To expect Easyjet to help me?

[amprev]

We fly on a 4hour 15 min flight on Sat with our two dc's aged 11 and 8. The holiday was a last minute decision, and I booked it last Sat with Tui. I was aware at the time that the flights were actually with Easy jet and not Tui. I wasn't particularly bothered by this either way. Reading through all the booking details in full this evening I learned that it is online only check in for EJ flights so I checked us all in.

Turns out we have been allocated seats randomly all over the plane - there are ten rows separating two of the seats from another two, but no two seats are in the same row. I realise this is because many people have obviously checked in before me. I would pay the extra for seats together if I could but this isn't an option, the plane is just full.

I'm gutted and I know the Dc's will be when I tell them. We are downloading films to an iPad for them and they watch it together using a headphone splitter. This obviously can't happen if we are all separated. I'm not expecting they can magic us all together but do you think they could at least have the dc's together with either me or DH less than 10 rows away from them? My eldest suffers with bad ear pain on flights and I normally have to do some soothing at take off and landing because she gets upset.

Any tips from anyone who has been in this situation? We only booked it so late because we didn't think we would get away this year but decided we would last minute.

I'll ring customer services when they open but I'm expecting them to tell me that I'll just have to persuade someone to move when we board. According to the civil aviation authority, airlines have to take reasonable actions to ensure a child is near to their adult so that it is less disruptive in the event of an evacuation. Not sure what EJ can do if there are no seats though? I realise some people will have paid extra for their preferred seats.

Choli would you rather wear the vomit?

The though of someone else sitting with my kids for four hours is very amusing, the farting and talking would definitely make them agree to swap seats next time. But I wouldn't actually do that. I would be far more annoying and get off the plane, making everyone late and probably miss connecting flights or hotel transfers. People make mistakes, I'm sure lots of people find themselves in similar situations. I don't think there is anything wrong with nicely asking if anyone would mind swapping seats, if no one wants to that's ok, but the family will either choose to get off the flight delaying everyone, or a couple of people will get a child next to them with no parental supervision.

People are weird about plane seats - and I don’t mean the OP.

I mean sitting on a plane is pretty crap. Where you sit makes it more or less crap only at the margins. Assuming we are talking short haul. Yet people act like they have secured a prize possession in their reeves seat. Don’t get it really.

Something similar happened me. Airline moved us
But I have also seen it on planes and the steward people get involved. I was even once asked to move and I got extra leg room for free
Have a lovely holiday

I went away earlier in the year, flew Ryan air out and had presumed were flying back with them, sister had booked. Realised when were away we were flying back with Easyjet and online check in had been open for weeks. Checked in online whilst away and were allocated, for free, 2 seats right at the front...the man next to me said he had paid £60 each for the privilege.

I've moved before despite having paid for a seat to enable another parent to sit with their child, I wouldn't stress about it, it'll work out I'm sure

But Butter it's not just the flight it's the package as a whole. You can get some amazing deals booking last minute. Many people on a late deal flight while have booked earlier and paid far more. Now all power to anybody for saving some cash on a package just don't expect to have exactly what you want on the flight. And to the people saying think of the child frankly the adults who should have done that are the parents. If you know you have a child at 11 who absolutely must have their parent next to them you do everything in your power to make that happen and don't book last minute. Many adults are nervous fliers and will have booked ahead to sit near their flying partner,on a budget flight they may have booked ahead to sit near family to dole out food,they may want to be in an aisle,next to a window for a reason,have older kids to monitor- whatever.At the end of the day you can hardly expect as a given other passengers as a given to sort out something a parent has had the responsibility to avoid in the first place.

DP and I were ‘sat together’ but we both had aisle seats adjacent to one another, that was sitting together to EasyJet

As a PP said that is classed as sitting together as is sitting one behind the other. We have deliberately booked aisle seats in the past.

We have never been asked to move but if it was to help out a family with youngish children then we would. I've only flown easyJet a few times but have found the aircrew some of the nicest we have encountered and we've flown with a lot of airlines.

What if the person being asked to move is the companion of someone very travel sick? The family could end being the ones handed sick bags.

I agree EasyJet are some of the nicest staff I've come across. Some older kids have hidden SENs. It really isn't just as simple as somebody will/should move as default.

she will probably watch a movie and not plug the head phones in and have it turned up so loud you can hear it over your music

Not for long she wouldn’t.

