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

Starlight - are you suggesting blackmailing someone into giving up their seat, by threatening them with a chocolate covered child? How is that OK?

If I have paid for seat allocation, and someone else has not - why should I be forced to give up my seat for them?

Not blackmailing, a pre-warning of what their flight will be like.

'Oh, but I wanted a window.' 'Oh, I like sitting in this row as there's more legroom' - yeah, that's why I pre-booked it and paid for it/used points

Exactly

So glad I'm not the only one who's noticed it tends not to be the middle seats, seats near the loos, etc, which they must have ... odd, that

I have sympathy for people who are way richer than me and haven't watched prices for an age to see if they can have a holiday and their entitlement to a seat of their choice, but if that kind of situation makes life difficult for the airline staff, it increases the chances of them changing their policies.

These threads always end up referring back to some 'good old days' when all the seats were allocated at check-in and everyone sat with their loved-ones.

It's amazing how selective long-term memory is...

I remember going on a classing Med package tour with my parents in the early 80s. The transfer coach to the airport broke down and we were, literally, the last group to check in. By the time we got to the airport the check-in queue was nine miles long and we were at the back. Our allocated seats were split all over the plane and cue lots of shuffling around on baord to try to seat adults with any of their 3 kids.

Next year, unbelievably, the same thing happened. We did manage to get seats together, but only because they were in the smoking section of the plane. It was horrible. I think I'd rather have sat on my own.

Next year Mum insisted on getting a taxi to the airport mega-early so we coudl be the first at check-in.

If someone had offered my parents the option to pay extra to pre-book the seats in advance they would have jumped at the chance.

TBF, the reason I want control over the seating is because there are six of us, and I like to arrange it so we are 2 behind 2 behind 2, with the least 'kicky' at the front, so that no-one has to put up with nonstop kicking of the back of their chair.

But no way am I giving up the cost of my ASD kids Speech therapy for the privilege of thoughtfulness.

Then surely, if a parent has chosen not to take up that option, it is their own fault if they end up not able to sit with their children, budgie?? And they shouldn't get to demand someone else, who has taken the option to pay to choose their seat, gives up that seat for them

I agree STDG, as it stands, if you want to guarantee to sit with your kids, you need to pay for this. What I don't agree with is the airlines policy of requiring parents to pay for this. I think airlines should seat children with a parent free of charge. It seems to me to be necessary from a safety point of view.

"Not blackmailing, a pre-warning of what their flight will be like."

A distinction without a difference, I feel, Starlight.

Basically you are suggesting someone says 'If you don't give up your seat for me, my chocolate-y child will make you dirty and make your journey a misery' - which is a threat - and obtaining goods or services by threats is blackmail.

Budgie - the airlines are businesses - their aim is to make profit, and they won't do that if they give things away for free. One way or another, they are going to charge for things - at least this way we get to choose what we do and don't want.

As I said, it isn't a threat. It WILL happen, depending on which kid to a greater or lesser extent. As will manic seat kicking, flicking the table/window shutter, leaning over everyone to see out of the window and taking seat belt off during take off and crawling along the aeroplane floor.

I think airlines should seat children with a parent free of charge. It seems to me to be necessary from a safety point of view

What about all the other people who need to be seated together from a safety PoV? Are parents more deserving? What about carers? Or people with phobias? Or people with physical or hidden disabilities? Or the anxious? Or anyone else who made need assistance of any kind?

As a parent, in an emergency are you going to go out of the nearest exit, or fight your way along the plane to get to your children, blocking everyone else's exit?

Telling someone what will happen if they don't give up their seat is still threatening them. Just because the unpleasant consequence is a certainty, doesn't mean that telling someone "If you don't let me have your seat, you WILL get covered in chocolate/screamed at/vomited on/kicked" isn't a threat, Starlight!

As I said, it isn't a threat. It WILL happen

Then you do your children a disservice. And all children with additional needs. You have the ability to lessen their anguish, but choose not to. Well done.

So what? I don't tell them?

TBH, I rarely ask people to move. I present the problem to the air steward. Sometimes they listen, sometimes they don't. If they don't listen, after take-off we're usually together some way or other.

As a parent, in an emergency are you going to go out of the nearest exit, or fight your way along the plane to get to your children, blocking everyone else's exit

Neither. Because I pay extra to ensure I sit with my child. And if I couldn't, I wouldn't fly.

You won't block everyone else's exit. There will be more of them and you'll be forced back into the direction of the closest exit.

What ability? Because I don't have money. The cost of seat purchase is pretty much our spending money for the week.

I do have the parenting skills, but I need to be near them for them to have any affect.

Only one has SEN. The others are just completely bonkers.

'Cover your child's face and hands in chocolate then any adult sitting next to them will be happy to move.'

Wouldn't make a rat's arse difference to me. I put on my headphones, wrap up in the blanket and go to sleep.

'But no way am I giving up the cost of my ASD kids Speech therapy for the privilege of thoughtfulness.'

My son has ASD, too. That's why I pay to pre-book seats next to him rather than risk his security because I'm so entitled I think other people should move out of their own pre-booked seats that they paid for to accommodate us. Wow! What kind of parent would I be to do that to him, and watch him get worked up and agitated when other people start having discussions with the staff or refusing to move?

It has nothing to do with thoughtfulness and everything to do with being a decent parent to a child with ASD. So there's 6 of you? How is that everyone else's fault and they need to accommodate your holiday?

'You won't block everyone else's exit. There will be more of them and you'll be forced back into the direction of the closest exit.'

Hardly think that is likely even if a mother has to crawl. There ain't no mothers on earth leaving their kids on a plane in an emergency.

What ability? Because I don't have money

What will you do if your child has an accident whilst you are overseas?

You see, I think people who pay are 'entitled'. They think they are so special that they can wave their fancy money around and then force families apart due to bagging seats.

Maybe so.. But mother or not, my priority would be getting myself and family off the plane. Crawling on the floor would likely mean being trampled!

Everyone on a plane has their priorities, which generally aren't someone else's children. I would not risk my safety for someone else's idiocy.

We have travel insurance and European certificate.

There would likely be more than one mother. I'm not saying they would manage it, but they sure as hell would get in the way of others escaping.