To believe Thomsons advance airline seat booking is a con....

[BG2015]

I've just come back from a Thomson holiday with my 2 teenage sons.

To pre book our seats it was going to cost us £7 each, so £42 in total there and back. This annoys me (always has) that it's another way of getting money out of us, and puts pressure on families, so I decided to keep track of the seats available in the weeks leading up to the holiday.

So every few days I would log in and could see which seats had been booked and which were still free. 10 days before we were due to fly, the whole of the front of the plane was booked with about 9 sets of three seats still available towards the middle and rear - so I decided to leave it. My thoughts being - It's a 2 hour flight, I have older teenagers so if we don't sit together it's no big deal and I'll save myself £42

So we check in, I ask if we can sit together. And guess where we sit...?

Right at the front, the first row of seats that weeks before were TOTALLY booked. We had extra leg room, which with two 6' lads was a bonus!

On our return journey we sat in row 16 over the wing - again extra leg room.

I will NEVER pre book seats again. It's a total con.

How is it a 'con'? They tell you how much you'll pay to guarantee reserved seats, and presumably that's what you get. You may or may not think that's worth paying for, but that doesn't mean people who decide that £42 is worth it are being 'conned'. They know what they are getting, they know how much it will cost them and they are free to take up the option or not. No con.

The front row is always blocked out until the last minute as medical seats, you can't pre book them
I've prebooked the front row well in advance a handful of times.

Sorry, realise that the policy outlined ^ may be a Thomson one, not a wider rule.

OP, two 6', presumably robust, lads that were placed last minute in the emergency exits? The airline was using you, not vice versa....

Yes it's Thomson I'm referring too, although all airlines have certain sections blocked out as medical seats.

I have looked at seats available and there are only a few scattered ones, plus a two. I don't pay for seat reservation as I don't care if we sit together or not. In fact secretly I would be quite happy to sit by myself and have a quiet flight - but we don't have young children. We always end up with seats together.

Elodie you obviously have an opinion on my stance. It would better to express it and open discussion rather than a one worded sarcastic response.

Fwiw I worked in travel for years. Therefore my opinion and stance comes from knowing what is and isn't done and what's money making and what's not.

It's no different to anywhere else. I will get my haircut at the salon that gives good customer service, car mot at garage that gives customer service.

It's easy, this is what I need - can you offer that and what at what price? Then thanks or no thanks.

In fact I think airlines should allow a confidential payment so that one parent can pay to be seated separately from their DP and teenage kids. With a clear instruction that cabin crew will say it is impossible to ask people to move.

Kidding, If you don't pre book, airlines won't deliberately separate you. If you've specified a disability on the booking, you are probably top priority for the "unbooked" list ie you will be the last pair to be separated by seat bookers.

So it's not surprising you haven't yet been split up; it's not a guarantee though as pre booking becomes more common.

I didn't pre-book, thinking I'd just go on when online check-in opened like I've done in the past. However, we had a bit of family trauma going on at home and I missed the deadline.
Went on a week before the trip (we go tomorrow) and only 2 pairs of seats and a few single seats scattered around. There's me, DH and 6yo DD.
I had to pay the £46 as I was worried we'd be refused onto the flight because they wouldn't sit DD on her own.
£46 and we're not even sitting in a row of 3 I could kick myself.
Already paid through the nose to travel in August.

Notkidding
As you are well travelled you will be aware that most airlines do not charge for seat reservations/ priority boarding for disabled passengers.

There is absolutely no need to 'test' the service you require when you arrive.

For example BA's poilcy is :
There's no charge for reserving your seat if you have a specific seating requirement because of your disability. In most cases you can select your seat at Manage My Booking but sometimes you may need to contact us, e.g. for some types of developmental impairments.

I don't understand why you don't phone them or book online?
Why leave it until you get there when the service is available to you?

Depends on airline rules but sometimes they will leave the emergency row free as they need visual confirmation that the people in them are fit and able to open door in an emergency.

I have only once paid to pre book seats travelling with a 3 year old because the flight was full but I tend to travel off peak so I just keep an eye out for the flight getting busy and other than that one time it wasn't busy.

Practy I like your thinking. My DH is the "pass me my book" type parent on a flight. I would love for a situation where sadly I couldn't sit with him and the DC.

I'm not testing. Not all airlines consider my Ds disability as needing an adult.
In fact some of the companies special assistance booking forms do not have questions relating or space to request the type of support my Ds needs.

It's not about a test. It's about me handing over my hard earned cash - it's only worth it when its for something that meets my needs or requirements.

When you go on to look what's pre booked and what's left and suddenly panic about the 5 seats jotted around the plane which are empty how do you think when you then pay £50 or whatever magically seats together appear for your family?!

I'm not testing. Not all airlines consider my Ds disability as needing an adult. In fact some of the companies special assistance booking forms do not have questions relating or space to request the type of support my Ds needs.It's not about a test. It's about me handing over my hard earned cash - it's only worth it when its for something that meets my needs or requirements.

Then phone them!
BA (for example) clearly states that sometimes you will have to contact them directly if your needs aren't covered on the generic on-line form.
As I said, disabled passengers don't pay for add-ins such as seat reservations! So money is a non-issue.

My travel agent who are also carrier did phone them. They told us to fill out special assistance e form. It does not ask questions related to the type of support my Ds needs.

That's not difficult to understand is it?

It's not a test. When booking anything I simply state what I need, ask if they can meet them and ask at what price. I ask numerous companies. I then chose the one that offers best value for money.

But the point I'm making isn't about me. It's a it the poor traveller above who looked on seating, saw 5 spaces dotted around, paid £50 for family and suddenly seats together appeared. I'm asking how people think this happens?

I have never once pre-booked my seat and always sat with the people I'm travelling with on the day.

OR you could end up separated all over the plane from the from front to the back row. 11 of us coming back from Cuba.

Never again .

I agree it's a massive con! However when flying back from New York even though we got the airport super early we ended up sitting opposite ends of the plane and we weren't the only ones, this poor lady had been split from her 10 year old, the airport staff claimed there was nothing they could do so she was frantically asking other passengers trying to swap her seat. Maybe pay for the peace of mind.

this poor lady had been split from her 10 year old, the airport staff claimed there was nothing they could do so she was frantically asking other passengers trying to swap her seat

She wasn't a "poor lady" - she had taken a risk and it had backfired surely?

If I had paid to reserve the seat I wanted I wouldn't swap for someone who hadn't

Yourkiddingme
My travel agent who are also carrier did phone them. They told us to fill out special assistance e form. It does not ask questions related to the type of support my Ds needs. That's not difficult to understand is it?

Well yes I'm surprised and yes it's quite difficult to understand because we don't have any trouble booking free priority seats/boarding ahead of time for my adult brother with ASD.

We have travelled far and wide & we phone and talk to airline customer service ourselves (not through a third party) after booking and they bypass the generic form.

It can be done that's all I'm saying.

If you prefer to do it your way nobody is complaining.

This was a delta flight u don't think there is a way of reserving seat, ( I could be wrong) I was simply making the comment that if there is an option to reserve seats surely it would be best for the op to do so to avoid disappointment

*I not u