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

I honestly can’t believe some of the responses to this. Charging for specific seats is fine, but there should not be a charge to be sat with your underage child. You wouldn’t be able to leave them unattended anywhere else, why does anybody think it’s ok to be expected to do it on a plane. Airlines should not be able to charge you to sit next to your own child, anybody who thinks otherwise (just because you’ve paid for your seat 🙄), is a fool!!!

jacueshammer you snuck in there! This is making me sad I can’t afford a jet2 holiday this year... (with or without buying seats!)

I’d be major pissed if I booked a seat and got stuck with someone’s screaming child. And I wouldn’t want to move to a lesser seat. So I def wouldn’t be supervising/helping your kid

Wow. Can tell you dont have kids! Id be major pissed if I was sat next to you. You sound delightful. And the rest of people complaining about it aswell I dont understand? They're babies? Why wouldn't you want to help them. Seriously OP I think you should book the seats because there are alot of selfish people (whether they've booked their aisle seat or not) that would not be willing to give up their seat for a mum/dad to be sat with their baby. I'm sure these people moaning about it though if they couldnt afford to pre book a seat would be the first people asking if they could be sat with their friend/family member 🤷‍♀️

We went to Tenerife last year and booked with Jet2.
We could not actually book seats when we tried to as there was none together at all. The free ones were scattered all over the plane. I was willing to pay for this but it wasn't an option. No way in hell was my two DD's sitting next to complete strangers so I called them up. I didn't mind being split up but the kids had to be with one of us.
They advised me not to check in online and go to airport early and check in there. I asked them to email this to me so I had it in writing.
We arrived and and went to the desk and they were really good and we got seats together. I had one child with me and my OH had the other. We were in rows one in front of the other.
The aviation authority has clear guidelines and expect airlines to comply -

www.caa.co.uk/Blog-Posts/Are-you-sitting-comfortably-/

We always have and still do pre book .
Jet 2 is great, but if others pre book there may not be seats for your kids together , as pre booking gets priority.

you snuck in there!

Can you tell I was keen

Just to add, I was actually quite anxious about the possibility of us being split up even though I had booked and paid for seats. I called and was told that simply wouldn’t happen, to reassure me further they emailed me confirmation.

@TheFairyCaravan I didn't mean the emergency exit rows! I have only used this on long haul flights so it's the centre (row of 4 in the middle) extra leg room I was referring too as of course you have to be physically fit to sit by the bulkhead doors and of sound mind to understand how to open them! But absolutely this is not a guarantee but that is virgin Atlantic's accessibility policy :)

Last year we booked a very last minute holiday ( under 7 days to departure ) with Jet 2
Unbeknownst to us we had actually got the last 4 seats on the plane
If I had known this at the time I wouldn’t have booked
As when you book , you pay in full then go to check in
I was horrified to find that as check in had opened ( I think 28 days or 14 days earlier ) that everybody else had checked in and there were only 4 seats randomly dotted separately around the plane !

I would never have booked knowing this ( we go abroad loads with the kids and always pay to book seats together )

I rang up Jet2 in a panic and they said I would have to arrive at the airport early and see what the check in Staff could do

We had 2 adults - 4 year old , 6 year old & baby in lap

My partner was seated alone in row 9
I was placed in row 18 , with two kids across the aisle ( luckily 2 older DC were fine with tablets & headphones etc ) but myself and partner had to pass baby around / walk down 9 rows to go to toilet etc
Hard to eat / drink also

I would never book last minute again as a family due to this

I think they should have had a warning saying “ these are the last 4 seats and not together “ but nothing came up - it was just the normal package holiday Jet 2 page and as said before did not know all this until we had paid and went straight to online check in

We have booked well in advance this year as we learned our lesson the hard way

We had same with jet 2 last year having booked days before. When we checked it they sat us all together, however across isle is classed as together I believe.

It defo makes me more sympathetic as not everyone in this situation refuses to book seats - we literally couldn’t as all the last seats were singles. People should be more open minded in these situations

Had a friend flying with a very tall husband, a 6 yo, herself and an 18month old. Under 2s sit on your lap unless paid for.

She paid for her husband to have an exit/extra legroom seat. Her under 2 to have a seat and her and over 2 to have a standard seat. Picked and paid for seats in advance.

Her under 2 was seated alone (illegal but under 2 HAS to be on lap for take off and landing) husband moved to standard seat elsewhere. Her and over 2 seated on standard seats together. Reasoning? Under 2 on lap for game off and landing. Extra legroom not guaranteed despite being paid for.

