£100 to sit together?

[sunchild77]

Kids first family holiday abroad... BA want £100 to sit us all together.. Kids first flight they are 4, 9 and 11yrs plus us mum and dad.
Would the airline really sit us all separately? Is paying out really a big waste of money?
Plus Im terrified of flying as it is... I need DH nearby!!
Thoughts please? thanks x

[stopfuckingshoutingatme]

with BA, check in exactly 24 hours ahead of check in (or whatever the stipulation is)- if you do it on time it will be fine- I pay with Ryanair etc as if you don't you are fucked, but with BA you just make sure you are the first to do online check in.

[amusedbush]

£100 for a family of five is good - DH and I have just had to pay £80 each to choose seats on a return flight to New York next year.

[YoungGirlGrowingOld]

Please RTFT. I don't need extra room. I did not complain nor did I inconvenience anyone or expect anyone to move for me.

If a tall passenger can't afford business class then he just has to suck it up like the rest of us. Not ask a heavily pregnant woman not to recline at 3am on a red eye (even though he himself is reclining and so is his wife) and then start mouthing off/swearing at me and the crew because - amazingly - they told him I had exactly the same right to recline as every other passenger.

MN can be incredibly hostile to pregnant women sometimes - even when it flies in the face of logic!

[PigletWasPoohsFriend]

*However if you want

[PigletWasPoohsFriend]

We all draw the line differently of course. Personally I think a 6'4'' bloke should probably book extra legroom or fly business rather than try to intimidate a heavily pregnant woman traveling alone

Sorry I didn't realise everyone over a certain height automatically has the means to go business class.

If you want extra room you book it rather than expecting everyone else to.

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

Personally I think a 6'4'' bloke should probably book extra legroom or fly business rather than try to intimidate a heavily pregnant woman traveling alone.

Perhaps he couldn't afford to fly business?

[BummyMummy77]

Agree with young. I've been on many red eyes and as soon as the meal is taken away everyone throws their chair back, light go off and it's sleep time.

To not let someone recline on a night flight is cruel and ridiculous. Never mind being pregnant.

It's not 'personal opinion' as some on here are saying.

[YoungGirlGrowingOld]

I don't need additional room, Midnite. I wasn't the one complaining. I just think that at 3am, with the cabin in darkness and everyone reclined, including the bloke in front of me (which is fine btw), and the people either side, and him and his wife, then a woman who happens to be 7 months pregnant should not be the one person who is prevented from reclining because a very tall person happens to be behind her. He was also very shouty and rude about it.

I do wonder how many of the people commenting on here have flown long haul economy when most of the people on the flight are going straight to the office. I do so regularly and have never seen or been involved in an altercation like this. Once meal service is finished, everyone reclines and attempts to sleep - it's dark and quiet in the cabin. Crew wakes everyone up with brekkie about 1 hour before landing. Completely normal ime.

[EmilySunshine]

did you explain to BA that you have a legitimate need to have someone with you? your issue is very common so i'm sure they would understand

[MidniteScribbler]

Personally I think a 6'4'' bloke should probably book extra legroom or fly business rather than try to intimidate a heavily pregnant woman traveling alone.

Surely that goes both ways? If you are so pregnant that you need additional room, then you should be booking the extra space seats?

[Blondeshavemorefun]

£10 each way per person isn't that bad but Obv bumps up cost

Yes you could be sat together or you may not. Depends if you want to risk it

You could try checking in online and see what seats they give you ? If not together then pay

[LogicallyLost]

Maybe I just look decrepit/ancient!

lol :). would have thought if a person is able bodied it would be rude not to offer.

[YoungGirlGrowingOld]

I wouldn't expect you not to Andrew and the guy in front of me had no qualms either. Which meant that I couldn't get those precious 4 inches back by reclining my own seat with Twatto and Mrs Twatto behind me. (I offered to swap seats with Mrs Twatto as she was so shriekingly adamant that I didn't need to recline in front of her husband - amazingly she said no! actually told me to fuck off They were really very unpleasant people indeed).

We all draw the line differently of course. Personally I think a 6'4'' bloke should probably book extra legroom or fly business rather than try to intimidate a heavily pregnant woman traveling alone. And I have never ever expected a seat on the tube or bus just because of being pregnant (although ime people wanting to give up their seats are very insistent! Maybe I just look decrepit/ancient!)

