Online Check In - seats together with children

[madmare77]

I'm going on holiday next week. Thomson package holiday with DH, DS (12) and DD (9). Online check in opened today. Logged on at 6.30am and could not check in. I left it until after 9am and still not able to check in.
I called Thompson to query and was told they only allow 70% on people to check in online (God knows what time they got up to do this!).
I told the lady I was concerned as I had children (especially my 9 year old) could I pay to pre book seats and was told no. I'm concerned as it's a 4.5 hour flight and I don't want my kids sat next to any Tom, Dick or Harry.
Are there any airline industry people who can tell me if they will try to seat us together or are we screwed?
Thanks

People very rarely survive plane crashes.

Notsaid I will happily help your child put their mask on as per the instructions on the plane, after my own and my DDs if I'm flying with her. But I will not swap seats with you if I've paid. Sorry.

In an emergency, you probably won't be allowed out of your seat. So yes, you do need to pay to sit besides your child.

In an emergency, good fucking luck stopping me.

We're flying with Thomson next week, it was made very clear when we booked the holiday that we needed to pay for prebooked seats if we wanted to guarantee a seat next to our children which we did. If you're paying around £3000 for a holiday surely another few quid to ensure a seat next to your child isn't that much. We got to choose our exact seats )which i would not swap with someone who hadn't paid extra) and have been able to check in online already with no problems. I see this as part of the cost of the holiday, as others have said if you specifically want to sit next to anyone child or adult or want to sit in a specific place you need to pay for that otherwise you have to accept that you sit where you are put.

Notsaid the trade off is adults with medical conditions. If you split up my travel companion and I for your child, are you promising to deal with my seizures instead of my friend?

Not, do you not understand, not even now after countless people have pointed it out to you, that you won't be "trampling" anyone in an emergency - you'll be confined to your seat.

How will I be confined to my seat? Please explain how that would be accomplised?

Hint: it wouldn't. In an emergency cabin crew would be in their seats.

Shitty Thomson didn't even allow me to pay for seats last time. It's a flight with Flybe but with a Thomson transfer and hotel. Never again I will use them.

Some airlines allow free seats to be booked at purchase time. Other it is an add on. Judging from what I see on a Easter flight. Most don't pay. I have BA frequent flyer and we can pick free seats a week before flying. Barely any seats are taken, and I mean it's less than 10 in a long haul flight with very big plane. I suspect everyone log in 24 hours before flight to take their free seats.

If you split up my travel companion and I for your child, are you promising to deal with my seizures instead of my friend?

I'd be too busy with my childs seizures, but yes, I'd be ideal to help you. Plenty of practise. I imagine though that the rest of the plane would have enough people without seizure disorders to accomodate both of us though?

So what you are saying is that you would ignore all safety instructions then? You do know that violating airline safety regulations will likely result in you being arrested on landing. How nice for your child to see and all because you were too entitled to fork out.

I have no kids, I have no disabilities, but I book a certain seat on the plane wth my DH as I am an anxious flyer and it makes me feel comfortable. There is no way in gods earth that you'd be moving me just because you can't be arsed to pay the extra cost to guarantee a seat next to YOUR child. Your child, your responsibility.

I've just come back from a holiday with Thompson and they advised us from the very beginning to book seats if we wanted to be sure. It wasn't a huge cost, and given we were forking out over £1500 for a weeks holiday, it really wasn't a drop in the ocean.

This is a non issue; you should have booked. Hopefully they will switch you for someone else who hasn't paid on this occasion; or you're likely to still be fine as you arrive so early at the airport. I hope you do get seated together and remember to pay next time!

Walrus are you always this angry?! And I can assure you that if you tried to get over me to get to your kid then it wouldn't be the crew holding you down!! If you were that concerned about your child, you would have paid. Simple

Of course it is about cashing in; they are in a cutthroat business and are after any advantage/profit they can get. Everything about their operation is about 'cashing in'.

Oh FFS. Airlines are not a charity, they're a business! Do you complain that restaurants and clothes shops are all about cashing in?

You pay the bare minimum you get sat wherever. If you need to sit with your children you PAY to book seats. Just like everyone else who is paying to book seats for whatever reason is important to them.

I'm sure you would, not, but that isn't the point. The point is that I book a seat for a reason. As do lots of people. All you need is a plane with a few adults with such reasons and lots of parents with kids and there might not be anyone to move for you.

Nope, I'd not move from my pre-booked seat to accommodate you because you were too cheap. I pay to sit with my 8-year-old who has ASD and my 11-year-old. Not my problem if you didn't.

Those people saying they should auto be seated with their child because the child has a disability or SEN, you need to contact the relevant airlines welfare department to arrange your seating. When unpaid for seating is allocated it is fine systematically from back left to fill the empty seats, they have no wY of knowing about your child's needs.

So what you are saying is that you would ignore all safety instructions then? You do know that violating airline safety regulations will likely result in you being arrested on landing

Yes, I am clearly saying that in an emergency that involved my child needing to be given an oxygen mask or assistance, I would go to them rather than stay in my seat. I could not care less if that got me arrested, on the chance we survived. Wouldn't any parent? Something very wrong with you if you wouldn't.

Therefore it is patently ridiculous to suggest the crew would always be in their seats

I can't believe this needs spelling out, but if an emergency happened necessitating people to be in their seats and using oxygen masks, the crew woulg (can you guess?) go to their seats and use their own masks! They would not be shouting at me to leave my tiny child alone to deal with the emergency.

Are people really this stupid?

NotI in an emergency that required the oxygen masks you can only get up to 20 seconds air due to cabin pressure in a lot of situations, which is why they tell you to put yours on first before helping a child. Meaning the chances of you getting up and to the child to help them in the time are slim to none, especially as you won't have a mask on yourself. So you are making a completely moot point.

Alternatively you could have just paid to sit next to DC giving you both enough time to get those masks on.

You're seriously questioning if we are the stupid ones?!

I've just remembered why I really, really hate holidays! all this stress before the packing even starts...

Think we may stick to Cornwall this year. At least we'll all be seated together in our car in a 10-hr queue on the A30