Aibu re booking sets on the plane

[Yeaididthat]

We (2 adults and 3 kids) are due to travel with jet2 for the first time for a family holiday in just over 3 weeks. When I tried to reserve seating this morning it appears as though all seat except exit seats are already booked, and these can only be booked by 14 years+. DC are 10, 8 and 3. As cheeky as it is, surely Jet2 aren't going to turn us away over this? I'm aware that this is expecting others to take seats they didn't chose and have paid for but it is the front row etc which is still available. Aibu? Do airlines provisionally allocate children seats and this doesn't appear?

Yes. But others called names first.

Can you not tell the difference between irritated and angry? You should probably work on that.
I won't need to move you from your paid seats to get mine for free, so cool your little jets and stop worrying about it. Youre so happy to pay for nothing, crack on with that. I hear you can now buy air in bottles...

We book the seats when we buy the seats, rather than leaving it nearer to the time

We do exactly the same. I also check in the moment it opens online so the seats are confirmed.

Youre so happy to pay for nothing, crack on with that

Well quite. Maybe don't let it irritate you though - what a bizarre thing to be irritated by, how someone else spends £8

It's a scam. They used to just let families with young kids board first then everyone else. When did this stop?

And there was never a problem getting a seat beside your dh or whoever unless you were late boarding.

Basically, if you are buying budget flights, you are accepting the way they do business - if you want seat allocation, food, hold baggage included, you either pay for them on top of the baseline budget fare, or book with a more expensive operator.

It isn't just the Budget airlines though, that's the problem. We are flying with Virgin who want £35 each, each way, on top of the seat price of £££. That's where it isn't fair. An extra £200 just to sit together.

It'a a minefield. Last time we flew ba we could pick seats at booking because we were travelling with an infant. Checked on online 24hrs before flight, all fine. Got to airport, checked in bags and given new boarding passes with seats spread all over the plane! Took about 40 mins and a lot of moaning to sort that out, and then they left the trolley with all the outsize bags (car seats, pushchairs etc) behind at Heathrow so there were a lot of angry parents on arrival.

IronMansIronButt Okay. So you’re irritated. Perhaps you need to work on why the way other people spend their money irritates you.

If you're getting angry about families being seated together even when they haven't paid for seats, how would you feel if you refused to move seats and I then plonk my 3 yr old next to you for the flight and you have to cope with him, and then me coming along every few minutes to check on him. If he's in the middle seat then that will be a lot of fun for you while trying to sleep / relax. Because that is the reality if everyone refused to move to accommodate a family with a young child- someone is left to sit next to somebody else's child and all the joys flying with young kids brings. We flew last week and when we went to check in, found we had been allocated 3 different seats all over the plane and all the other seats had been picked by other passengers. When we went to the check in desk to get our boarding passes, they changed our seats so we were sat 3 in a row in the middle. Sure, someone would have got moved for that to happen, but BA policy states that if someone has paid for a seat and they have to be moved that they will be reimbursed, so I don't really see the issue. Young children can't be seated away from one of their parents, it would be a bloody nightmare. Of course, if someone has a medical reason for picking a certain seat then they are entitled to kick up a fuss if they get moved, but otherwise it's an inconvenience and you get whatever you paid for your seat selection back.

If you're getting angry about families being seated together even when they haven't paid for seats, how would you feel if you refused to move seats and I then plonk my 3 yr old next to you for the flight and you have to cope with him, and then me coming along every few minutes to check on him. If he's in the middle seat then that will be a lot of fun for you while trying to sleep / relax. Because that is the reality if everyone refused to move to accommodate a family with a young child- someone is left to sit next to somebody else's child and all the joys flying with young kids brings

I'd be quite happy. Noise cancelling headphones, movie on ipad. Talking with my own child I paid to sit next to.

All good. We book the aisle and middle though.

Maybe don't let it irritate you though - what a bizarre thing to be irritated by, how someone else spends £8

Are you not following? I don't care what you spend money on. I do care if you come on here and tell us all we have to do it too, because you've fallen for the scam and can only rationalise it by trying to convince everyone else they are wrong if they don't.
You know you've been scammed but you need to resolve the cognitive dissonance, so instead of getting mad at the airline for making you pay for nothing, you get mad at those who didn't do it.

Or indeed talking to the other adult members of my party if flying without children. I think it would be far more irritating for you to be up and down, no?

Pretamum I wouldn’t have any issue with that. Eyemask on, headphones in, bob’s your uncle.

Children can be seated away from their parents if said parents don’t feel it important enough to book seats together. “Next to” includes the row in front or behind or across the aisle.

I have been asked to move twice. Both times I have refused. It’s never been an issue.

You know you've been scammed but you need to resolve the cognitive dissonance, so instead of getting mad at the airline for making you pay for nothing, you get mad at those who didn't do it

I’m not mad at those who don’t because other people’s decisions don’t irritate me - how exhausting.

I don’t care if people don’t pay, just don’t expect those who have to move. You said you don’t so all good.

I don’t care if people don’t pay, just don’t expect those who have to move. You said you don’t so all good.

This.

I've always selected my seat for free on BA during the 24-hr online check-in window, rather than paying to select the seat earlier.
I log in to the site as soon as check-in opens and have never had any trouble at all getting seats together -- in fact there are usually plenty of options.
But on budget airlines I always pay to select a seat, due to claustrophobia (need an aisle seat). I've been asked once or twice to move but have declined, politely, and the cabin crew have gone on to ask other people.

