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Original poster

£100 to sit together?

379 replies

sunchild77 · 26/09/2016 18:04

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

OP posts:
reup · 26/09/2016 22:18

We went BA in Easter and didn't pay. We were sat 3 on one side of the aisle and one on the other.

m0therofdragons · 26/09/2016 22:24

I don't get the issue of being either side of the aisle - the aisles are bloody tiny even my short arms could reach a dc. Has no one been on a packed train where you've had to scatter your dc down the carriage? Last time mine argued over who sat with the stranger as she'd offered the haribo!

MercedesDR · 26/09/2016 22:36

Years ago when smoking was still allowed on flights, a mother and her asthmatic son were seated in the smoking section. (I was on the plane.)

The crew tried to move them, but could do nothing. The mum appealed to other passengers to swop seats but no one would.

The smokers kept on smoking all the way from Sydney to Singapore, saying it was their 'right' to do so.

I must say kids on planes brings out the worst in some passengers.

busyboysmum · 26/09/2016 22:39

We always fly monarch and they always seat us as a family without us paying extra. I'm really hoping all these rumours about them are false as they are my favourite airline.

Lemonlady22 · 26/09/2016 23:03

i booked online and paid for the option of sitting together, but it was only a week until the flight. When i went on the actual booking the seat page there where no seats together, so i had paid the extra but because it as so close to the time of going they were all allocated....my husband and i had to sit separately for 10 hour flight there and back....book your seats and do it soon! (i didnt get my money back either)

MaryPoppinsPenguins · 26/09/2016 23:13

I love the way people think passengers who don't book seats assume some stranger will look after their child... 😂

It won't happen! I wouldn't want some drugged up stranger with my child.... They'll be moved!! It's a given.

NowThatsClosureJen · 26/09/2016 23:15

I wish more people understood the difference between sat and seated.

MrsFezziwig · 26/09/2016 23:50

I mainly travel alone, and reading these threads does not make me want to change that! My friend & I were asked to change seats once to accommodate a family, which we agreed to do (as we hadn't paid to reserve our seats anyway). Ended up in better seats & the cabin crew threw in a couple of little bottles of champagne to thank us Smile

TroubleinDaFamily · 27/09/2016 00:00

Waiting to appear in the DM tomorrow as this feels like click bait.

RedSoloCup · 27/09/2016 00:07

We've booked for next year and didn't even contemplate NOT paying, just include it in the price of the flights, who needs stress about not getting to sit together. Not saying I agree but most airlines do it now....

TheFairyCaravan · 27/09/2016 00:08

It won't happen! I wouldn't want some drugged up stranger with my child.... They'll be moved!! It's a given.

Hmm No it's not. If there is no one willing to move what do you think the cabin crew are going to do? There is nothing in law to say that children have to be sat with an parent/carer. The CAA guidelines say they should be sat next to, which means across an aisle or in a couple of rows in front or behind, where possible.

ilovesooty · 27/09/2016 00:12

I agree with Fairy

ZenNudist · 27/09/2016 00:27

Not RTFT but I'm in favour of not paying. But then I'm willing to end up sat apart. As it stands dh & I have 2 DC so either one of us will be sat away or we will be split with a child each.

We and our friends booked flights around the same time. My friends paid so they got seats : wife & 2 dds with her dh behind. We didn't pay. Ended up sat next to her dh and me and our other Ds behind. I think it's a total swizz. Personally if the airline would be stupid enough to expect a 2yo to sit alone then they are messing up someone else's flight, not mine!!!! I don't think that would ever happen. It certainly hasn't to me.

I keep waiting for that flight where dh and I get peace and quiet and the DC get seated elsewhere! 😀

Doggity · 27/09/2016 02:38

MaryPoppins P There was a thread a few weeks ago where the OP was whinging that her 3 year old was in across the aisle from her. The guidelines are very clear. You will be seated near you child but it may not be as close as you'd like, no matter how young they are.

Also, you'd better hope you're not on a plane with lots of special assistance passengers like I was yesterday. Most airlines like their travellers with disabilities to be in specific seats and to have access to their carers. They won't even ask special assistance passengers to move.

You're going to Florida, chances are there will be lots of families who also need to be next to their kids. If you went on the plane and refused to move because you didn't book seats, they'd kick you off. My sister-in-law has worked for BA for years and they take no shit.

MidniteScribbler · 27/09/2016 03:23

Personally if the airline would be stupid enough to expect a 2yo to sit alone then they are messing up someone else's flight, not mine!!!!

It won't be messing up my flight. I'm more than capable of ignoring a whinging child, I spend my days dealing with them.

