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!

[wasonthelist]

I am in both groups here. Fly often with Ryanair alone for work. Don't give a stuff where I sit and could move to let parents and DCs sit together. Once a year take DD who is now 8 on hols. I pay to reserve two seats next to each other, job done. Surely it's worth it? For the PP saying we should go back to the old days of expensive flights - no thanks.

[ilovesooty]

I don't see anything wrong with budget airlines charging to book a child seat next to an adult. It keeps the basic fare down for those who have no need of any extras.

[LiveLifeWithPassion]

Thanks Olenna. I just think it's ridiculous and causes unnecessary angst and stress to not allocate seats.
It wastes a lot of time too when they need to find people generous enough to move.

[honkinghaddock]

If you want to make sure you sit in adjacent seats, you pay. There are other people besides young children who need to sit with a parent or carer and they have to pay.

[mumsnit]

Totally agree it's a safety issue not to seat parents next to young children. I thought this had been taken up by Martin Lewis's website who reported on a child who'd been seated away from parents on a long haul flight? Otherwise it's surely just a stealth tax on parents to have to pay more to guarantee seats next to their children

[Vvlgari]

For god's sake. exLtEveDallas has pretty much nailed this one. If you want cheap air travel, you have to accept that in the financial climate of the last few years, you will now have to pay for the things you might have got for nothing previously.

One of those things is paying for allocated seats. Yes, It's annoying, but things change and bleating that it's not fair and EasyJet should have sat you together despite the fact that every other passenger has to pay for allocated seating and kicking off online about it doesn't change that.

There are multiple threads from entitled parents on here every summer bitching about how they chose not to book seats because they disapproved of/refused to pay to sit together, and then bleating because the airline wouldn't accommodate them, or other passengers wouldn't move so they could all sit together for the whole three hours to Malaga.

If you don't like it, have a holiday in the UK instead.

[CafeCremeEtCroissant]

The airline says it will seat children with adults if on the same booking. The airline has admitted there was an error. I don't see what more needs to be said or done.

Op - next time check in, online, as soon as you book. Then you can see what seats you have been allocated. If they aren't suitable, ring up their customer services. They are actually really, really good. For various reasons I'm not allowed to sit in the emergency res, but unless you pay to choose your seat there's no way to exclude yourself from those seats, so to avoid any embarrassment & inconvenience on the flight I phone up to check if they are emergency seats or not (I've learnt not to trust the screen images) & they've been brilliant & sorting it out.

[wasonthelist]

Actually in the "good old days" before you had to pay for emergency exit row seats I used to ask nicely at checkin as I am very tall. Had about a 20% success rate - often on flights where shorties had got them for who knows what reason. Now at least I can ( and do) pay for more room on longer flights.

[PaulAnkaTheDog]

Everyone knows on budget airlines you need to book your seats and not rely on them to seat you together. You'd need to be living on Mars to miss all the articles, threads on here etc about it. Yabu. The option to book seats is clearly there for a reason.

[WhisperingLoudly]

Sitting parents and children apart has an impact on the safety of all passengers onboard. I'm amazed it's permitted.

[jayho]

I'm the budget flying/non seat booking arse Ryan Air is seeking to catch out. My children are 7 and 12, we always travel alone as I am a single parent. I know the airline is obliged to sit us together for safety reasons so never book and board last.

Some airlines - Easy Jet and Jet2 in my experience, spot this in advance and have either saved us seats or know who to move to accommodate. Others do the last minute thing of trying to move peeps and it causes a scene. However, children under 16 must be sat with an adult be that across the aisle etc as previously identified.

Personally, I don't have a problem with my behaviour as I don't see why I should pay up to £75 per flight for seating I am legally obliged to occupy. I don't care where I am on the flight, I can't have the extra legroom or front seats because I'm travelling with children so there is no advantage to me in booking.

If we were two adults travelling with children there would be advantage to booking as the airline only has to seat one adult with two traveling children so my partner if I had one could be separated from us.

However, most of our travel is short haul european so I'd still question the benefit.

I think (but have not investigated) that Ryan Air may be challenged on charging for something they are legally obliged to supply.

[nappyrat]

Tempos please go away - I have no desire to read that kinda language! Unnecessary!

[ilovesooty]

My recent Ryanair return flight was delayed by a cheapske family who wanted to sit with their children but hadn't paid to book and spent ages trying to get people who'd already paid for their seat to move.

[exLtEveDallas]

Tempus, I feel for you. Well done you for facing your fears though - It was very brave of you.

[Mistletoekids]

Pre book

[jayho]

tempus been there including sobbing into the shoulder of a sympathetic steward for the duration of a flight to Berlin...

What worked for me was telling a steward on boarding that I was a poor flyer. They're used to it and are great.

FWIW I just suddenly got over it, no idea why, the fear arrived, stayed 15 years, then it went. Persevere, the benefits of going places are immense

[TempusEedjit]

nappy your kind of behaviour has consequences for other people which are equally unnecessary. Having given flying another go I've realised it's still not for me but show some consideration for others who have no choice.

[AllPizzasGreatAndSmall]

Clearly you should just have left your kid screaming and crying and maybe running about, kicking seats and stuff

Why on earth would a 3yo be running about, kicking seats and stuff?

[Vvlgari]

I was on a flight from London to Edinburgh earlier this year which was delayed by a family trying to oust other passengers so they could sit together because they hadn't booked. It was a whole one hour flight. Seriously, get a grip and fucking pay if it's THAT important to you.

[CodyKing]

Are they together?

[DelicatePreciousThing1]

Pay the money and then you will not have a problem. End of.

[TempusEedjit]

Thanks eve and jayho. My flight home is on Monday and I've been sick several times already. The thought of being delayed unnecessarily really hit a nerve

[zoemaguire]

ExLt you think sitting next to your toddler is an 'extra' along the same lines as extra legroom and free drinks?!! So actually, you really would be happy to have to pay extra for a seatbelt and an oxygen mask? Because a toddler away from a parent is on a par with those things - it is ludicrous to compare it to whether you get a free g&t No wonder airlines get away with shit like this, with so many people prepared to see a basic safety issue as about 'entitled' (god I hate that word) parenting.

[nappyrat]

Cody!!