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!

[exLtEveDallas]

Easyjet doesn't say anywhere that parents and children will always be sat together free of charge. That's bollocks.

People on these threads seem to forget that air travel has come down in price.

Yes. You didn't used to have to pay to guarantee to sit with your family. But back then planes hardly ever flew full - there was almost always the ability to switch people around because there were spare seats to put people into.

That's not the case now. These days it is very rare to find empty seats, especially on short haul flights.

Airline tickets have gone down 50% in the last 30 years. So if you want 'extras' - like seated together, or extra legroom, or an onboard meal you pay extra for it

[nappyrat]

Yggo - no, that is not my expectation. I expect the airline to stick to what it states & sit us together. They should absolutely not rely on the kindness of other passengers to move because their technology has gone wrong (see orig post outward leg£

[Rockelburger]

If you don't pay to choose seat the computer just puts you wherever. It doesn't compare ages of travellers in same calculation

[nappyrat]

Dallas - you've not been through their website obviously! I did - see earlier paste job.

[mamanestfolle]

I personally think it is utterly ridiculous the airline would make a 3 year old sit separately from their parents! And I do not think you should have to pay for sitting next to your child. So yanbu but I seem to represent a minority...

[icelollycraving]

You want a definite seat, you pay for the privilege. I wouldn't be moving to accommodate someone who hadn't had the sense to book. How can you have missed the many many threads in this?!

[nappyrat]

The op expected the airline to meet their advertisement of seating her child with her. How very fucking dare she expect a company to provide what they offered.

^^ this!! This is exactly how i feel! how very f-ing dare I expect them to do what they said at booking!!

[youarenotkiddingme]

Stop missing them point. Even if the seats were ore liked to be together they could have still ended up across the aisle.

[Coughingchildren5]

Sitting next to a young child is not an extra, it is necessary. Like going to the toilet and breathing when trapped in a space with no options eg. An airplane.

I suspect those who are arguing for the air line have never enjoyed the amazing privilege (snort) of flight with a young child.

[Stellabystarlight]

Ryanair addressed this very issue recently by making it mandatory to book at least one adult seat beside a child.
www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/28/ryanair-adults-with-young-children-pay-seat-allocation?0p19G=c

Thank goodness. Nothing worse than watching your plane miss its slot because the crew are having to deal with those who chose not to pay trying to insist they are more entitled to a seat than those who did.

While I agree it is a terrible idea not to be sat next to your under 5, the CAA rules are quite clear about what legally constitutes 'next to' so until that changes, you cannot blame the airlines for following the law.

If I'm just with DH, we take the gamble, usually end up together. Not a risk I'm willing to take with the 4 year old so I cough up.

Like so many others have said, this is the price we pay for affordable to the masses air travel. If you want those fares you just need to read the small print and play by the rules.

[SmilingButClueless]

YANBU

Don't care if across the aisle is technically "next to" a parent. From a purely selfish POV I don't want to be sitting next to someone's 3-year-old whose adult is across the aisle. The child cannot be expected to look after themselves and I don't want to have to engage with them - I'm a nervous flyer and NEED to at least pretend to be in my own little bubble.

Different for children who can be expected to be more self-contained. Then across the aisle could be considered "next to". But I'd expect under 8s, really, to be seated 'properly' next to their adult.

[LiveLifeWithPassion]

I don't understand why they don't allocate seats when you purchase them.
I flew long haul with BA this summer and I was seated with my kids and I didn't have to book my seats.

[Abloodybigholeintheground]

You can complain when you pay to book seats with your kids and you don't get them because an injured woman's insurance company has paid for an entire row for her and it cocks the seating up. But I wouldn't even recommend it then because you'll find it more trouble than it's worth.
But to complain when you didn't pay extra for seats right next to each other-YABU

[exLtEveDallas]

I read on from your C&P OP:

If you haven’t purchased seats for your group then the best chance of sitting together is to check in as early as possible. Our seating system will always try to group you together and there are usually plenty of seats available, but seats are allocated on a first come first served basis so the earlier you check in the more likely you are to sit together.

And the CAA guidelines read the same - should/could/should try to/not more than one aisle away /not more than one seat row away...

Yes. It is imperative that I sit right next to my child when I fly. So I pay for seats next to each other in the same row. I don't expect the airline or other passengers to care about my child the way I do.

