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

Children's pre-allocated seats with Ryanair are 50% of what adult seats are.

The thing is, as others have said, it's invariably the companies who charge you about £20 for the basic flight that do it.

I have a choice of Ryanair, Easyjet, Alitalia and Lufthansa.

Lufthansa don't charge me for sitting with dd and it's luxury all the way. It also costs 10 x more than Ryanair.

It's like Haagen Dazs innit? Nobody makes you do it, and there are always choices. That 2kg tub of bright yellow "vanilla" will be cheaper.

I can't actually believe people are still surprised the seat thing happens! Most airlines anyway have changed a bit now (Ryanair allocate seats for you, for example, if you don't pay tuppence ha'penny to pick the ones you want)

OP- love Menorca and if you take me, I'll entertain the kids!

It's all good 'taking the chance' but I would be very wary of doing so on a flight in school holidays that is likely to contain a lot of families. I pay to sit with my family, and will do whenever I fly. I won't move for someone who hadn't. There are a lot of people out there that feel the same way.

Probably not so bad on a flight with singles and couples, but if everyone on a flight has a reason to want to sit with their kids who is the most deserving?

I've been on a number of flights where people are asked if they would move to allow a family to sit together - sometimes resolved, sometimes not and I've been on one flight where after a lot of ranting and raving a parent has been told to suck it up or get off the flight.

We pay for seats as there's 6 of us and we take up a row.

When I travelled with my twins I paid to have them next to me. It was about 25 each but that includes seats, luggage and priority boarding. For the lack of stress it was worth it

emsee13
They split us up on the Eurostar when DC were 3 and 4 years old! People refused to move who were seated around us, I told the steward that these people could be paedophiles for all we knew and how could they let small children sit alone with them?! Ridiculous!

Are you serious?

You are not being screwed. I have flown with many airlines over the last few years. All give you the option to allocate seats.

It's either that or chance it. If it does online check in, Check inas soon as you can to try and get seats together.

I can only imagine you decided not to pick allocated seating at the time.

I am flying in May. There will be 6 of us including two kids. So we wanted 2 rows next to each other. With a child sat in each row. So we paid for allocated seating. When the kids are older I may not pay for it. Although I am scared of flying and don't think anyone I don't know would want to sit next to me.

I don't have children, and as someone who often takes flights alone, benefit from the whole extra-to-book-seats-together thing as it keeps headline prices down (I presume) and it generally isn't an issue for me.

However I still agree with PPs who think an under 12 should automatically be sat with one of the adults in their party for no cost. For safety reasons if nothing else in the event of an emergency in air.

OP - which airline are you with? Posters might be able to advise on what your chances are of getting seats together as long as you check in online at earliest opportunity.

What sort of parent would be too cheap to stay near their own kids, and happy to let them in tears next to stranger for the duration of the flight? No-one can be guilty of such neglect, can they?

DP and I are flying to New York in October with BA. We can book seats at £35 per person per flight. You can look at the seating plan at the moment and there's lots of seats left so I'm holding off for now. I check every now and again

In the "good old days" that people are so nostalgic about, you could only get seats allocated at check in. If you wanted to sit together, you checked in early. Airlines are not charging you for something that used to be free - you never used to be able to guarantee seats together.

Budget Airfares now have all extras stripped out to keep the cost down so the price you see is the price of the flight and that's it. If you want to take more luggage than a carry on bag, you pay. If you want food, you pay. If you want guaranteed seats together, you pay. It's the only they can fly you for £50 or whatever. Surely everyone realises this?

Imagine most airlines charge for extras on top to keep the headline fare down.

Who are you flying with? I've flown easyjet several times recently, never paid for allocated seats. But checked in online in advance and been allocated seats together every time.

And am I the only person who hopes that MidniteScribbler gets seated next to an unaccompanied child who fills their nappy as soon as possible after take-off?
Why the hell should people be expected to move or look after other people's children. People know the rules before booking, it's not a surprise.

I don't think budget airlines are being umreasonable. They give you a base price for a flight and that I gets you a seat and takes you to your destination. If your requirements are that what ever your circumstances you need to sit together then pay that. On the budget flight you are often getting a dam good price.
I have flown from Manchester to Norway (return) cheaper than I can get the train from Manchester to London one way. I'm not going to start arguing about a few quid if I want to sit next to someone.
I have been happy to pay for us as a family to sit together when they were younger but once they could see to themselves it is no longer an issue.

I am quite capable of chatting to a child that is not my own and has sat next to me but I have also told them to get their parent when they have needed help.

Is it going to be a thread a week about flights and seating now until the end of summer like every year?

What sort of parent would be too cheap to stay near their own kids, and happy to let them in tears next to stranger for the duration of the flight?

The ones that were sitting behind us last year in premium while their kids were in economy. As soon as the seatbelt sign went off three of their kids came into the separate cabin, one in tears. They parents were asked to ask the kids to leave the cabin by the flight crew and the parents were NOT happy. I was astonished parents did this. There were some interesting comments from other passengers!

