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

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

As long as you don't mind being the parent of the 3 year old child who watched 18C horror movies throughout their flight.

(Not me, but I've heard of this being done, and of the child being told that Father Christmas, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy etc are all lies)

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?

Very often it's a lot more than £3.99, on one flight I took , it was £50 each way, that's a whopping £500 for our family of 5. Hardly the price of a sandwich, is 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. '

Yep, that's fine with me. I pay to book my seat. If they won't give me the same type in another part of the plane or refund me on the spot, then I'll sit in my seat and if there's a 3-year-old sat next to me or King Kong, it won't matter because I put on my noise-cancelling headphones and tune out.

As it is, if I travel alone I book in the emergency exit aisle so I won't have to be subjected to entitled git parents who think their rights supercede everyone else's just because they have kids.

If not travelling alone, I book to sit next to my kids. Again, wouldn't move for someone else's. Not my circus, not my monkeys.

budgie I am quoting Easyjet. You are quoting longhaul and it's a price you have to pay. I have just shelled out £34.99 each, each way for the seats I want on a BA flight.

Posters on here were talking Monarch, EJ, Ryanair which is the price of a sandwich to secure a seat.

Again, wouldn't move for someone else's

And I wouldn't blame you. But I wouldn't blame parents for not paying the extra either, although they can''t then complain if you won't move.

LeaLeander nails it.

The business model for airlines has changed massively. If you select solely on price then expect to pay for extras. What we have found is that very often adding up the luggage, hand luggage, seat allocation, checkin, credit card, meal, you name it up and makes very little difference between budget and full service carriers. Which when you think about it makes sense - if you want full service, then pay. If that is with squeezy then there you go.

With that in mind - we check the routes against airlines like BA, etc when booking holidays and have actually found them cheaper sometimes and whilst have never booked a seat in advance have always worked things out at check in. (always online - always when it opens) a party of 5 is hard to sit together when it is narrow body and never much fun in a wide body.

Airline pricing is a dark art. They have to shift the maximum of product for the maximum price and cater for last minute changes, cancellations and flexible ticket holders. Every dollar you shave off the price, the airline takes an option away.

A fully flexible economy ticket to NYC frequently costs a lot more than a business class ticket. But then you can change your flight to the next one upto an hour before departure...

If it matters to you that much - then pay. I recognise that in the OPs case they have scraped together to pay the flight. If you cant afford to pay to sit together, then you are taking a chance that it can be sorted at check in. if that risk is not acceptable then either suck it up or cough up.

However - to claim that the person who has paid should then willingly give it up so that you should get your desire for nothing smacks of a level of entitlement that beggars belief. Perhaps I should let you have the lunch i paid for on the flight? The one you didnt pay for?

It's rarely as little as £3.99 though is it?

The least I've seen is about £6, and it's often more than that. And that's £6 per person, per flight, so a family of 4 is looking at an extra £48 and some airlines/routes charge a lot more than that - someone has mentioned £200 to pay for their holiday, which is a lot extra and not fair to call someone cheapskate because they don't want to pay it.

If you've booked your holiday and sorted your budget, it's a bit of a shock to find these added fees at check in, especially when the airline seems to be basically saying we will force your party to sit separately unless you pay us extra. More than once I have gone to check inonline and my 'randomly selected seats' amongst a sea of unallocated seats are not together.

They don't just pick the first two unallocated seats at the front, or the first two at the back, they pick two totally separate. One of the most recent times, both these seats were the unpopular middle seats, which then left several seats on their own. What else were they doing except telling me, you can have crappy seats that are not together unless you pay us more money. We took them anyway, and when we got on the flight, there was a couple that had the window and aisle seat surrounding one of our middle seats and I think someone swapped anyway so the couple could sit next to each other.

Am quite surprised this is still such an issue. I used to see lots of reshuffling on planes but since allocated seating at online check was introduced for Easyjet I haven't seen it. The only people I know who pay now are those who want a specific seat.

Saying that, if you do need to be sat together and you don't want to pay, it really is up to you to get your finger out and check in early. It's not fair to ask others to move.

Can't believe people would quibble about this... minimum price charges for seats. I am obviously only talking shorthaul budget airlines

Easyjet £1.99
Ryanair 5.99 euros
Monarch £3

I also have to add... I have regularly flown with those three carriers, particularly Monarch and EJ and it does not come as a surprise. There is no getting away from the pushing for you to book a seat online, showing you an aircraft seating plan and very clearly showing the prices for each category. It is quite difficult to avoid choosing a seat. I tend to pay for a seat on the outgoing flight but don't care where I sit on the return flight and it's not easy to avoid seat selection on the return.

