that airlines charge you extra to sit together!?!?

[Dollygirl2008]

I mean, after a totally shitty year, I have scraped the money together to take my DC away for a weeks holiday to Menorca- possible the last foreign holiday we will have for a long time. And now, the sodding, well reputable tour operator want more money for us to sit together!?!? I mean, do pepper early do this!? Are they really going to split us up (DC is 7)??

Interested in others views or experience, thanks

but even back then you still werent guaranteed to sit together, i can remember a holiday when i was about 8 or 9 and i was seated separaetly from my parents, my dad was about 5 rows in front and my mum about 5 behind me
all cos we were one of the last to check in

no option back then to pay extra t sit together

On the one occasion where it was not done at check- in, a stewardess asked / told other passengers to move when we boarded, as it is a clear safety issue with toddlers.
No need to pay, in my view.

OMG someone has actually admitted they are selfish enough to believe that other passengers should move from their deets to accommodate her and her children because she doesn't want to pay.

People who think others are less important that their 'little family' give a bad name to all parents.

You can only call children "vulnerable" if they are not sat next to you because you have refused to pay. They are not so if sat next to you and in your care.

I think it's the way of the world now, those who'll chance their arm and expect the ones who do abide by the rules, to just lump it and move.

wrinkle do you think that's OK? I would be very embarrassed to throw someone out their seat because I didn't pay.

I didn't pay to sit together when travelling with a 3 year old on Ryanair but paid for early boarding.
Beware, all that means is you get on the bus first and thus off last as everyone else piles on after you.

Pixle333 In those circumstances, which have happened to me once, I said Give me an upgrade or a window and I will move and the cabin crew picked on somebody else found another volunteer. Do not surrender what you've paid for.

On the one occasion where it was not done at check- in, a stewardess asked / told other passengers to move when we boarded, as it is a clear safety issue with toddlers. No need to pay, in my view

If a steward asked me to move I'd say no.
If a steward told me to move I'd say no.

What exactly will they do then?

Pixle did you at least get a refund? If I was travelling alone and didn't care whom I was sitting next to, I would (and have) move, but only for similar or better seat.

"On the one occasion where it was not done at check- in, a stewardess asked / told other passengers to move when we boarded, as it is a clear safety issue with toddlers.
No need to pay, in my view."

So, Thewrinkefairy - you think it is OK to expect other people to give up something they have paid extra for, because you don't want to pay for it? Care to explain that to me?

If it is such a clear safety issue that you sit with your dc, why is it not important enough for you to pay for it?

Frankly, it is bloody entitled and rude to expect people to give you something they have paid for! Would you walk into a cafe with your child, ask for a glass of water for them, and then expect another customer to give your child their cake? Of course not. But if I have paid to book a particular seat, why should I have to give it up without being compensated? And who should compensate me? You?

People are looking at seat prices the wrong way.

You are not paying extra to be seated together. You are getting a discount for being flexible.

Ticket prices used to be high because everyone was charged for all extras, eg meals seating together, cost of luggage in hold, etc, whether you wanted those extras or not.

Now, those extras are broken down into the individual components so you only pay for what you want.

If you want to sit together then pay up or take the risk on check it. Not everyone will get to sit together, simply because the seats in the plane are finite, as said by previous posters, so will be at a premium.

If I've paid for certain seats, I'm not going to move.

I would give up me seat if the person gave me the money personally I had paid to book that seat. But I doubt that would happen.

Do people really not understand that the pricing models have changed?

I fly to my holiday house 4 times per year and six years ago I paid an average of $500 per ticket for one bag of up to 20kgs of baggage, seat selection, meal on the plane.

I now pay around $200 for the flight, $30 per checked bag up to 23kgs, $20 to select my seat and could pay another $10 for food if I wanted it.

I'm actually getting a BETTER deal now than I used to, even though I have to consider the add-ons, but at least I get to pick and choose which ones I actually want to pay for. I'm getting a much better deal now than I ever was.