I did once query whether my seat selection fee would be refunded if I moved --- answer came there none.....

Gosh! No wonder flying is so stressful. On our first holiday with our LO we flew BA - paid full price for our tickets and selected seats next to each other. The day before our flight BA changed the plane they were using and reallocated our seats. Me with LO in 5A and DH in 14D. We called and after a lot of arguing they moved us to 5A and 5D. Still not great so when we got on board we asked (v politely) was the couple in 5B and C if they’d swap so they could sit in the two aisles. I had to sit in 5 A since it’s the only seat in that row with 2 oxygen masks. We said fine we’ll just hand the baby back and forth I suppose because it’s a long flight and we can’t sleep holding her. They huffed and puffed and swapped seats and muttered about us for ages.
I get that on the face of it they thought we were disorganised but we really had tried everything and it wasn’t our fault the airline screwed us over, and I didn’t even say anything to them refusing but they just seemed to hate kids and hate us. 🤷🏽‍♀️
But if you’re the sort of person who just absolutely refuses please do consider that the people asking may not be just entitled dicks - they may just be victims of airline mismanagement.

It costs almost £150 to pay to reserve 3 seats on long haul return flights with BA , that's not a price I'm willing to pay when I know that the airline will accommodate me at check in. Maybe that is selfish and entitled of me, but to pay £150 for something that I am entitled to for free seems wasteful, and it's cheeky of the airline to encourage you to pay when you don't need to. Flying isn't cheap as it is. When we checked in online 24 hrs prior to our flight all the seats together had gone, so we had no chance to book seats together for free either. I get why you'd be annoyed and not want to move if you'd paid, but these things happen. Maybe if it happens to you, you could use your stubbornness to request an upgrade at the inconvenience of being moved.... you never know!

I get why you'd be annoyed and not want to move if you'd paid, but these things happen

“these things happen” indeed. I flew back from Paris a few years back a family was spread throughout the plane. Nobody would move. But they had to deal with it because “these things happen”.

But they had to deal with it because “these things happen”.

JacquesHammer, I wouldn't suggest it was necessary for a child and parent to sit together for shits and giggles - if my child was old enough to listen to safety instructions / keep his seatbelt on / eat food without making a mess / stay quietly in his seat then I would be fine with being sat away from him to not move other people out of their paid for seats. But 3 year olds have a habit of not doing what they should, so they need a parent with them to ensure they don't take their seatbelt off during turbulence, or spill pasta sauce / juice all over the person next to them who refused to move. For safety reasons, it's entirely reasonable of the airline to ensure a young child will be safe throughout the flight ie- sat next to a parent, and parents should not have to pay to ensure their childs safety. I will if its the only way to ensure that, but right now it isn't necessary to pay, so I won't. I also don't think it's fair to sit someone next to a child without a parent, as kids can be nightmares to travel with, make a mess / noise etc, and they need a parent with them to try to get them to behave as much as possible. The issue is that the airlines don't automatically allocate seats for a parent and child together before giving everyone else the opportunity to pick their seats. If the airline did this, then no one who paid to pick their seat would be moved at check in. But they don't, and it creates problems for passengers, families, and the crew who probably have to deal with the fall out.

@PointReply
Why couldn't you have swapped so they got your aisle seat and a middle seat and you got the other aisle seat?

get why you'd be annoyed and not want to move if you'd paid, but these things happen. Maybe if it happens to you, you could use your stubbornness to request an upgrade at the inconvenience of being moved.... you never know!

Pretamum Yeah, “these things happen” is the phrase I’ll use on the next entitled and selfish family who try to make us move because they didn’t deem it necessary to book seats together.

I booked my seats for a reason; I don’t want an upgrade. So like the previous two times, I will happily refuse and stay in the seats I booked.

WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRouge : I can see we are never going to agree. That's fine. But the issue is with the airline - you should not have to pay to ensure you are able to sit with your child so that they are safe for the duration of the flight. I don't care where I am seated on the plane, provided I or my husband can sit with our child. The airlines should automatically allocate 2 seats together on the plane as soon as the flights are booked - they don't have to be the seats with most legroom, just next to each other. If they did this then people who choose to pay for their seat would be able to guarantee that seat rather than be moved when boarding. Hopefully then everyone's happy.

Also, if you are ever offered an upgrade, you really should take it, it makes a flight a lot more enjoyable and tolerable.

But if you’re the sort of person who just absolutely refuses please do consider that the people asking may not be just entitled dicks - they may just be victims of airline mismanagement

Your problem is, as another poster stated upthread, the openly and gleefully expressed attitude of some on this thread now leads one to think that there is a good chance they might just be CF's chancing their luck..how has the person who has paid for their seat to know the difference?

@Spartacunt - seat allocation was NEVER free - it was bundled into the higher ticket prices, along with food and hold baggage, so you paid for them even if you were happy to sit anywhere, didn’t want the food and just had hand baggage.

Now the airlines use a different model where they unbundle these things so the person with hand baggage, who doesn’t want any food and is happy to sit anywhere, can pay the base price, and everyone else pays that plus any of the other things they want.