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!

Pilp - yep I agree completely. They need to be more clear.

(oh, &also change their policy!)

A little kindness in life goes a long way

You're absolutely right ... so I assume you made a gesture to the people who moved for you, such as offering them the "seat fee" they'd paid, buying them a bottle of something nice from the duty free trolley or whatever?

After all, that would have been kind too

You mean in between my tears and total devastation at losing my father, I should have started offering money or gifts in addition to the $10,000 we had paid for tickets? Wow.

I got asked to move on a flight to Latvia a few weeks ago because of the same situation.
I hardly ever pay for seats and don't normally care where I sit. However this time I paid because I was with my friend and it was her first flight and she was terrified. Dad was kicking off. I said I would move as long as my friend moved and we could still sit together and have our money back. After all if We don't get our money I may was well put my money down the nearest drain. For some reason that wasn't possible and family had to look elsewhere.
If I hadn't have paid I would have moved provided it wasn't next to the toilets or something.

No pilpilloni, I didn't suggest that at all - if you look back, you'll see that the quote I used was OP's

Ah sorry puzzled, thought It was directed at me

But still don't think op should be forking not out money when EJ states that they would be seated together. Her post is about their policy.

No probs

Purple - BA don't always do this - they attempt it but don't guarantee it. OP I think you should have paid the money. That said BA wanted to charge me 95 quid per person for our flight each way! That's nearly a grand just to allocate seats. I didn't pay it.

I think there is some confusion between the meaning of WITH and NEXT TO. The airline cannot ensure you sit NEXT TO your child because of seating configurations. And because those, who paid to sit next to eachother will take priority. That's business. WITH is a loose term and is therefore defined as not having another passenger between 2 people even if this is not clear to you nappy. The airline will therefore satisfy this obligation by allocating one infront/behind or directly across the aisle. I don't agree with what you said recently and I find to quote you "End of". Wow just wow. . If you're not happy about this, I suggest you write and complain. You sound as entitled as the woman on a current thread, who wants to stay in her rental for an extra couple of weeks when she's been given 4 months notice.

Recent budget flight. Entitled parents demanding people be moved so their whole family could sit together. Crew asked for volunteers, none forthcoming.

Father kicks off. Is told they will be back on the tarmac if they don't take their allocated seats.

That's the way to handle it. Sit down, shut up or fuck off.

MoreCoffee. Sit down, shut up or fuck off. Well fucking said.

Yes total - same here, although thankfully not quite as much as you were faced with! Especially as I did end up paying it.

I really don't want people to come away with the idea that BA somehow ALWAYS seats parents and children in the same row, because they DON'T - not since last year IME.

As a non-native English speaker I would have never imagined that sitting WITH (in fact EJ uses 'sitting TOGETHER') does not mean sitting NEXT TO, especially if you are talking about a child. Anyone traveling with a young child should sit NEXT to them, it is not bloody entitlement, it is common sense and safety.

Unfortunately I learnt this a while ago when traveling with my then 2 yo and was seated in the row behind. The couple sitting next to me kindly offered to swap, I didn’t ask them. I paid for their drinks but they almost felt uncomfortable about it.

EasyJet should be more transparent about this. OP, YANBU

Going by the many past posts about "should I chance it?", it probably wouldn't matter if airlines used marching bands to deliver explanations written in blood on parchment - still some would find a reason to blame everyone else for their own choices

And I wonder if those who stand around demanding different seating realize that airlines generally don't pay staff until the doors close ...?

Oh ffs, surely anyone who travels on budget flights now knows that if you want to sit together YOU PAY. They bloody ask you numerous times when you are on the website (please add this/that/the other) before you can check out.
In extreme circumstances, like the lady whose father died, I would move (but only if I knew the story). For all the other numpties who just thought they'd try their luck and then find they are not together YOUR FAULT, you take the consequences. I will not move from my pre-paid seats.
Grrrrrr!!

YABU

It's not great that you have to pay, but that's the way it is.

So be like the rest of us, and do as the poster put it, pay up, sit down, and shut up.

You left it to chance. That is YOUR fault for not checking. A quick Google would have come up with one of the many threads about this.

We were in Business Class. I took the risk that no one in BC would want to be sat next to any of my under 10's alone. I was right, they didn't. If it had been a reasonable amount though I.e. Five quid I would have paid it. And I would definitely pay in economy as I think you have less chance of getting people to move.

I'm seeing a trend in your replies, OP, you only seem to be chatting up those who agree with you.

Personally, I'd be pissed off if I'd paid for a seat and had to move for someone who hadn't paid extra. You were sitting next to your child - the aisle is hardly the Grand Canyon!

Oh yes, total - I agree. If it was a matter of a few quid, even £10 per person, I'd have paid it without quibbling (might have had a tiny moan to myself) - but nearly £40 per person was taking the piss (cattle class of course)

Bizarre isn't it. Someone comes on and asks for an opinion and when they get a general consensus which is overwhelmingly against their original position they just dig their heels in further and further and refuse to accept that they are in the wrong whatsoever. You can just imagine such a person holding up your flight can't you.....

We were in Business Class. I took the risk that no one in BC would want to be sat next to any of my under 10's alone. I was right, they didn't.

Well how charming is that? Using your children as a threat.

"why I should have the base fare raised to accommodate someone sitting next to their child without charge"

Except that it doesn't cost anything to seat children with parents and then randomly allocate everyone else.

How is have aisle between you bonkers and unsafe?

Personally I think they should charge by weight. After all, costs are driven by fuel which is driven by weight.

My 2 year old weighs perhaps a tenth of an overweight man. Why I should I have to pay almost full fare for her ticket (25% reduction at best) and then fork out to sit next to her when said overweight man actually pushes the cost up far more!

We should all be weighed at check in together with our luggage and pay accordingly. Much fairer. After all, they're not running a charity and I don't see why I should have to subsidize others.

Exactly CoteDAzur - that's what I still do not get. People have somehow accepted that 'sitting together/next to' someone costs the company something and it is an 'extra', when it is not.
If you want to choose your seat, ie extra leg room/not at the end of the plane/next to the toilets/etc then you pay