Stop considering seat selection as an add on cost (or scam!) and realise that it's the choices we make for ridiculously cheap flights.

Have you ever considered how much it must cost to put a plane in the sky? The planes are worth however many million, airport fees, baggage handlers, two pilots, a half a dozen staff per flight, ground crew, etc, etc? Do you really think that $50 per flight is going to cover all of their costs without charging people for the extras that they want to use?

We booked seats last year in Ryanair to Italy, me, dd11 and dd1.5 was on my lap. We were met with a woman sitting in DD11's seat because she had not booked tickets and wanted to sit with her 4 year old.

I wanted DD11 with me to help out with DD1.5 who is a handful at the best of times.

She refused to move and made a huge fuss in Italian thinking we wouldn't understand her.

The stewardess was very good and told her she had to move. She hadn't taken the opportunity afforded to her to book seats and so would have to move.

She got 2 seats together but spent the whole flight raging about having to deal with her child without the help of her husband.

Just book the bloody seats together if you want to sit together.

Raspberry yes yes and yes again, particularly this.. You are not paying extra to be seated together. You are getting a discount for being flexible

Some can't seem to grasp this or take on board that flights are cheap and you are purchasing the air travel bit, but all the rest (i.e. luggage, seat selection, ghastly easyjet coffee and pringles at 4 times the price!) is your choice but still cheaper than 25 years ago. You'd hardly get on and demand a bacon butty and a coffee for nothing. So you can't get on and demand certain seats unless you have selected and paid for them.

thewrinklefairy really? Why are you more important than me?
I need to sit with my dh as he helps me.
If safety of your child is so important then pay, don't expect others to move. How entitled.
What will you do when someone refuses to move for you?
You can kick up all the fuss you want but you'll only end up off the plane...

Midnight Scribbler, Roussette and others make sense.

Perhaps today's young parents don't realize that not so long ago it was nearly unheard of for young families, except the very rich or perhaps military/corporate families moving overseas, to travel by air. Traveling by air for leisure or for visiting far-flung relatives was the exception, not the rule. Because of the cost.

mean, even 20-25 years ago it was far more rare, and 40 years ago it was a grand occasion indeed if a family got on a plane for a vacation - bunches of relatives would come to see you off! I was a child 40 years ago and remember this well, and we were not poor but it was still quite a feat. Many of our relatives NEVER got on a plane until well into middle age or in retirement.

For example, when airlines in the US were regulated, say in the 1970s, a fare from NYC to LA was more than $1,500. No sales, no bargains - by law they could not charge less than a certain amount. Now, as the article below points out, you can make the same journey for one-fifth the cost.

www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/how-airline-ticket-prices-fell-50-in-30-years-and-why-nobody-noticed/273506/

Consumers have made it clear that they select flights based on cost alone. You can't have deluxe service at McDonald's prices. So amenities and service were jettisoned in favor of getting people from one place to another for as little money as possible.

For consumers to demand that and then turn around and accuse air carriers of scams, "gouging," "just wanting to get more money out of you," and other ills is just ignorant and naive. Educate yourselves about the historical profitability (or rather, lack thereof) of major air carriers, the difference between carriers whose gov't subsidizes them and those who are not subsidized, the price of petroleum over the past few decades, the rising of security costs, the intricacy and complexity of aircraft (including R&D, mfg, testing, maintenance), and air routing systems, labor and health care costs, etc. etc. and you will marvel that the ability to fly is even available to you at all.

As to the entitled "I won't pay and just throw a fit when I get to the plane" parents, you are sickening.

I think it is absolutely dreadful. If you book with a child then that child should be sitting next to you where they feel safe and are safe. Also, I wouldn't want to sit next to an accompanied child who may get distressed.

