Pre booked flight seats for 2 & 3 y/o's?

[doghelp123]

Not really AIBU, posting for traffic. Apologies for long post.

We are due to go on holiday in 7 weeks time and we have not paid for pre booked seats, the reason i have not paid is because our DCs are 2 & 3 y/o and the travel agent has advised its a £25 fee per seat, so looking at £100 all in for me, DH and DC's to be together - we have saved a long time to get this holiday and if I'm being honest it seems like a very large amount to be shelling out for seats. Me and DH are not fussed about being seated together obviously, but we would need the DCs to be next to either one of us so we did ask the travel agent if me and DH booked our two seats for the £50 would kids be guaranteed to be next to us but we were told me would need to pay the £25 for each of them as well, I then called jet 2 and they have advised that they would not split young children up from parents even if we had not paid for the seats but I have now been seeing things online stating that the DCs wouldn't necessarily be in the same row as either of us, but they could be put in the row in front or behind.

Can anyone who has flew before with Jet2 advise us? I would really rather not be paying the £100 for seats as IMO it is to much and it seems silly to be paying the money for kids that age if the airlines aren't actually allowed to split us?

So any frequent jet2 flyers, it would be much appreciated if anyone in similar circumstances could advise

We didn’t bother on Jet2 - they sat me beside the 2 year old but Dad and DS were split; it was not worth £200 to us (£25 pp per trip) there and back for a 2.5 hour flight. Cynically they won’t split the toddlers from a parent so you may end up 2 and 2 across an aisle - but that is great because you get more legroom.

Families with young children I meant!

I’m loving how people don’t realise that buying a seat doesn’t guarantee you will sit there! If you pay you can still be moved usually not asked just moved due to someone having a disability or someone having to sit near a small child often they will offer something in the small child situation but disability you will just be moved some disabilities take precedence over others too so someone in a bulky wheelchair will get priority of the extra leg room seats in the centre closest to the loading doors as it’s easier to get them off and on than someone who needs a waking stick or has a visual impairment who would end up further back in the plane! If you paid for extra legroom then tough you’re being pushed behind as those seats are accessible!

Theres no need to be so rude to the OP she simply queried the possibility of sitting together not demanding it for free.

How about this
Dont book seperate seats for the children wait and see if they are next to you and if not, pay the people on the plane to swap with you.

Out of principle I wouldnt give someone my seat I had paid for unless they paid me for it.

@Whodafeck yep :) I only found it out when I flew BA the first time but it makes flying with DH far easier as he’s always sat in a really accessible part of the plane now and has me next to him to show him where things are (he’s visually impaired)

Personally I wouldn't pay those ridiculous prices to be seated next to my 2 year old. If someone else wants to sit beside my 2 year old whilst he screams they're welcome to. However I've never actually flown with my children. In fact I haven't flown for about 6 years so I'm not the best person to pass advice. However if I was on a flight an saw a family being split up I would gladly give my seat if it meant they could sit together. Maybe I'm too nieve and believe other people would do this also. Maybe flights don't allow you to swap. I don't know but I think it's a joke that we have to pay extortionate prices to fly in holiday time because we cant take our children out of school and the £25pp just so we can sit together! Dreadful! This is why I haven't flown for over 6 years - simply cannot afford to at the moment. Hope you have a lovely holiday.

So, you're happy for them to ask other people to move seats, when they have already paid for specific seats together?

I’ve been in the situation where people had to move for us. When you book accessibility you don’t pay for allocation. Some let us choose, but with some airlines they pre-allocate us to “suitable” seats. But they don’t tell us which they are til we get to checking in. BA were the worst for it and their “suitable” seats were halfway up the plane. They moved passengers for us, and nobody complained.

Similarly, they gave us window and mid seats on easyJet and we had to ask someone to swap from the aisle seat.

We booked a last minute flight with BMI and none of the available seats were suitable and again, people had to move further back the plane.

People do it without whining about it. Thankfully I haven’t come across the kind of selfish arses who refuse.

