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?

If I book and pay for seats it's because I want to sit in that seat. Sometimes I do book, (usually when going on holiday - excited) sometimes I don't (usually when coming home - not excited - dont care where I sit). Being a parent doesn't trump the needs or wants of others all the time. It's a selfish attitude to take to wing it and expect others to accommodate you.

I don't think it's unreasonable for an airline to guarantee children to not be separated from parents. This looming possibility drives the absolute con that is paying a premium for a booked seat.

Booked seats (in my opinion!) are for when you have a very specific preference for exactly where you want to be seated E.g near the front, aisle/window, not by the toilet etc

I doubt the op could care less where on the plane they sit but is not unreasonable to expect the airline to con them out of ££ over the threat of bring separated from their children.

Misti, don't you specify under 2 and 2-12? So when the passenger selects 2-12 a pop up says "you will need to pay £x to book seats", is that your idea?

Personally for £28 I would pay it as its naff on really compared to holiday cost and would hugely reduce stress. They can sit you apart or inconveniently I've seen it happen.

BitOutOfPractice
You didn't hear the entitled, screeching histrionics from this woman.
I'm sure if she'd asked politely and acted in a reasonable manner it could all have been resolved quickly without missing the take off slot.
Believe me, 'silly cow' was one of the kinder expressions other passengers were using to describe her.

Generally Bitoutofpractice when people are asking demanding that you move it never seems to be to a better, more desirable seat.

I'm flying longhaul on my own in September for a family wedding (woo hoo) Whilst I would be prepared to be flexible if asked to change seats, I'm a rubbish sleeper on planes and I go to the loo quite a lot so I'm going to try to get an aisle seat both ways.

If I get that I'd be very reluctant to move, particularly on the way back, to say a middle or window seat as I know that I have less chance of getting sleep in those, and I'll annoy people when I need to go to the loo ( and thinking about it and trying to stop myself makes it worse).

Now if I was being offered another aisle seat or an upgrade then I'd be up like a shot, but if I was being genuinely inconvenienced I'd expect at least a please and thank you spoken in a grateful voice.

We have demanded cheaper and cheaper ticket prices. Yet we talk about it being a con etc and how YOUR reasons trumps everyone else's reason for sitting next to each other.

I travel a fair bit and yest I have seen the women demanding that she sit next to her 11 year old because he is 'scared' of flying and refusing to sit down until her demands had been met.

And I am someone who when I checked in many years ago had been allocated a seat separately from my DH to New York. Tbh - as long as the plane takes off on time I am not that bothered. The check in agent clearly was more concerned and upgraded us both to Business because I hadn't complained.....

"If half the passengers aren't paying it, why is it essential?"

It is more than half the passengers who pre-book seats these days. As I discovered when we went to Rome in October. We flew with Jet2 and have never booked seats before. Jet2 kept emailing me to book seats and I ignored them. About a week before we went I looked at the seating plan on the plane and found that nearly every seat had been booked. Although DD is 15 she suffers from social anxiety and would have been panic stricken to not sit with me, so I ended up booking the seats at extra cost to avoid us being at completely opposite ends of the plane.

"A few years ago nobody pre-booked their seats, so nobody minded the cabin crew using their discretion at the time of boarding to make sure that children were properly supervised by their parents. Now that people HAVE paid to pre-book their seats, the cabin crew don't have the freedom to move people around. Which has the knock on effect of meaning that parents HAVE to pre-book to make sure that they can look after their kids. Which, personally, I think is insane."

I totally agree with this ^^

We are flying to Orlando in July and not only have I pre-booked seats, I have booked extra legroom seats.

I've never used the sites that you mentioned, OP, but I fly a lot. Mostly between North America and Asia but also spent my last summer flying around Europe. My arms were really tired afterwards.

Those charges for prebooking are put there by the booking company, not the airline. It's one of those "extras" that they get sneaky with. If you call the airline directly, you can ask them to put your family in seats together and they will. Or just get to your check-in counter early and ask the attendant for seats together. Seats aren't actually determined until you check in, unless you've already reserved a spot.

I think the moving also depends on what's being swapped to.

We flew BA last year to Australia. DH was on a work trip and so tickets were business class paid by company. The company refused to pay economy as it's not their policy. Anyway, we preallocated seats for me, and the 2 DDs. On all 4 flights, the poor soul who got the seat next to a 3yo and a baby must have thought it's their luckiest day! They all have no problem moving up to business class for DH

The seats aren't paid for back then because BA hasn't started charging yet. But they must have got it via online check in early as they are the prime seats with the bassinet.

I have seen the women demanding that she sit next to her 11 year old because he is 'scared' of flying and refusing to sit down until her demands had been met.

Last week I had a woman DEMAND she have my seat. My knee was dislocated and I needed the space next to the isle to keep it in proper position (cheers to the flight crew for being helpful and understanding on that, too) but she threw a fit because it was her mother's first time flying and they needed to be together.

"Or just get to your check-in counter early and ask the attendant for seats together."

The problem arises when most of the seats have already been pre-booked online, as was my experience with Jet2 5 months ago.