She ended up with one on her lap and over 2 next to her and tall husband on standard seat nowhere near them. Absolutely miserable.

Guess what? Return was the same. Did the “premium airline” refund the under 2 seat? Not a chance. The legroom seat? Nope. They were paid for but miserable people that won’t prepay get the bastard premium.

I have been moved from me prepaid seat before whilst travelling with my daughter. Unimpressed to say the least. Get your shirt hands out of your deep pockets and pay. Or stay in the uk if you can’t asked a flight.

Short hands out of your deep pockets**

@katiepoes that may be the case as the airline has taken them into their care but when the parent is on board they are responsible for their child. I asked our airlines when we travelled and each stated that because they were under 12 they guarantee they would be next to a parent. They were 7 and 10 so not exactly toddlers.

Sunshine1239 if you were talking about housing plots would you have the same attitude? We want to be together so screw ghat you paid more than us for your decent view?
Why any different when scaled down to a plane? Pay or lose it. Too late? Tough! Why should someone move???

No that’s not what am saying! I always pre book seats and have always judged those who didn’t, that was until I booked a late holiday, paid for it and realised that sometimes you simply can’t book seats together as there’s non left!

Since then I would be more sympathetic with others yes. I choose to sit together but if you’re made to move for a family you get a refund on your seat so I’d happily do that. I guess it’s hard to know at that time if the person chose to risk it and if they had no choice but I’d certainly not judge like I used to.

To be fair I don’t know any airline who separate kids under 12 from one parent, Tui, Ryanair and Jet2 defo do not. And it is normally sorted on check in. My flight showed as all seats booked (online) yet on check in they did something to put us all together so either those seats weren’t really pre booked as showing on their website or they moved all the groups around, still keeping them together. (Though in front/behind and across aisle are classed as together)

I always try to sit as far away from my kids on the plane as possible. Sorry, not helpful.

Parents shouldn't have to pay to sit next to young children who safely cannot be sat alone. This isn;t their parents fault or wrongdoing - why should they pay for something they'll get free regardless?

The fault is with the airlines, maybe they should book families into seats straight at the time of booking or something so others can't pay for them and then be made to move?

I fly with Jet 2 at least once a year. Always did pre book seats but in the last few years money has become 'tighter'. So thought I would take the risk. Not yet been split up though my kids are older. Currently on holiday now and as the flight was in Easter hols it was full. Checked in online as soon as I got the email telling me to. I was a bit nervous as only about 3/4 rows of seats left but we got them!
And for all those saying they've pre booked to 'guarantee sitting together' you do realise it's in any airlines t&c that they WILL move you if they deem it necessary...

I doubt they could refuse you a glass of water. Long haul food is still included as eating over 24h gets important.

Not necessarily. As Chenger, said, Norwegian charge for food and water, even for long haul.

When people say guidance, it’s pretty strong guidance ‘it is made clear to airlines that they must comply’ and it also specifies that children should be in the same seat row segment, if this is not possible then may be one aisle across or one row behind/ aheAd.
If an airline had repeat complaints of sitting children away from their parents they would look into it. Which is why airlines usually try quite hard. But parents should check in early just like any travelling parent investigates bus train etc timetables and plans to make things straightforward.

But it's guidance, not the law. Legally, guidance is not 'the law'. It's a suggestion not a definitive rule. A nice to have.

Also in the quote posted by BWatch above, it says should, not shall or must. Again, not the same legally. You should try, but it's accepted that the guidance might not be adhered to every single time without fail.

I do think that airlines should seat groups together without charge and that it's morally wrong to deliberately split groups up to get them to pay extra or even suggest that you need to pay extra to not be separated, especially when some members of the party are young children or otherwise vulnerable.

And that's even as a person who benefits from such a policy because I only ever travel alone or with one other adult and don't mind being separated for the flight if it saves money. Because if they stopped charging for seats, prices would rise to make up for the lost revenue as it's simply a method of making flights appear cheaper than they actually are.

£25 per person must be for extra legroom seats I would think. If that’s the case I would well imagine that you will all be separated because these seats get booked up quickly.

As Tunnockswafer said. Don't wait for the text. Do it at midnight and there will be seats. I'm sure the text comes at 28!days but you can do it at 30

We had 4 children under 5 (now in their teens). We have never paid any extra to book seats together and it has never been a problem with any airline. It must be a safety requirement for children of that age to be seated next to a responsible adult.
Total waste of money / con - and playing on parental fear. I used to ask to be as far away from them as possible!

Ultimately a pilot can't take off if passengers aren't seated safely, and I don't believe that airlines would insist on seating a 2 year old separately from a parent for this reason.