To not book seats for my kids To Florida

[tinklykitty]

Booking our Flights to Disney

Will be an extra 450 pounds to reserve seats together for me DH and our 3dc (one of which is classed as a young adult 12 yrs)

DH thinks booking seats together is unnecessary but DS12 would be devastated if he was placed away from us on the flight as would I.

They do allocate a seat for parents with children but as Ds is being classed as a young adult I'm concerned that he will be moved away from us

It is just the cost of the holiday though isn’t it? You want to be sat together so you pay for that. I want a Business Class seat, I pay for it. DH wants a balcony, so we pay for it etc. Or we can’t afford that holiday.
Shall I duck as I say “First World Problems”?
(BTW Tinkly, I realise you weren’t complaining, you were just asking if it was necessary to pay for pre-allocated seats)

TBH if you booked just for you and 12 yo to sit together and then expected cabin crew to move other people around so you could sit with younger children, the first person they ought to move is your 12 yo. Oh no - you don't want that to happen do you - but someone else can have their pre-booked seat changed though and that's alright?

YABVU

I was taking DD (a young adult) on holiday last summer for some sun while she was recovering from surgery. Booked seats together just to make the entire experience smooth and happy. Turned out the woman in the window seat had been separated from her 12/13 year old, and the minute her arse hit the seat started a war of attrition to make DD swap with her kid. It was all ’just imagine if this was you a few years ago, separated from your mum on your first flight’. I pointed out that would not have happened as I would have paid for us to sit together - as I also had on this occasion. She then called cabin crew who also asked if DD would move, and eventually she was so embarrassed and upset at all the attention she moved. So she spent the flight sandwiched between two strangers and I had a fucking annoying teenager who played his iPad without headphones and picked his nose for three hours while his mum proceeded to sleep and ignore him. I was raging and we didn’t even get the seat booking fee refunded. So I may have some issues with non-seat-bookers who aren’t prepared to take what they are given. Phew, feel better for getting that off my chest :)

I've never paid for seats either. Some of these airlines are just pisstakers and making more money. We flew to NY couple of years ago with BA. I just waited for the 24hr check in and we all got seats together. We flew with Cathay pacific to NZ and you could pick any seats you wanted from the moment of booking and no charge... Singapore Airlines is the same, just booked to NZ with them and all seats are available and free to book, you can swap and change them any time up to the actual flight.

I would refuse to use an airline which didn't automatically sit those who booked together as a party be next to each other, unless they all do that now- it's been years since I travelled with family. However, why should other travellers have to sit next to a lone child!

@ilovecherries that's awful! Some people are very entitled

This depends on your dc. I don't pay to keep dc with me. They are 10 so are usually situated around me if not beside me. But they are used to flying so fine with this.
The only time we swapped was when they wanted to sit together on a long haul and DH and I were together and the airline had put another couple between us. I thought it was less disruptive for the other couple not to have us walking down past them to check on dc and they agreed. If they wanted that pair of seats I wouldn't have minded though.

I would pay for at least one adult to sit with a child. It is a long flight I have flown to the USA various times with my children and would not want one of them to sit alone for a long haul flight.

We paid for me and my husband to be sat together on a long haul flight.
Yes we are adults but had just got married.
Airline still moved us. Selfish, large family wanting to be together but not bothering to prepay. If it meant so much to them you would pay upfront. ( sorry for the rant). And I know this is not what you are saying just back in the moment 😡😡