To think airline software should not allow a 3 year old to be seated away from their parent?

[Inkstainedmags]

I suppose I'm looking for reassurance as I lie here unable to sleep before a flight. DP, DS (3) and I are due to take a transatlantic flight in the morning. We were unable to select seats when we booked the flight - we suspect because the grounding of Boeing 737 Max aircrafts meant the airline didn't know what craft they would be putting us on. Then, when check-in opened, the airline's website wouldn't allow us to proceed because it couldn't cope with dual citizenship and insisted we needed proof of visas for travel to the country we live in.

When we finally managed to try to check in at an airport kiosk, we found that all three of us are seated separately and there was nowhere for two of us to be sat together. No one from the airline was available to speak to.

Surely the airline has to sort this out, right? As much as I'd love the opportunity to spend a 7-hour flight watching movies and reading books like I used to pre-DS, they can't expect a barely 3-year-old to be sat next to a stranger can they?

AIBU to think that with all the amazing things software can do these days, an airline should be able to force a parent and toddler to be sat together and cope with travellers with dual citizenship?

I blame the airlines. Once upon a time, airlines used to board families with children with under 10 first. I guess that doesn't make a profit.

I hope the OP has arrived safely.

My brother was seperated from my parents (I was sat with my mother, dad completely seperate) nearly 30years ago. It was sorted on board. We were about 7&8, but could have easier been younger as it was first to the airport system. The tour company had forgotten our hotel.

Point of the above: It did used to happen, not a modern problem!

Well! I see you all carried on without me for quite a while after I left.

To update, we arrived well before the flight was open for check in. As soon as someone came down the queue to check passports we explained our predicament and she commented on how easily a situation like this could be resolved if airlines let humans do the job of check-in instead of machines moved us to another area to wait for help. The next agent we spoke to told us the flight was full and there was nothing he could do but they would attempt to sort it at the gate whenever the toddler-adjacent passenger arrived.

It didn't get sorted at the gate so they told us to board and they would radio ahead to cabin crew who would sort it.

Cabin crew told us to take our seats and they would sort it when everyone had boarded.

Everyone boarded and cabin crew didn't come along so DH explained the situation to the toddler-adjacent passenger, who hesitated at first but had a change of heart when DH mentioned that in addition to DH's aisle seat we aslo had a row 1, bulkhead window seat to offer. He took row 1 and we were all sat in a line in the next row.

In summary, WestJet crew were all lovely about it but did not sort it out but we got there in the end.

PS I've RTFT and there are many interesting points and clever comments I'd like to respond to but am jetlagged and weary from two days travelling with a reasonably well behaved toddler so instead I'm going to have a shower and stare out the window until it's a reasonable time for bed here.

Thank you for providing hours of distraction last night when pre-travel jitters were keeping me awake while DH and DS snored!

@ink I’m so glad you got sorted one way or another ! Hope the jet lag passes soon xxx

Glad to see you got it sorted in the end, OP, albeit at the last minute.

Interesting to see all the posts stating categorically that airlines must do this, or must do that. There's very little that they 'must' do.

They won't force other people to move if they refuse. If it hadn't been possible to resolve OP's situation by someone agreeing to move, the airline would have simply had to take OP and her family off that flight and try again.

Oh that is disappointing from the staff. I am glad you got it sorted though!

Ah it sounds like you had an window then a passenger and then an aisle seat so in the same row but someone in between - sadly that counts

@apacketofcrisps if you can’t wait under a minute for a passenger to make way for you to go to the toilet what do you do during the 20 minutes for take off and landing and when the seatbelt signs are on due to turbulence?

Travelling to Australia many years ago just me with my two 5 year olds - they sat me in the row in front of my kids by mistake - the woman who was seated beside my kids refused to move - just to one seat in front no difference in position - she was clearly holding out for an upgrade - they finally moved us - it was all very last minute - we didn't know where we were sitting till we boarded all very stressful!

Babblepook i don't know about take off or landing but i flew long haul with bad turbulence and the seat belt sign on. We all unbuckled and went, then buckled again. The staff couldn't and wouldn't stop us, just made an announcement that it was at our risk.

They will not take off if a passenger is up during take off.

My husband is a really nervous flyer , he chooses his seat very carefully, for a variety of reasons, proximity to toilets, exits, leg room , window seat etc. He would not be able kindly to being asked to move and he shouldn't be either. You need to phone the airline and pre book your seats

Couldn't your 3 year old sit in their allocated seat for take off and landing and then sit on your knee if she was fractious?

An 8 hour flight with a 3yo on your knee would be hell! I did 4 hours with a 15 month old and it was terrible. There is just no room and you would end up really disturbing the people in front of you.

@maddy68 Why shouldn't your dh be asked - he can say no as the woman did in our case. And just so you are aware - we knew the mistake had been made by our travel agent when the tickets were booked but no amount of phoning we could change what had been done we were told we had to wait and sort it at the airport... don't always assume you know who's in the wrong!

Openmind..I didn't say he couldn't be asked but that he shouldn't be expected to. He was find even the asking to add to his anxiety, if he can pre book his seats then so can parents. We are becoming such an entitled society, your children , your responsibility

I’m glad you got it sorted OP.
All the people saying they wouldn’t move for a toddler and would just stick headphones in and ignore - you might be ignoring a two year old but if the two year old is not ignoring you then you’ll know about it headphones or not!

But we did book our seats - the travel agent fucked up the booking - are we becoming more entitled (such a cliche I can hardly bear to type it) or are people losing compassion?

I really resent having to pay extra to choose seats next to my family. I have 2 pre school children and paid £250 per person for flights. They wanted me to pay an extra £80 to choose regular seats next to each other. I didn't and got lucky as we were seated together anyway.

Again with the caveat of things going wrong, the parents had the chance to avoid that. If they took the chance and it backfired, I’m not going to cause myself issues to fix it!
This is why I’d be desperately asking people to swap if I was in this scenario. THis reads as if there were problems with the plane you wouldn’t help the child as it’s the parents fault for not paying to sit together. I hope I’ve misread this comment

Two things I don't understand about this:
One, how does anyone expect a small child to stay in the seat in the first place? If I wasn't with my small children they'd be climbing over the entire plane to find us within five minutes of setting off. To keep them in the seat would likely require physical restraint by a strange adult.
Two - in the event of an incident would any adult want to be responsible for the health & safety of a strange child, and equally would any parent trust a stranger to look after their child?
Surely it's in the H & S interests of the airline to seat children with a related responsible adult.

Glad you got it sorted! Can't believe the grown arsed man sat next to a toddler hesitated at all!

I hope I’ve misread this comment

“Backfiring” refers to people who choose not to pay to book a specific seat when booking the flight and assume people will move to accommodate them.