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!

Oh gillybeanz that has given me a much needed laugh. Thank you!

I guess there is an advantage to a 3yo spilling their drink and getting Pringle crumbs on a stranger rather than a parent

But safety!

No shopgirl- I haven't fallen for any airline's ploy. I don't bother paying extra. Difference is, I don't then expect other people to move because I don't like the seat I'm in

Tbh though not sure I'd want to sit next to someone else's three year old either. Have a five year old but the thought of sitting next to someone else's upset toddler would not be good.

Kali sorry for indiscriminate labelling of people as grumpy. It really was about behaviour in my circumstances but I was wrong to say it as I did. I understand people having reasons not to move.

Are you seriously telling me you think I sd have to read the CAA guidelines on this before booking?! Seriously!?

I think reading the orange airline's website - pasted in pp many times - was more than enough research. The impression I was left with - regardless of the CAA specifics - is that the OA seem very reasonable in dealing with families, therefore I could relax in the knowledge they'd see it as common sense - a given - that I needed to be sat next to my 3 yr old!

This issue is a basic requirement - a fact I would have expected any other parent (& most people) to appreciate. It is on a par with going to the loo, I.e. No extra charge!

a given - that I needed to be sat next to my 3 yr old!

YOU WERE!

LAst time I flew to the UK from Australia, I had to pay the extra to sit with my 3yo. They did say in their T&C that they would make sure that young children were seated with a parent, but apparently that definition included me being in the row behind my 2 children, one 8, one 3. Not in my bloody book it didn't - it's an absolute rort to make sure I paid the extra $210 to seat us all together (of course I couldn't just move myself, could I, no! They'd made sure they'd put the children in a row where the end seat was already occupied.

I wouldn't have minded QUITE so much if there hadn't been a completely empty section further back. So it's not like they were pushed for space - they just wanted the money.

But you were next to your 3 year old!

I was, after their error was corrected, much stress grief & inconvenience for me & others. It should be a given. Automatic.
Not a row in front, behind, across the aisle etc.

So take that up with the CAA then. If it's that important to you (to not have to pay to sit next to your child) then do something about it.

Don't blame the airlines that have reduced the cost of flying by 50% over the last 30 years and are only following the CAA guidelines for the way they operate.

A wholly unnecessary stress and inconvenience you brought on yourself and other people that you caused entirely 'op.

You keep saying across the aisle like its the other end of the plane

Look at how close it is in reality. I doubt you could even fit another seat down there

Sorry my previous post made no sense , but you got the gist. The stress was self caused

I am with the OP. I think that the CAA should make it obliogatory to sit a child under 10 with an adult. This should be assigned on booking. Then if you don't like the seat arrangement then you pay to move. If you are a party of 4 so 2 adults and 2 kids then if 2 are in row 2 and 2 in row 24 that be it . Then if you don't like it pay.
Behind is NOT acceptable in a case of an emergency you could hinder the exit by ensuring that your child is safe .
Having said that I pay with the orange airline for my seats . WIth BA they normally pre allocate and I can see the seats more than 24 hrs ahead. Again if I don't like them I pay to switch.

You could have booked your seats for nothing when you checked in online. But you didn't.

Why is your cock up the airline's fault?

You sound a bit entitled tbh. You need to cough up and pay. Make sure you're family is organised ahead of time. Particularly on a budget airline. Why should you get preferential treatment over people who have paid. Yabu.

*your

You are categorically being told the stipulations, which the airline has to meet. You have deemed these stipulations as unacceptable. Yes, it's shit that we parents have to pay extra to guarantee a seat next to our child. But as parents, we do that for the comfort of our children.

Each airline has tons of flights every day. To look after children in the microscopic detail you are requiring would push prices up anyway. So to keep costs low, they are giving people a choice of whether or not to book to sit side by side.

I find may rules, regulations and stipulations in this world unacceptable, however, I have little choice but to abide by them. So really, you are going to have to put up or shut up like the rest of us, who pay for the privilege to sit next to our children.

I cannot believe that in such a long thread, you're still insisting your PoV is correct when so many others have contradicted you.

What happens if they change the rules to parent must be in a seat attached to the seat the under 3/5/7 year old is in, and you get a single parent traveling? As someone further up mentioned, traveling with 3 small kids, or me traveling (long haul) in a 2/2/2 configuration with 2 kids??? It's just not possible, which I assume is where the infront /behind/over the aisle comes from to account for the fact that not all groups fit a planes seating configuration.

Nappy sorry if you've clarified this already, but was your child immediately infront /behind you on the outbound flight, or rows and rows away???

Never fly with a cheap airline

Dessert - outward ( they claim this was a technical error) DA was in 24A & I was in 25D. They immediately accepted this was wrong BTW.

Dragon - therein lies the difference. I refuse to put up with this sort of crap. Especially when it's so obviously bonkers. Many just accept it!

Ouch to the outward seats. Glad something was done about that.

Over the aisle is a tricky one. And as mentioned, I have had a child over the aisle, with no option. Seats were assigned with the 4 year old separate. We didn't sit in the assigned seats, but swapped the 6 year old to be over the aisle, and me "between" them. Technically, I don't think we were supposed to move.