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!

Mummy I had wrongly thought there was still priority boarding but on flying recently have noticed it's not available anymore. No idea why I personally didn't mind waiting and thought priority boarding was fair.

Sadly the woman in question my friend died almost 2 years ago now.

expat ah yes the old scrapping with someone on trains over a booked seat... Table or not... It can be even worse on packed trains eg to Bath on Friday night but I still ask them to move if I've booked!

I always ask them to move if I have booked. They huff and puff a bit but they then move. I do the same with bags on seats- ask them to move them and wait- they do eventually.

My aunt was a flight attendant as a career, way back from the 1960s. Oh, the tales she can tell.

There was one time when she was attending in first class. A famous actor got on and was huffy right away, 'I don't want to be disturbed by ANYONE! When I want something, I'll ring.' He got in the seat, put on his mask and headphones. A businesswoman got on. Tapped him. 'I said I didn't want ANYONE disturbing me!' he roared. 'You're in my fucking seat,' was her only response.

I have absolutely zero tolerance for people trying to nick booked seats on the train from me. I love it when these chancers deliberately start 'nesting' the table with bags and food in a bid to make the person whose seat they are occupying feel guilty at asking them to move. When they are told to shift their arse they roll their eyes, make a massive meal out of gathering their belongings and generally be utter twats. Christ it's free to book a seat and takes 2mins the lazy arses. Even had one women play the 'if you were a proper gentleman you would give up your seat' card. Have to confess I lost my cool a bit with that retort and flat out told her flat to fuck off if she things I am going to sit on my bag outside the bogs for the whole four our journey.

When you check in online you can see the seats that the airline will give you

If the seats aren't together you get a choice to pay extra and chose own seats

Most airlines will try and sit the same booking together but sometimes it just isn't possible

Personally I would always choose to pay extra in case they didn't sit me next to my child, especially as certain airlines are renowned for it. It's a situation I'd never want to be in so I would never risk it.

I think parents with kids should have the pre-booking fee included as a non-optional extra.