thinking I should have been seated next to my three-year-old on this flight?

[nappyrat]

Cheap (orange) airline. Normally v good when travelling with kids - speedy boarding, say they'll sit you with kid/s etc.

Flew out recently & they said a 'technical error' had mistakenly sat me in a different row(!!) to my 3 year old. They fixed it on board (after much grumbling by several passengers about not moving from seats they've paid extra to book to sit together (fair enough!)). But fixed, fairly stress free.

Return flight today, I was sat across the aisle from DS. Their handling agent told me that this is considered 'sat together'?! Erm...really?! Anyway, handling agent refused to seat us together. Cue quite a bit of 'discussing' with them why this was not on IMO. No budging. Decided to leave it & ask the flight crew when we boarded. Who eventually sorted it - v kind older couple agreed to move seats.

Before I let loose with said orange airline's customer services, AIBU to think that sorting across the aisle from a 3 yr old is not appropriate?! DS was wailing, I had to bend across aisle to comfort, there were good chunks of time during boarding when I couldn't see DS because ppl stood in between us in aisle. Just bloody stressful quite frankly. And not what I'd expect from this - or to be bloody honest - any - airline.

Opinions please mumsnet!

I think people are forgetting just how expensive European air travel used to be before the budget airlines came on board. I lived abroad for a year in Spain in the early 90s when I was a student - well before any budget airlines were in operation. The only options for flying home were either BA or Iberia to Heathrow and then BA or British Midland back to Scotland - the ticket cost around £150 one way. Plus I had to pay another whack for a coach journey from the regional city where I was staying to Madrid. According to an online calculator, £150 in 1993 is equivalent to £300 in 2016. Yes I got a meal on the plane and yes there was a generous luggage allowance, but my ticket was the equivalent of £600 return. There was no such thing as online booking back then, you turned up at the airport and were allocated a seat at check in, and if you wanted a specific row, or wanted to be immediately adjacent to a child, then you arrived at the airport hours before flying.

In 2016, I can book flights connecting through Stansted directly into the Spanish regional airport which was 20 minutes from my flat for £75 each way or £150 return. That's A QUARTER of the price. I can check in on line and cut my time at the airport. I accept that getting a ticket for an equivalent 25% of the price means I pay extra for food, extra bags, a cup of coffee and to choose where I sit.

Pity not everyone accepts these simple facts though.

This included all the things now classed as Extras. Eg seating together...

You were only seats together if you turned up at the airport to check in very early. You only got extra legroom if you turned up at theairport to check in very early and asked for those seats. They were never guaranteed and thus not included in the price.

Luna that sounds expensive for the time. I paid 500 pounds in 1995 to go to Ecuador and back!

You never used to be able to pre book seats. You turned up at the airport ridiculously early in order to get seated together. Comparing it to the past is pointless as the ability to book actual seats was simply not possible. Now you either pay for the extra service of pre booking seats or check in early the same as you would have done in the past.

Utter rot. The concept of seats not being prebooked came in with the advent of low cost airlines and online booking.
Go back 30 years, when you got your ticked posted to you, your seat number was on your ticket. Your seat was always prebooked and you got no say in it.

Also, I flew with Delta last year, I paid not one penny more to prebook my seat.

Loving the way that some posters assume that I'll be looking after/supervising your toddler if they end up next to me because you're too tight to pre-book. I can assure you I won't be - that's your job and you'll find it much easier to do it if you pay to sit next to them. I'm a nervous flier, so a couple of Diazepam gets me through. Your toddler can whine all it wants, I'll be oblivious.

It was extortionate!! But the only other option was a coach journey to Bilbao/Santander, 24 hours on a ferry to get to Plymouth or Portsmouth, and then 12 hours home on the train. Wasn't up for that even as a student.

But your £500 back in 1995 would be double that now, almost a grand.

That's how I remember it desolate but couldn't be sure and didn't feel like argy bargy first thing on a Sunday morning

Younggirl. I don't actually know where to start with your post: the comment about leaving a violent film on a feeding a three year old coke is fucked up and I hope it's just a pathetic attempt at humor.

As a working expat I fly a lot : I reached flight #50 of 2016 sometime over the summer and my DC are hovering around the 20 mark for the year.

I've never had to pay extra to be sat near my DC and if it was necessary of course I would but that doesn't mean I think it's appropriate. I don't understand why people are so accepting of this total con except it gives them an opportunity to rail against the "entitled"

It's not utter rot. We used to go to Spain in the 70s and it was first on got to choose where to sit. All the window seats went first. If you sat down and realised you were over a wing and couldn't see anything, you moved to another row.