I am sure that the pre-booking of seats IS charged by the airline direct. I almost always book my flights directly with the airline such as BA. They will put your group together where they can but the people who have actually booked/paid for the seats will get priority.

My DH flys to the US a fair bit in economy. He wants an window seat because he sleeps well on the plane. He didn't used to book but was shoved around by entitled families demanding that single blokes move to accommodate them! He had one women looming over him saying that her 6 year old desperately wanted to see out the window and when he said he wasnt moving the 6 year old burst into tears. He eventually ended up in a middle seat in a row of 4 so now books his seat and wont move. He needs to be fresh for his meetings and lucky chap - he can sleep well on a plane so why should he be moved around....

To not pay for seats to ensure you are next to DH on honeymoon is just so ridiculously tight and stupid, cant believe anyone would consider this!

Prebook seats are definitely charged by Virgin Atlantic direct. I go on their website once I got the booking reference, and have to pay by card to get my seats. It's a first for me because with long haul, we are used to the extras. It's always been, previously, that we can reserve seats online for free.

Booked seats (in my opinion!) are for when you have a very specific preference for exactly where you want to be seated E.g near the front, aisle/window, not by the toilet etc

I'm not fussed where I sit, but I need to sit next to DH. If the could move both of us I would consider it but I would refuse if it was just one. Flying is an ordeal for me so why should it be made worse by having to accommodate someone else who hasn't bothered to pre book?

I fly regularly (every week) on my own with work and always use the same airline. Lone passengers are always asked to move to accommodate families and being moved around like furniture gets a tad wearing. I used to move but got sick of being plonked at the back in the middle. Now I tell the crew that I will happily move if they upgrade me to business, but under no other circumstances. It works about 50% of the times I am asked to move.

I assume that the cost of a flight's time-slot being missed due to non-seat booking passengers kicking off is passed on to those people? Rather than being passed on to everyone else in the form of increased flight costs for everyone?

The cost of missing slots is presumably factored into the business model that includes revenues from selling pre-booked seats. Ultimately if airlines do not want to risk being delayed due to cabin crew having to move passengers in order to seat a parent next to their 2 year old, then they need to price children's seats in such a way as to automatically include a booked seat.

In other words, this is a problem created by the airlines not the passengers.

Might make people think first before kicking off once on the plane about not being seated next to their children if they think they are going to be charged £10k or whatever it costs for a flight's take-off time to be allocated. Not to mention all of the costs incurred in terms of hundreds of passenger's onward travel being disrupted.

What I don't understand is why the airlines permit parents to have histrionics? Tell them to sit down NOW or tell them they're being thrown off the plane, their luggage will be taken off and they'll miss the flight. It's totally ridiculous to allow a plane to be delayed.

That said, they should allocate seats together for families at no extra charge, it's a nonsense to expect a 3 year old to sit on a different row to their parents, even if it's only just in front.

BA has(d) a policy of allocating seats for families together if the kids are 11 or under. I don't pre-select my seats now but can always get seats together for my now 13 year old, my DH and me as I check in online within minutes of check-in opening. Other airlines I've used eg Flybe and Blue Islands seem to allow you to choose seats when booking depending on the ticket type but the ticket price probably includes the reservation fee.

If I'd pre-booked my seat I might move if asked, but I'd expect the airline to refund the reservation fee, or provide some other recompense eg moving me to business class ;)

We didn't pre book seats once. DC were 8 and 4 at the time, we were spread out all over the plane, it was horrible but I accepted that everyone else had booked and I wouldn't have expected anyone to move for me.

I now always pre book, not just to sit together as others have said, but to buy a specific seat so I would be well narked if anyone asked me to move because they hadn't had the foresight or been too tight to do the same thing.

I've lost count of the times I've got on a train to find people plonked in my seats with huge picnics spread out in front of them only to be told they have to move because I really don't fancy traipsing up and down a crowded train from Edinburgh to London and back trying to find a seat just because you fancied mine.

I always pay for my seat. I'm a nervous flyer so need to sit near the window. At the back past the wing. Right hand side of plane on the way out. Left coming back.

I've been asked to move a couple of times to accommodate a family but have always asked for a refund for my seat and/or to be moved to a similar or better seat.

The last time I moved we were flying back from NZ to London. I'd pre booked my seat. And a mother with her child hadn't. Child was probably about 3. She was not happy when after I agreed to move but politely said I'd booked and paid for my specific seat I was bumped up to business.

With these threads, you always get a mix of responses of 'it does happen, it happened to me/my brother etc' to 'they definitely won't sit you apart/they aren't allowed to etc'.

You decide whether to take the risk - the only absolute way of ensuring you are sat with your DC is to pay. If you don't pay, make sure you are comfortable with either sitting apart from your DC or being that person who is the reason people are being asked to move for.

Through no fault of our own, me and DH were that family a few years ago. It was awful as we had to wait till we got on the plane and the cabin crew had to ask people to move so our 7 & 4 year old DC were not sat separately - we were lucky and people moved willingly - I was mortified at being in that position. We will always pay now!