I think of it as part of my airfare and as a pp said, a special discount to be sat at the airline's discretion.

If you book online the 'select your seat' option comes up before payment.
If you book inside a travel agents then they should ask you if you want any extras before you pay.

Either way you should be aware before final payment - so take this into account when booking.

But I'm back again to my point of before. If you are going overseas on holiday then you MUST have an emergency fund. If you cannot afford to pay for selected seating then really you cannot afford to go overseas. If you dont want to pay, fine. But own that decision and accept the consequences - don't expect other people, especially those who HAVE paid to suffer those consequences for you.

exLtEveDallas has an excellent suggestion.

I actually hooted at the easter bunny thing.

if ever there was an argument to make flying more expensive, this thread is it.

Take me back to the days when you got a boiled sweet, flew in a 707 and had a blue passport. No crowded aiports, no queues, no budget airlines, security was a few questions aimed at the chap with the hippy kaftan at the back of the line.

Mind you, service was grim, the French air traffic controllers were still on strike, it cost a fortune, there were no flights anywhere and there was that business with hijackings, bombs, carlos the jackal, entebbe, bader meinhoff and all that malarkey. But it was glamorous wasnt it? Wasnt it?

That being so - I flew on a 707 and it was horrible

I have just done a quick squizz on line

Return to JFK on BA - leaving tomorrow, seat booked at time of booking, excellent luggage and hand luggage allowance. Lounge access and priority security in Heathrow and priority queue for arrivals. Priority boarding and seating. Nice big comfy seat.

In fact it would meet all of the requirements of every snowflake on this thread.

Mind you the flight is £10,827.35p

you get a toiletry bag tho....

thats each by the way.

It's been like this for years hasn't it. I used to hate the free for all on easy jet. I like knowing where I am sitting and don't mind paying for it. There are lots of advantages on easy jet. Sitting close to the front of the plane, gets you off quicker and at the front of the queue for passport control which can back up if only 1/2 manning the control. On the way back I also pay for speedy boarding if I have a case as the bag drop queues in foreign airports can be really long. Last holiday there were more than 50 people queing for two bad drop points and I walked straight to the front as it had a separate queue. For me the additional £7 or whatever it was was worth it for both of the above benefits

love your post oddcommentator, I remember all of that! I also remember half of the plane being smoking and making full use of it!

Yes, free sweets to unpop your ears! I paid about £150 to travel to Spain to see rellies in 1980 with British Caledonian. That's the equivalent of £700 today... I think we are lucky with our choices now.

Rousette

I think Egypt air still allows smoking. They did last time I flew with em - there was a proper fug down the end of the plane. And as I was still a smoker back then, i went back for a couple of restful ones just cos I could!

Mind you that was 15 years ago.

I got caught out with this last year.. Booked holiday through online third party thingy.. Didn't pre book seats as thought it only applied to extra legroom etc.. The three of us (myself and ds's aged 8 and 13 then) were all completely separated.. Someone kindly swapped so I could sit next to younger ds and older ds quite happily sat alone. This year I have paid, but I know ds1 would swap to allow a younger child to be near mum.. I'd be happy with that because someone did it for us when I was the one who got it wrong. However I do think the op should pay if that's at all possible as she is aware they might well be separated (I genuinely wasn't). Either way enjoy your holiday op.

Goodness me! Yes it was all very daring having a drink and a ciggie on a plane!

a drink...in a glass...from a bottle.

Maybe a knife to cut my chicken (or fish)

and stop overs to refuel. London to Tokyo stopped in Abu Dhabi, Bombay and sometimes again in Hon Kong or Bangkok

We need to start a campaign for real flying. Like it was.

How it was

Though it was always known as Better On A Camel.

London to Johannesburg in 16 hours - imagine that in a twinset and heels!

Haha on the link, those economy seats look remarkably spacious!

I bet they didnt have to pay for a piece of hand luggage!

or have to put their liquids in a plastic bag (or should i say plarhstik)

Interesting one... It does seem unfair of the airline to separate child from guardian.

Really as much as £100 extra seems diacriminatory against families. I suspect they feel pressured I. To paying extra cost or risking safety of their minor.

I wonder if it's legal? Sounds like unintended consequence of a policy designed to affect adults.

I'd love to know if anyone's ever challenged airline in advance of flight?
Or mounted legal challenge?

Suspect most just pay, or take chances but wouldn't it be fascinating.
Is it something for a Mumsnet campaign?