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.

OP I think you will find there will be those who have been just allocated seats and they will be swappable.

If it were me... I would say to anyone that will listen when on the plane and trying to do this .''sorry about this, we have only just booked this flight so we had no option of booking seats, or we would've done'. Passengers will be much more understanding then.

Last flight I was on, someone with 3 children who hadn't booked caused a right rumpus trying to get seats together, it was so irritating and I studiously avoided their gaze as I had chosen my seat and was not going to move.

We never pay to reserve seats. Our DC are adults now, but even when flying with DS2 aged about 17 at the time, we were taken aside and given new boarding cards that sat us together. Airline said it is their policy to always seat family members together, regardless of age etc. This was Jet2.

Yogagirl - that's just not true, I flew Ryanair this summer with 2 DC, checked in a few days before the flight and was allocated 3 seats together for both journeys at no extra cost.

You could ask Tui to arrange this in advance, though most people are checked in so you may have to wait until you are onboard and sat down as they have such a tight turnaround they need to get you on the plane asap and then do the moving and shaking. They haven't got time for a scenario where they are swapping seats as you board.

I flew easy jet this week and onboard changes were made to allow children to sit with parents, this included moving someone out of a premium seat. The senior air hostess seemed to check where children were seated and moved them without any parent requesting this.

I've also seen someone being moved to accommodate a person with special assistance needs. Not everyone has paid a premium to sit in the premium seats.

Nothing to do with them being budget, their seats fill up like anyone else's and other airlines may not have seats together at a late stage.

It's worth a call and beg to easyjet. At the end of the day the worst they can say is no. On cheap airlines though a lot of people will reserve seats (as it's only cheap), or will have sat by their computer and pressed check in as soon as it opens (like you would do for concert tickets) so would be unlikely to want to move due to wasted money/time.

The kids may be delighted to be sitting separately!

Happened to us last year when I rang I was told not all seats are available for online check in and some are available at desk on day and it could be sorted at the airport. We made sure we were there early and at front of the queue and we got moved and sat together no problem.

Tui mention it straight away on the bokkong extras page no matter what airline the flights are with. This is not a budget airline problem, the seats have been booked and checked in, you get what is left. I would ring them as they may have some they leave unreserved. But also I don’t think you have any entitlement to the children sitting next to each other with you and dh ‘close by’ but that one adult is next to each.

*booking..

Not just budget airlines, I've seen this happen several times on BA! I suspect your youngest is young enough for them to ensure he/she is sitting with one of the adults from your party. You can then let the older child take that seat at some point during the flight.

We travelled with Ryan air in April, and even though I need special assistance as a disabled passenger Ryan still did not seat myself and DH together. Luckily, we could pay to be seated together.

I realise it’s a different situation, but the tickets were purchased together and they knew I was disabled, it doesn’t take a genius to work out if I need assistance to get through the airport, I will need help of my DH on the aircraft, should I need the loo etc.

Buy that lottery ticket PattiStanger, you got lucky!☘️

Petalbird and Yogagirl I've never noticed anyone be bribed with sandwiches otherwise I may offer my services next time I've only ever seen the hostess ask someone, firmly but nicely to move and they always have. But I do agree that airlines should sort this out at check in, as it is totally unfair to have the onboard staff have to deal with this type of situation, I imagine that it can become quite heated between parents and other passengers.

Yogagirl, I think we read the same article and yes it is/was true. I know as a result of the article and subsequent investigations the budget airlines that were indeed doing this on purpose were making some minor changes to increase people's chances of sitting together without paying but it can still be a crap shoot.

I ended up sat away from my parents aged 8 or 9 (in the nineties) as a result of scattered seating - family of four, late booking as it was a family emergency/late check in (traffic), allocated 4 single seats and though the airline found two seats together that needed to be for my little brother (aged 4/5) to sit with DM.

As a very confident obnoxious kid I thought that was brilliant and talked at the poor unsuspecting sod seated next to me non stop for three hours. Your DC might do similar?

Alternatively, it’s quite possible someone will swap (if I was flying alone I definitely would), or as you’d have been happy to pay I would take whatever seat reservations cost with me in cash and offer that to someone to swap. Or (as your DC were going to share an iPad I assume they don’t have one each) buy a cheap amazon tablet (we have one for DD that cost about £40) so that they each have one for the flight.

They won't all have paid extra for reserved seats. Last time I went on an Easy Jet flight the Speedy Boarding queue, for people who have paid extra to reserve seats, was half the length of the other queue. However people who have had seats allocated by staff still might not want to swap, depending on their circumstances.
I have booked assistance for my (adult) DD for a flight next month and I have to say customer services were very helpful, so see what they suggest.

The sickbay trick is deplorable (unless your child genuinely needs sickbags).

If you’ve done things last minute, lying to those who’ve acted in good time so you can get what you want it just dreadful.

If someone handed wipes to me and told me to look after their child they’d get short shrift.

This is nothing to do with it being a budget airline.
Actually it is, because EJ and Ryan deliberately sit people apart , so they pay to move seat and be together. It is supposed to be random allocation, but on an empty plane ds and his gf were allocated seats the other end plane from each other.

Your main issue seems to be they can’t share a tablet. Surely the older one could read a book and a magazine quietly for a few hours?

We were on an easyJet flight last week where a family were in a similar situation to yours - although children were a bit younger. The pilot actually explained the situation to the plane full of passengers and asked if anyone was willing to swap to help the family out - someone offered within minutes and it was all sorted, although I'm not sure quite how. Hopefully they might consider doing something like that for you if you ask.

Paying to reserve your seats doesn't guarantee your either apparantly, recently flew with Thomas cook and spoke to a couple of family's who had been split up after paying to sit together.

We have always had to take the risk as we can't afford the extra to reserve seats, luckily their policy was for under 12s to sit with an adult so we were lucky and sat together.

Ring them. Easy jet seems to pride themselves on being family friendly. I had a problem with my booking and they were actually very helpful! No harm in trying.

I think someone will help you on the flight - at least one of your neighbours.
People are usually pretty nice and they won't all have paid to reserve. If I was next to an 8 year old by themselves and I wasn't travelling with my own dc I would help.

It might be a none issue as it might be resolved at check in. If not, once you’re on board, say the check in staff promised you it would be sorted on board. When I used to work for an airline, we used to be told to tell people this all the time. Then say you were told you’d be together and as you’re not, you want to offload. It will take them hours to get your bags off and there will be a huge delay. Chances are, they’ll find you seats...

The answer is to just ask nicely and get the crew to ask people to move rather than doing it yourself, . I’ve been in this situation before, my child was younger and I was flying alone with her. We’d had to change flights last minute because of a cancellation and were allocated seats all over the plane.

Basically I explained this to the cabin crew when we boarded, and the cabin crew quietly asked people if they minded swapping. Of course it was easier to achieve as it was obvious that a 4 yr old needed to sit with me, but I think you’ll find there will be at least one person who will be reasonable and swap. Aim for two and two together.

Just ask when you're actually on the plane prior to take off. I've been asked to move before (adult woman wanted to sit with her boyf, lol), but it's fine.