The only point I was trying to make was that flying can and does bring out the worst in people. Sorry for derailing the thread.

[Andrewofgg]

I wouldn't recline at a pregnant woman, but if I had booked and paid for the extra legroom I would not swap for her or anyone else. We all draw the line differently.

[LogicallyLost]

Though i will add you may have a point about the reclined partner

[LogicallyLost]

Young point was airplanes really bring out the worst in us. The man (and his partner) probably thought you were being unreasonable, likewise you and the crew thought he was. Have no idea who's right to be honest.

[wasonthelist]

You can't recline on Ryanair. One 11 hour flight to LA on Lufthansa the bloke behind and his entire family stopped me from reclining my seat for reasons I still don't get as they didn't speak English (or German). This was after I had helped them stow their considerable amounts of luggage overhead because I am tall and they weren't - go figure.

O/T someone was selling a device you jam into airline seats to prevent the person in front reclining theirs.

Further O/T - seat pitch has been getting steadily more mean since I started flying in the 1980s and Ryanair aren't even the worst offenders.

[SuperFlyHigh]

Young I actually didn't see it was an overnight flight and when coupled with 11 hours he was being selfish.

Oh and yes I know reclining unnecessary on short haul.

I assumed you had been on a short haul cheapo flight. Me bad you weren't!

[YoungGirlGrowingOld]

FAOD it was an 11 hour flight overnight. Everyone reclines and they switch the lights off. I fly that route once a month, sometimes more, and go straight to the office on landing. I had a laptop, files and a briefcase stashed in the overhead locker - this is a premium airline, not a "weigh your hand luggage" Ryanair type cheapo outfit.

Reclining is largely unnecessary on short haul in which case fellow passenger might have had a point. In these circumstances, he obviously didn't - and the cabin crew were very, very clear on that. (The most annoying part was his non-pregnant wife/gf castigating me for trying to get comfy with my giant bump whilst in full recline herself!)

[SuperFlyHigh]

Young and Logically i generally find on short haul Easy Jet etc flights the flight recline is not really needed and not many tend to do it...

on a BA flight where they generally give more leg room or a long haul eg to USA then recline away...

YoungGirl - also how can you have loads of heavy hand luggage when you're allowed 1 or 2 (forget if Ryan Air allow an extra bag now) hand luggage bags only??!!

[LogicallyLost]

thought even

[LogicallyLost]

People can be real assholes when flying though.

I'm sure the tall person behind you though likewise...just saying.

[YoungGirlGrowingOld]

If it's like for like I don't mind, but I have also been a refusenik when it's just a "convenience" move and the other seat is further from the exit door and I will be in a hurry at the other end. Also where I had loads of really heavy hand luggage and all the bins were full and I already had my eye mask and blanket on. I always choose my seat in advance and fly very frequently so I don't get the whole "I MUST sit with X" thing - although young kids I agree should be close to parents.

People can be real assholes when flying though. I am 29 weeks pregnant and flew economy overnight last week. The entire plane reclined after the meal service but the guy behind me took exception to me reclining because he was "too tall". I said I was too pregnant not to. He demanded to be moved. Cabin crew politely told him to pipe down but he kicked my seat religiously for the rest of the flight. Twat.

[Badbadbunny]

I see it as swapping one crappy seat for another to make someone else happy. I don't see why I would object.

Indeed if it's like for like, i.e. aisle seat for aisle or window for window, but often it's completely different, i.e. someone booking specifically an aisle seat (for whatever reason they may have) but being asked to sit in a centre or window seat.

In our case, we were a party of 4 and booked months ahead to get on the same row with extra legroom, but the cabin crew wanted to split us up and put us is seats with less legroom so a different group could sit together. No way was that going to happen!

Funny how the young girl stewardess tried for a long time to try to get people moved, with no common sense at all, until the senior more mature woman came along and had it all sorted within a couple of minutes by applying common sense and asking 2 couples to move to comparable seats.

It's like a logic puzzle, some people can see how to solve it quickly and simply, yet others can't.

[chilipepper20]

Unless I paid for a seat with extra legroom or happen to have gotten one by luck (I am very tall, and it sucks having my knees rammed against the seat in front of me), I'd happily move if alone. I understand people who are disabled not wanting to move, but I imagine in a plane full of people there will be a lot of people who aren't disabled.

I see it as swapping one crappy seat for another to make someone else happy. I don't see why I would object.