Of course, you don't know that the person your child sits next to is a safe person to have around your child unsupervised either, is that a risk you are willing to take? www.smh.com.au/world/30-minutes-of-hell-for-this-young-lady-unaccompanied-minor-allegedly-groped-on-flight-20160620-gpnrm0.html

Rosti1981 · 27/09/2016 06:55

I love the way so many people are buying into and vociferously supporting the paying extra thing - airlines must love you!

FWIW I'm perfectly capable of supervising my child across a small aeroplane aisle if it came to that, and of course I wouldn't expect someone else to look after them! Or to move.

I can't believe how into the idea of this paying extra thing some people are - lobbing words like "tight", "entitled" and "irresponsible" at those who don't! So long as I supervise my children on the flight, even if they are seated across a tiny aisle, I don't really see why it is such a massive worry for you if I don't choose to pay extra!

In the case of the OP I would pay extra as she's a nervous flier and wants DH there too.

Coconutty · 27/09/2016 07:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 27/09/2016 08:45

The only ones that are 'tight, entitled and irresponsible' are the ones who won't pay but expect people to move for them. By all means don't pay if you're not bothered where you sit but don't expect others to accommodate you if you want to sit with your kid.

It makes me laugh how no one ever answers the question of whether they would actually reimburse the poor sod they want to kick out of their seat. I'm presuming the silence means they wouldn't!

Andrewofgg · 27/09/2016 09:11

The smokers kept on smoking all the way from Sydney to Singapore, saying it was their 'right' to do so.

Which at the time it was.

Badbadbunny · 27/09/2016 09:12

On our return flight last month, there were so many families wanting to sit together that the plane was delayed by 30 minutes as the flight crew tried to move people around. Must have been 20-30 passengers who were wanting to change the seats they'd been allocated at check in, some from what looked to be extended families of maybe 5-10 people with children and grandparents. Quite a lot of arguing and "entitled" parents expecting others to move for them. Eventually the cabin crew got enough people to move so that each child was sat with an adult from the family in pairs, but the parents were winging throughout the flight that the entire family couldn't be sat together as they clearly wanted entire rows or blocks to sit together and weren't at all happy at being dispersed throughout the plane.

petitpois55 · 27/09/2016 09:23

You need to pay up if you want to guarentee that you are sitting next to your children.
If you can afford to go on holiday, then you just factor in this with the cost of your holiday expenditure.

I would not move to accomadate tight arses to wont pay to sit beside their own kids.

I fly a few times a year,, and have been asked to move a few times but i have always refused.
I usually say, yeah happy to move if you upgrade us to business- otherwise not a chance.Grin
Wouldn't bother me in the slightest being sat next to a child separated from their parents. I would ignore them without any compunction whatsoever Smile
I have (as do dh and dd) very expensive noise cancelling headphones and always listen to music when travelling. Also usually have a couple of drinks as well.
I think airlines should chuck these idiots off flights. Teach them a lesson..

SuperFlyHigh · 27/09/2016 11:09

when I've flown recently (Gran Canaria this time last year but not at school holiday time) and France past few years there has never been a fuss about this... (Easy Jet for all and I think a charter flight one leg of GC).

People tended to as far as I could see reserved or book their seats or the rule hadn't come in properly yet so families could sit together.

Maybe I was oblivious...!

Eurostar I travelled to Paris this spring by myself (met friends) no way I 'could' move as just 2 seats sat side by side.

LogicallyLost · 27/09/2016 11:55

petitpois55 completely with you.

PersianCatLady · 27/09/2016 12:06

Parents also have a moral responsibility to ensure they're seated with their children 🙄 There's always one......
Totally and utterly agree with this.

If I have paid for whatever reason (or no reason at all) to reserve my seat, I will not feel guilty because someone else because they are a parent thinks that they can not pay and then expect me to move.

Pay it and be guaranteed to sit together or don't, the choice is your's.

Babyroobs · 27/09/2016 12:10

We go away in a few weeks time and have paid about £40 to be seated together. £100 does seem excessive especially when holidays are so expensive already. We had a nightmare flight back from majorca quite a few years ago when we were last to check in due to my eldest ds catching a stmach bug from the hotel and vomiting the whole journey. My poorly ds who was about 10 was on his own next to strangers ( pukng next to strangers!!) .My the 4 yr old dd was a few rows behind me with strangers, my 6 yr old ds was very fortunate to be seated next to a lovely retired health Visitor who entertained him the whole journey back. No-one offered to swap, not even the people next to the poorly child. I honestly can't remember being offered the chance to book seats or maybe as it was our first foreign holiday we just assumed we would be seated together ( we were all seated together on the outward journey). Anyway since this nightmare flight we always book !!