So you would help her, nice to hear it.

But even nervous flyers who plan carefully can find themselves in situations were they are suddenly in a seat they don't like. For my last flight for work they changed planes last minute due to a technical fault and the new plane had a different layout and I suddenly was in a front seat with more legroom. Great for me but I would have swapped with someone very tall who would have asked me nicely.
Or people who get caught up in events that result in lots of cancellations and airlines put people into any available seat to get them back home. I flew from West coast US via Chicago to Frankfurt once after a massive storm had shut down most of the Eastern airports and had some guy next to me from Chicago on who had already been stranded for 3 days, missed one day work and was very stressed by it all. I let him have my aisle seat despite him being rather rude because there was no point stressing him even more.
This can happen to anyone really and then you might find yourself at the mercy of fellow travellers to help out.

Let us know what happens OP.

Oh, all these scenarios about people threatening to weaponise their children in a passive aggressive seat war is so much keyboard warrior guff.

Any normal RL person would reassure their kids, check on them regularly, remind them about their manners, and presumably remove any drink likely to be spilled over their own iPad.....

A quick word of advice, if you want other people to move, attitude is everything.

I was on an EJ flight recently and a family was split, but in the children were still next to an adult each. The mum's attitude was awful. She expected me and other families near her to change seats so all five of them could be together.

She was massively passive aggressive and kept faux whispering things like 'those children are practically adults', 'I don't know why THEY get to sit together but MY family don't.'

I had booked my seats 9 months in advance and paid supplements to do so and for leg room. Nope. We were not moving.

This woman wouldn't take no for an answer refused to sit down and delayed the flight.

I'm not suggesting you would do anything like that - but I'm sure people would be more accommodating if she had said please or thank you, or even acknowledged that she was asking people to do a huge favour that would inconvenience them.

Anyway, thank you for the opportunity to let me share my EJ story!

My children are perfectly capable of weaponising themselves thanks 😂.
They wouldn't deliberately be naughty, but may be a bit unintentionally annoying.
Just wondering is there an age limit where a child cant be separated from a parent? For example if the children was only 2?

I mean sitting on a plane is pretty crap. Where you sit makes it more or less crap only at the margins. Assuming we are talking short haul. Yet people act like they have secured a prize possession in their reeves seat. Don’t get it really.

Well for me, I need an aisle seat. If I were sitting in the middle or window seat on a plane I would have a panic attack after an experience years ago where I was sexually assaulted by another passenger. I now can't fly if it's not an aisle seat and I can feel like I can get away. If you want to swap with me and it's another aisle seat (and I don't even care whether it's front or back of the plane), then I'll do it, but in my experience most people want to swap you for the middle seats, rather than take the worse seat themselves, and then I would politely decline.

This is a very strict plane.

We never reserve seats on shorthaul. We take pot luck and are usually together or across the aisle but we are only a couple, no kids.
If you were on my flight and asked me to swap I probably would.

Choli would you rather wear the vomit?
It wouldn't be an issue as i sleep covered with the airline blanket.

I have sat next to two young kids, 7 and 8, whose parents were in first class. Kids were in economy.

We had this recently (although with jet2). Booked seats the day before, they were last 4 seats and all 4 were separate, although 2 were close enough together for me to sit row behind dd2 (6). We just went early for check in (couldn’t do online as we booked too late) and they allocated us different seats (2 lots of 2 together on way there, did same on way back and got 3 together).

I'm not sure that first class, airline blankets and eye masks are the norm on most shorthaul flights, of the type the OP is talking about .

But saying that, I've never been aware of anyone vomiting on a plane either.

I'd probably rather have a child next to me than behind me, as I've not met one thats capable of not persistently kicking the back of my seat.

It wouldn't be an issue as i sleep covered with the airline blanket.

Good luck finding one of them on an EasyJet flight 😂

It wouldn't be an issue as i sleep covered with the airline blanket.

On an Easyjet flight????

And the results are in! Went to EJ Customer service after checking the bags in and within 2 minutes they had swapped our seats for 2 pairs, one adult and one child in each pair - better than I had been hoped for.

Couldn't be more pleased with EJ service - they did say that they would never allow a child under 10 sit alone.

Happy ending for us - now to spot the people who they will have swapped out of their seats..... chin chin!