I hate the obviously inflated charges for pre-booking seats or any other spurious 'admin fee'.

I agree that airlines have a responsibility to safeguard young children on their flights and ensure they're sat with a responsible adult.

But, kids are their parents responsibility and though I'll move if I can, I might not if I'm being asked to take the wierd seat by the toilet with no legroom or being expected to look after someone elses child on a flight, etc because the parents haven't been resposible enough to prebook/priority board/get to the gate efficiently.

Hooray for the sense and sanity of FishWithABicycle. I don't see how you can carry on huffing and puffing about paying after reading that.

The system breaks down because airlines persist in giving the premium service to people who pay the basic price, even by inconveniencing people who have paid the premium price. That's not fair - if you don't pay for the service you need then you shouldn't get it. Airlines should be required to state that any advertised headline flight cost is for a seat you don't choose, if you book a seat for a child too young to not sit next to a parent then you should have no option but to pay the higher price. Otherwise you should have to tick a box saying that you understand and agree that you are paying a price that means you don't get a seat choice. Anyone who isn't happy with what they get allocated should not get to disrupt fellow passengers for free - they should be required to pay an enhanced shuffling fee which includes the cost of champagne/chocolates for whoever moves to accommodate them (and I'd at least double what they should have paid in the first place)

This.

When you have DCs there are charges and inconveniences along the way and one of them is paying for seats together! You cannot expect those that have paid for a seat to shifty around and move for your convenience. The airfare is the bottom line price, and you add your extras, one of them being sitting together.

I book and pay for particular seats for me and DH at the back of the plane when we visit DSS. No I won't move. I want this particular seat as at the airport we fly to, the back doors as well as the front are opened on landing, and we want to be off nice and quick and get towards the front of the carhire queue (otherwise we are waiting hours). Yes, I've been asked to move, and yes, I've refused. I paid. You didn't. Why should your need trump mine when I paid for what I particularly wanted and you couldn't be bothered?

I always pay on budget airlines or charter flights. I don't pay on BA as they seat families together. About 5-7 days before the flight they allocate seat numbers to families which show in manage my booking. I normally am happy with that and occasionally change to something better when checking in online for free. I dare say if I was very unhappy with allocation I could then pay up a week before but I've never been split up with BA.

And am I the only person who hopes that MidniteScribbler gets seated next to an unaccompanied child who fills their nappy as soon as possible after take-off? - a child in nappies would not be unaccompanied. Under 5s are always seated with a parent (on easyjet etc anyway).

I am amazed at Eurostar seating 3 and 4 yo elsewhere.

If you want to sit together, check in online early (easyjet = 1 month before) and you will be allocated a seat together if there are some. I book a specific seat (and pay - £4.99 I think each way) because I like to be by an exit, but if I didn't mind being right between exits and by a window, I would save myself the money.

I would pay good money not to sit with 2 year old ds. And come to think of it, 48 year old dp.

11 year old dd is ok to sit with though.

Of course it's fine to charge.

The low-cost airlines make their money by offering bare minimum prices that include only the things that everyone actually needs, and has as additions the things that only some people need. Not everyone needs luggage, or meals, or seat allocation, so they make those opt-in, and you only pay if you do need them. It's part of the deal of buying a low cost flight. It seems that now the low cost airlines are so prevalent, that people have forgotten that aspect of them and just want to be treated like they would on a full-service flight, but without the prices. I think you have to look at the ticket price, decide what options you personally need, and then decide if you can afford it. Yes, it would be nice if all the things were included and the price was low, but you aren't going to have it both ways.

I also call bullshit on it all.

Surely it's in the airlines best interests to seat people with children? For the families as well as other passengers. What booking seems to do is encourage those with more spare change who are travelling as a couple without children to blood seats and the families on budgets having to 'take the risk'.

And sitting together isn't next to the person. It includes directly in front or behind or across the aisle. So a family of 4 paying to sit together may get 4 aisle seats at a cost of £100.

What sort of parent would be too cheap to stay near their own kids, and happy to let them in tears next to stranger for the duration of the flight?

The "sort" of parent who has, after a truly shitty year, managed to scrape together enough money to take their children on what is likely to be their last holiday for a while.

So, not neglectful at all really,. eh?

Never pre booked seats never will. If we get spilt we get split. But so far flying 2-3 times a year never yet been split. I do checkin early in fact last year flying on one trip all three families we were with were seated together and I mean all 12 of us over 4 rows.

Don't do extra baggage why would you need more that 10kg of luggage each.

Yes we went with Thomson last year and we had to sit separately because we didn't pay extra. We were close to each other but couldn't speak to each other easily. Children were 6 and 7. And no one wanted to swop.

I miss unallocated seating. We always used to be the last on and sat where ever. So stressful trying to kill each other to race on the plane.