like asking people to pay for travelling in a seat with a seatbelt!

The low cost airlines won't let my 13 year take a flight on his own, so how they can consider it ok to seat a young child several rows from a responsible adult is beyond me (and I continue to believe that this very rarely happens - I've never seen it and I take at least 20 flights a year).

Buzza... insulting? Where? I most certainly did not intend to, nor can I see, looking back, where I did!

My apologies if you felt I did though!

Early check in online he always meant we all sit together and can choose seats. We also try to fly with companies like SAS who are generally kinder all round so everyone gets baggage allowance etc.

"Companies should make profits by providing goods and services that people want at a price they're happy to pay - they shouldn't need to resort to devious charging for 'extras' to make profits."

They provide a non specific seat for a certain price and a specific seat for a higher price.

That's providing two services at a price customers are willing to pay.

Oh, and it's not preying on those with children - as noted above, many others select seats including adults with anxiety etc.

Last time we flew I was on my own with 4 young Dc. We had booked our seats. We were a few rows in front of a stag party and one of the men had kindly given up his seat for someone and ended up sitting next to us. He was so hot. I was mega pleased.

I was separated from my 7yo on a flight from the Canaries. I had assumed I wouldn't be separated from my child. So it can happen. Airlines are breaking CAA guidelines by doing this but it's only guidelines not the law.

You want cheap? You get what you pay for. Book it and pay up or don't.

I'd say that if you check in the second it opens you'll be fine. I fly around 30 times a year with and without kids and I never see these kick offs that are described so often on MN when parents and kids are separated

I'd already decided I was going to pay expat, I just wanted some opinions on whether they had to seat young kids with parents. Since the opinions were mixed I decided just to pay.

Good! plan!

I fly a lot in budget airlines. Never paid, never been sat apart. I'm talking ten flights a year with kids. I can't afford 'peace of mind' that often. It's a rip off, don't pay, just check in online as soon as it opens. If you see I like e you're sat apart you can still phone and change. Worth the gamble.

Trouble is all the people pre booking seats have to chose specific seats. And people always choose seats 'away' from everyone else.
So what you end up with are lots of odd seats that are no good to anyone.

If people just let the system allocate them seats then it just works it way through the plane by check in groups.

So unless you really need that seat near the window or the extra legroom you are pretty much cocking it up for everyone else. It's not your fault but it is the problem we are bringing on ourselves.

I don't agree with it but in certain flights I would definitely pay. We flew BA to Phoenix last year and took a chance as the seats were expensive to book, think it was £30 or £40 each. Online checkin was 24 hours before and we got 4 in a row in the middle of the plane no bother, in fact we got the seats in front of the sky cots as no-one had booked them! We flew back from San Diego and I wished we had pre-booked, only to save the hassle of trying to do it from a cottage with dodgy wi-fi!!! BA had allocated us seats because one DS was under 12 and it was 2 seats in front of the other 2 and we couldn't change them. So our DSs who were 7 and 13 sat together, and so did me and DH. No big deal but I think I would have preferred 4 in a row again so would definitely book!

I always pay for seats together (single mum, DCs 6 & 10 and nervous flyers). However, going to Spain last year (Jet2 I think but not 100% sure), we turned up at check-in to find there'd been a mistake and we weren't sitting together. The staff the said they legally had to seat us together, so they made someone move. It was all done before boarding so he didn't know who he'd had to move for, but I guessed who it was as I heard him complaining about it. Poor man had been unable to sit by his wife. I felt really guilty, and to be honest I'd have offered to swap back but the airline wouldn't allow it.
Anyway, my point is that if I hadn't paid and decided to chance it, I'd have felt very very guilty. As it was, my guilt was partly eased by the knowledge that I'd stumped up the extra cash and it was thr airline's mistake.

Flight back from USA (we hadn't pre booked seats)

The flight was delayed and a different plane was then used - with a different seat arrangement

So at midnight the booking staff were allocation seats on check in - and no body got their allocated seats - this made a lot of people angry as they had paid for their seats

I have never paid and never been separated

Really annoyed that entitled parents feel they have the right to disrupt other people just because they won't pay a small charge (small in proportion to the cost of the holiday)

I wouldn't swap seats even if I hadn't paid to pre book, it's nothing to do with me if parents can't organise themselves and rely on everyone else to bend over backwards to accommodate them

I never pay - my dc are 5 & 2. The only airline I've had an issue with is vueling when my dd was 1 - they do not allow infants and their accompanying adult to check in online at all so all 4 of us had to queue for hours at the airport to check in and then there were no seats left together - this was completely their issue. When we boarded I asked the attendants to politely request a passenger moved on the basis of surely no-one wants to sit next to my ds & dh??? Luckily for her she switched with me as ds vommed all over the seats. With Ryanair if I haven't secure good seats I just ask once we have boarded if there is a free row we can switch to. They have in the past moved passengers for us but given them spaces with bigger leg room.

Binders1
As for the 5 year old who was also split from his DF because the man next to him wouldn't move, after about 20 minutes into the flight, the man actually went to the father and told him he could swap places because the child was an absolute nightmare. The father told him it was no longer necessary and he was quite happy relaxing where he was. The passenger had him for 8.5 hours grin

That just makes the father an even bigger arsehole

I'd only not pay if I wasn't going to a family holiday destination, i was flying in term time and wasn't flying with an airline that's attached to a holiday tour operator. A family holiday destination in school holidays and a tour operator's airline is going to be full of families, there might not be any single travellers who don't mind where they sit. If you were going to say, Dusseldorf next Wednesday with BA, you're likely to find it half empty and those who are travelling being flexible about where they sit.