I have just booked flights and decided just to wing it... I have set a reminder on my phone the day online check in opens and at the moment almost no seats are booked on the plane so should be fine. (it shows you the seats available if you go to the book seats option) To me it defeats the object of budget flights ... And if all else fails, and there is no way in a plane with nearly 200 seats that we can sit together then good luck to them dealing with my 3 year old... It will save me a job

We got transferred planes when I was pregnant and suffering with morning sickness I was 7 weeks gone and it kicked in while we were away), all seats were reallocated and my husband and I weren't together, we asked the woman next to me if she would swap an aisle seat for the same aisle seat 2 rows in front, explaining that I was likely to vomit, she very grumpily refused. She then huffed and puffed for half the flight as I either vomited into a sick bag, wretched or kept getting up to go to the toilets. She eventually gave in and swapped seats as I'm sure I was very unpleasant to sit next to. Just demonstrating that some people will go through all sorts to prove a point about where they sit on a plane.

We've just paid to have seats together with monarch despite the sales lady telling me they would always sit the children with at least one parent.

As a pp said, air travel was the preserve of the rich. Now it is accessible to most people, even of modest means. I for one, don't want to go back to the way it was before. There should not be a blanket flat fee for everyone. I travel light, I don't need to sit next to those I am holidaying with and nor do I want a meal so why should I pay for any of those things?

Lealavender you miss the point. Very few parents want to sit beside their toddler or small child for a long flight. But a toddler or small child needs a parent or responsible adult to sit beside them. It is the airlines that are entitled by saying their profits come before the needs of vulnerable passengers.

Also I completely understand paying extra for baggage as it cost extra fuel to carry said bags but seating doesn't cost anything and could just be allocated of a first come first serve basis on booking at no extra cost to the airline, unless people wish to pay extra for extra leg room etc!

'And if all else fails, and there is no way in a plane with nearly 200 seats that we can sit together then good luck to them dealing with my 3 year old... It will save me a job grin'

And I'll tell your 3-year-old to go and get Mummy, put on my headphones and tune him/her out. If I pay for a seat I'm sitting in it unless they upgrade me or give me a similar one and I'm not there to look after your child. They can get up and get you to do it.

If you have people being able to choose their seats and then try to put in all the people who want to sit together in, the jigsaw may not fit. There is also a blurred line between those who need to sit together and those who want to sit together and some adults will need greater priority in this than some children.

And I'll tell your 3-year-old to go and get Mummy, put on my headphones and tune him/her out. If I pay for a seat I'm sitting in it

Fair enough, but one of the downsides of this system of low fares and optional extras is that you may be stuck with an unaccompanied 3 year old. You're prepared to accept the low fare, you need to be prepared to accept the problems that come with the low fare.

I fully accept that if parents want to sit together they need to pay for it (even though I don't agree with it - airlines should sit children with at least one parent free of charge IMO), and a parent has no right to ask another passenger to move seats. But if airlines insist on operating this system, then parents have every right not to pay for seats together if they so choose, and this runs the risk of unaccompanied children sitting next to strangers. It's no good complaining to the parents, this is the fault of the airlines absurd policy of not placing kids with parents.

I think it is absolutely dreadful. If you book with a child then that child should be sitting next to you where they feel safe and are safe. Also, I wouldn't want to sit next to an accompanied child who may get distressed

Cleo what is dreadful? That you are too tight to add in some cases £3.99 each onto the price of your ticket so that your child sits next to you? As others and myself have explained endlessly, buying a seat is part of the process of flying.

It's cheapskate, selfish and ridiculous not to pay what others do in the hope you can guilt trip some poor person into moving.

Ruthio that is a very selfish view to have. It hardly defeats the objective of budget airlines when you won't pay the price of a sandwich to sit next to your 3yo. But that's your choice, not sure they'll be too wrapped up with flying when Mummy isn't sat with them but not my problem.

seastar I wouldn't not move to prove a point. I just want what I paid for. And you didn't pay for.

blaeberry your choice to ditch your "vulnerable" child for the sake of proving a point. I hardly think airlines are entitled. They are giving you a choice which you then choose not to take.