[Funnyfive]

Now this worries me, I am flying transatlantic next month and I assumed we would be able to book seats for free in advance like we did a couple of years ago. I looked today and the airline charges £25 per seat to book, 2 flights there and then back is an extra £400 for our trip but they say they will seat a parent with children 11 and under, I'm not so worried across the aisle but 2 seats ahead or behind will be a problem!

I think it should be a basic requirement that kids sit with their parents, this 'charge for everything and anything extra' is ridiculous. It makes you think the bad old days of booking a flight for one price, and paying that one price, weren't so bad after all. Now we have a situation of a flight costing a hell of a lot more than you initially thought due to these 'extras'.

[HunterHearstHelmsley]

We want to make travelling with children easier, and to support this we will promise that:
If you’re travelling with children under 5, we’ll board you early;
You can bring two items for free including a push chair, buggy or car seat;
You can choose your seats in advance to ensure you sit together;
We have kids snack packs onboard, with games to keep kids entertained;
We support breastfeeding mothers and you can feed your baby on board at any time

So you still need to check in early to sort the seats out..

[Mycatsabastard]

I'd love to see the reactions if you were the adult sat next to a 3 year old who had not been sat next to his/her parent and were consequently left to deal with said child by default for the entire flight.

Op yanbu. The amount of moaning I see on here about kids on flights and yet here we are, you are unreasonable for expecting to be sat next to your toddler.

Clearly you should just have left your kid screaming and crying and maybe running about, kicking seats and stuff ... because you were clearly not in charge if you aren't sat next to him!

[LiveLifeWithPassion]

Is it really an expensive process to allocate seats?? Lots of airlines allocate seats before you fly out. Lots allocate on purchasing a ticket.
Why can't they all do it?

[OlennasWimple]

FunnyFive - it's not two rows away, it's the two seats in front or behind the DC's seat (ie one row away). At least if you are behind them you can tell them not to recline into your lap

[HunterHearstHelmsley]

People aren't going to be looking after any child by default. That's a very silly thing to say. I'm a nervous flier, I would not be able to look after anyone!

[exLtEveDallas]

It's been done to death on these threads - but it's worth saying again.

All flights should be X price. Within that price you get selected seating, tea and coffee, hold baggage, etc etc.

Don't want a drink? Take £ off the price.
Don't want hold baggage? Take ££ off the price.
Don't care about sitting next to your child? Take £££ off the price.

If you take the discounts - don't complain and don't try to get it for free.

If you don't take the discounts, smile and get what you wanted.

[Andthen]

Why on earth should people with young children pay extra to sit together? I agree with a pp who said that its a safety issue. A 3 year old needs their responsible adult there in case of emergency. It's totally different to adults paying to sit together- that's a choice. To sit next to a 3 year old is a necessity.

I'm with the op. I wouldn't have expected to have been seated across the aisle. It was dealt with appropriately on board however so I wouldn't complain.

[OlennasWimple]

Life - because they all have slightly different operating / pricing / business models. Some sell themselves on their convenience and will allow you to choose a seat "free of charge" at booking or check in (but tend to have overall prices). Some sell themselves on their low costs, and offer the option of choosing a seat for a fee (which they know many people will do, so they keep their headline low fares but get more income). Some pretend to be your best friend but charge you £40 to choose your seat before check in opens (looking at you, Virgin Atlantic )

[AssembleTheMinions]

My understanding is that a technical issue meant that you were separated from your child. The cabin crew sorted it and and you did sit with your child.

On the return flight, you were still sitting with your child but across the aisle. You were within touching distance.

Had you wanted to sit in adjacent seats than you had two options, a) pay the small charge and choose the exact seat you wanted, or b) check in online bang on the 30 day mark and you would have been very likely to have been allocated seats together.

Coughing I wouldn't go encouraging the op to splatter the FB pages with her non complaint. It will be pointed out within seconds that seats across the aisle are considered sitting together on an aircraft.

Op, you do not have any reason to complain. They sat you together both ways. As they said they would.

[Hulababy]

Seated together can new. Next to one another, across the aisle and even on the seat in front or behind.

If you want to guarantee you are actually on seats directly next to one another with no aisle etc then you need to pay to book and select your seats.