And almost everywhere you go you are told parents are responsible for their children (rightfully so). But on a plane you have to pay to be responsible for your own child - it's utter madness!

I checked this when we went away couple years ago. By law children under 12 must be accompanied and sat with adult. Meaning it may be both with one parent or one with each of you. We did not pre book as we were not bothered about sitting together. All four of us ended up together anyway.

I haven’t flown in years, for those who do are there rules for special needs? I’d let my NT child sit nearby by their elder sibling has LD/ epilepsy and ASD. For safety I’d need to be by her, and also I hate to be the stranger next to her! Would I have to pay for sitting next to her?

We have travelled twice a year with jet2, easyJet or Ryanair since having kids. Our youngest is now 14. We have never booked seats ( I can’t remember when it started that you have to). Until youngest was 12 they automatically sat her with one of us. Now we are usually together or near each other except with Ryanair who always split families up, usually ending with 3 or 4 families split up over the same rows so everyone just swaps round so together, or stays put and laughs about it if no one is bothered.

Posted too soon. No one ever had to move because we hadn’t booked, it was all sorted when checking in online.

I don’t book our seats (never have) and have always been next to the kids...

I would also move for others

Airlines can be greedy and people can be selfish but I’ve always found folk accommodating...

If no one prebooked then we would be sat in our booking groups, arguably those prebooking are not only wasting their money but screwing it up for the rest of us...

No offence OP, but I'd be really miffed if I ended up sitting next to a random 2 year old with no parent in sight. You should probs pre-book those seats.

Tricia87 "By law children under 12 must be accompanied" is not true. Major airlines have an Unaccompanied Minor policy - KLM for example accept kids alone from age 6. They are accompanied in the airport and handed over to crew, but nobody stays sitting next to them.

A two yearold though? I cannot imagine them being split but if it were me - I'd pay, I want peace of mind and just include it as part of fare.

I would always prebook seats, we were on an EasyJet flight last summer & there was a family that had young children that hadn’t & the stewardess was having to ask if people would move - This is unfair of people that haven’t booked expect people that have to move just to accommodate.

I checked this when we went away couple years ago. By law children under 12 must be accompanied and sat with adult

Complete and utter bollocks. Why on earth do people do this - make up lies to post on
a thread? Is it an attention seeking thing?

Yep utter rubbish. I regularly flew alone as a child as an UM. lots of children fly alone. My BA Junior Jet Club log book was full! Bollocks do children have to be accompanied by law.

You need to book we always book and certainly would not move for someone who hasn't we always book window seat and extra room seats and even if someone near had kids screaming I wouldn't move .

@StormBringers no you wouldn't need to pay airlines have accessibility lines for you to call and ensure you get seated together or you can ask at check in :) also worth mentioning is airports across the U.K. have the daisy lanyards now which will allow staff to know you have a disability with out you having to tell them they will let you use the priority lanes you can have advanced boarding and that kind of thing l! Ours even worked at Orlando international airport and we got through security in about 2 minutes instead of the hour it usually takes which could be a life saver for some families!

It's not a jet2 issue. Under 14s are to be seated next to their parents. In case this doesn't happen at automatic seat allocation the crew will move others around to accommodate. They have to by law.

Solo children have to be accompanied, OR registered as unaccompanied minors and assigned a staff member to look after them. This has always been the case ? From 30 years ago when it was me and my brother up till a week ago when my niece flew without parents.

Under 14s are to be seated next to their parents. In case this doesn't happen at automatic seat allocation the crew will move others around to accommodate. They have to by law.

Have you read the thread? Have you read all the quotes of legislation?

Yes timeisnotaline they are books as UM pasengers but there is no crew member sitting next to them, for the actual flight they are alone. I did it myself in the 80s several times, my own daughter did it in February (she's 9).

Why please after 18 pages are many posters insisting it is THE LAW that kids are next to parents when it has been made quite clear that it can be in front, behind or across an aisle? Do you people have selective vision that hides these posts?

I don't pay for seats. My kids are much older and even easyjet usually won't sit the kids alone. But I might have been lucky so far. Usually is 3 and 1 or 2 and 2.