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!

"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."

I have been saying this for years.

I'm 60 kg and airline wants to charge me extra for going 2kg over the allowed 20 kg. The man after me in the queue is clearly over 100 kg and nobody bats an eyelid

Omg nappyrat you are not getting it are you? You were sat next to your child! Just because you don't class across or in front as next to, does not make them wrong!
Goodluck with other airlines too, as this is the same with all of them

Love it!

"70 kilos of Birmingham to Bilbao please"

"yes madam, coming right up!"

Mmmm think that's a tad unenforceable: by weight. It's the seat space, which is the biggest cost factor. The airline averages out weight. If you were happy to accept 4 seats squashed into a 3 seat space (if allowed), you'd have more of a point.

jelly yes

"It's the seat space, which is the biggest cost factor."

No, biggest cost factor is jet fuel. And how much you spend of that depends on how much weight you haul up and fly:

Of course weight/passenger averages out to more or less the same over each flight. With people like me paying extra to fly the overweight passengers.

Oh but heavens forbid if my bag is 1 kg over the allowed limit!

DesolateWaist i wouldn't care if i was sat next to someone's child. I'd help with their seatbelt and that would be it.
Any crying, help with food i'd be calling the steward ( that is if i could even hear them through my headphones whilst watching my crime shows )

Ok im not going to right fight Cote. I disagree,

I'm not fighting and you can't disagree with reality.

Seat space is not a cost item. It is a factor in revenues, not costs. The single largest cost item in any flight is jet fuel. See here and here.

The single largest cost item in any flight airline, even.

The only way to do it is to make it a condition of booking that any child, (under 12 /paying child fare), has to sit next to an adult unless registered as unaccompanied minor, and factor that into the cost of the child fare.

If there are no available blocks of seating for the group, rather than accept the booking and know full well that there will be others who will be forced to move, the airline should simply say that there are no seats available on that flight for this party. It isn't difficult.

'If there are no available blocks of seating for the group, rather than accept the booking and know full well that there will be others who will be forced to move, the airline should simply say that there are no seats available on that flight for this party. It isn't difficult.'

It's your own responsibility to get seats together if that is what you want. If you don't see that availability then you find another flight. The airline's job is to fill the plane as much as possible, not cater to everyone's group seating preferences. People aren't forced to move, the seat bearer either takes his or her assigned seat(s) or they get off if no one will move to accommodate the desires of others.

Cote yes obviously the accountants crunch theit numbers to do the costings. I'm looking at the cost price of a seat. That's why I used cost not revenue.

Mummy - "Costings"? "Cost price of a seat"? Is that even English?

Accountants are not the only people who can see and understand that the single largest cost item of any airline is jet fuel. Anyone with even a passing interest in airline industry should (and indeed does) know that basic fact.

You are verifiably wrong when you claim that "seat space is the biggest cost factor" - (1) 'seat space' is not a cost item, and (2) the biggest cost item for airlines is fuel. I can link to more sources if you are still not clear that this is so.

That is why we are correct in saying that slim passengers are subsidising the overweight ones.

YABU, you were sat with your child. I'm going abroad next year as a solo traveller and I will only move if I get a similar seat, eg a window seat if I'm sat in one or an upgrade, although I would move for the poster whose father died if I knew the story.

Someone up thread suggested sitting children with parents, and then randomly allocating everyone else.

That wouldn't work because a lot of adults don't qualify as 'needing a carer' (hopefully they would be allocated seats same as children) but nevertheless require support during a flight.

I guess these people are willing to pay extra because it is that important they are sat next to each other.

So we're basically back to the current system!

It would work just fine. There are very very VERY few adults who need carers. And if they do, they can no doubt mention it at booking.

You allocate seats for children + 1 parent. (And the very rare adult who might need a carer, since we are apparently to talk about every eventuality) Then you randomly allocate seats for everyone else. It doesn't cost the airline anything to do this - it is just one line in the seat allocation algorithm. It is a great con that they have made people believe that this is a privilege one needs to pay for.

As I said, I am not talking about the 'rare adult who needs a carer'.

I'm talking about the mum with PND who might struggle without her husbands support during the flight.

I'm talking about the family with 3 children who would like to sit together so they don't have to lug the child to the toilet every time they need to go.

I'm talking about the anxious flyer who needs a familiar hand to hold.

I'm talking about the person with hyperhydrosis who would rather not be squished up against a stranger and sweating all over them.

I'm talking about the person with a bowel issue who needs an aisle seat so as not to keep disturbing the person next to them.

I'm talking about someone who, God forbid, might just want to relax on their way to holiday, and chat to someone they know rather than a complete stranger.

I don't give a shit if it doesn't cost the airline anything to administer. It wouldn't necessarily work if everyone could book their seats, because people would choose not to fill the random seats around the plane, but take a different flight. And asking for documentation wouldn't work because what about all the people I mentioned above?

By charging, they ensure the last people on the plane get a 'bargain' and save some money, and those that really want to sit together can.

I think you know that what we are talking about when we say small children need an adult with them on the plane that it is not about an adult just feeling better when they have a hand to hold or those who want to sit with a friend.

Want and need are two different things.

"I don't give a shit if it doesn't cost the airline anything to administer. It wouldn't necessarily work if everyone could book their seats, because people would choose not to fill the random seats around the plane, but take a different flight"

Yeah, right. That totally happens

CoteDAzur not every person with a disability would fall under the category as needing a carer.
I have a disability and need my dh with me ( plus i'm extremely nervous flier/person) but i'm not classed as needing a carer.

I think there are more people with carers than you think. It's certainly not very very rare. There are 3 within my family.

Remembering everyone with middle rate dla or pip could have a someone receiving carers allowance to care for them.

So if a child MUST sit NEXT TO (not one seat away, not one aisle away, not one row away) an adult what happens with the single mum with 3 or 4 kids on a 3/3/3 plane? Or the mum and dad with 4 kids on a 2/3/2 plane? Do they just get told they can't fly? Can they only book long haul flights for the 3/5/3 seats?

If airline make all seats a base price, and all families can select seats for free, who do you think will stump up the cost of the empty seats? Do you think the airlines will suck it up, or pass the cost onto every passenger...probably putting up the pieces by, ohh, maybe the cost of selected seating

Sit down, shut up or fuck off.
This x 1000