IMO if you take the risk and don't pay then you deal with the consequences.

I don't want to take the risk and don't see why other people should be inconvenienced so I always pay for seats with my travelling companions whether children or not.

If I was asked to move you would be met with a polite "no thank you".

OP - the airline admitted their mistake and sorted: they say you with your child coming back. Not sure what more you wanted?

They don't say that will did children with adults it says that will try
You have to pay extra to make sure you are sat together. Not paying and then making people move should not be aloud. People end up moving cause that feel bad but they shouldn't at all.

SoupDragon Sun 11-Sep-16 09:20:37

This included all the things now classed as Extras. Eg seating together...

You were only seats together if you turned up at the airport to check in very early. You only got extra legroom if you turned up at theairport to check in very early and asked for those seats. They were never guaranteed and thus not included in the price.

But they were effectively in the price, you paid one price for a ticket in one class of travel. And our tickets turned up with seat numbers already on them, so they were "pre-booked".

The point I'm making is that the whole pricing model has changed, and you just can't really compare to how it used to be. Each of the "extras" represents a cost in some way to the airline. The basic price doesn't cover the cost of the extras, so if you want them, you pay.

And as for airlines charging to make more money, well, they aren't charities and they aren't twisting arms and forcing people to pay. People still have choices, different airlines, different destinations, not to go at all.......

whispering the point is, I am completely impervious to the threat from parents of a badly behaved/vomiting child which always crop up on these infernal threads. If you don't want your kid to be exposed to my poor nutrition and/or movie choices then pay to book him or her a bloody seat. If you are too mean to do so, don't assume I will be holding his sick bag or helping him to the loo.

Bookable seats are just a money making exercise. No frills is different. To provide a meal or snack needs prep, storage and serving. Luggage needs space. Toilets need cleaning. These are reasonable payable extras. All seats are allocated at some point so you are not paying for something that costs the airline money. It should be first come first served. As soon as you pay for your ticket, you pick your seats but that would be not be as profitable so is not an option!

I don't have any issue with airlines making a profit Mary - the "no frills" carriers are simply providing a service. Other carriers don't charge for seat booking so in many cases there is a choice. Surely it's better to be able to exercise that choice than regress to the days when only 10% or so of people could afford to fly?

Whether they're a money making exercise or not, if child seats next to adults could be booked for free on budget airlines the base price would go up for everyone.

Across the aisle is hardly miles away. Its a small plane

Problem is, there is an expectation from parents (a veiled threat really) that if they don't get to sit with their child, the person the child is sat next to is responsible for that child and they are not. I think that's what YoungGirl was pointing out through a joke (well, I didn't take it literally anyway.)

The last longish flight I was on was six hours and I had paid for a window seat. I was on my own during that flight as it was for sad reasons I had a child next to me who whined and fidgeted and grumbled. I ignored him. I'd expect most people to do the same!

I used to book seats with Easyjet but stopped when they started allocating seats at check in. A calendar note in my diary for the date the online check-in opens means I get that sorted weeks in advance and if I ever was assigned seats that were a problem I can phone customer services to get everything sorted before the flight with no issues onboard.

OP, did you not check-in online and know where you were sitting before you got on the plane? Did you check-in at the airport or did you have seats allocated already but the technical problem meant they changed your seats from the ones you were originally given?

IT'S NOT A FRILL TO SIT NEXT TO YOUR TODDLER ON A PLANE!!!

Ahhh, that feels better. Younggirl, watch a violent film next to a 3yo, whatever your reasons, and you are a vile, despicable excuse for a human being. Luckily I imagine you are just being pointlessly hyperbolic.

I've just paid an extra £72.00 to book seats together with my DH and DS for next year's holiday. I'd be extremely fucked off if I was made to move because someone didn't bother to book; I assume I wouldn't get a refund. Should be the same rules for everyone.

'It's not a frill to sit next to your toddler on a plane'

It is, because everybody has to pay if they wish to be seated in a particular place for a particular reason.

I think it is a frill to guarantee your child is absolutely next to you. If they're already safely seated very near you according to flying guidelines if you want to guarantee something in addition to that you should pay.

Exactly balletcats

YoungGirl - if you're always traveling business, then you must never be sitting next to unattended offspring, so not sure what your issue is. confused

You are joking. Longhaul business is crammed with unaccompanied minors when it is school return time, flying to and from schools in the UK from age 7. BA are stopping it next year and age 12 over only. I have seen children who look as young as 5 alone of 12 hour flights.

Also often get parents in 1st and children in business.