To wait to select flights seats til we do online check in?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

2x adults and 2x dc flying at the very end of August with easyjet. We've only reserved tickets, not specified seats, and added some hold luggage.

Aibu to think that there'll be time to select vaguely close to each other seats when I do the online check in?

We've a 7yo so one of us adults will sit as close to him as possible (hopefully next to), and the 10yo is happy sitting wherever - though of course if she is close to one of us that'd be good.

Does everyone pay the extra to get their seats allocated at the time of booking?

I pre book and pay for extra leg room.
If you don't prebook at all you will be all over the plane. I've done that a few times when DC were older and it's no problem, I just hand them cash to buy food or drink.

Also, if you let it autoselect at checkin it does not tell you seat numbers until the process is complete, so if you want to then change it you would have to call them, and I'm not even sure if it's possible.

I'll keep an eye via the app anyways and see if the plane starts to fill up. As it is, there's only about 10 seats taken.

If you genuinely don't mind not sitting next to your child and don't ask anyone to swap, absolutely fine. More importantly perhaps, if your child doesn't mind being sat in the middle of strangers.

You can be seated in front or behind on the diagonal too.

Personally I quiet like sitting next to my family, and dislike sitting next to strangers (often large men who spread into my space) so I'd pay £64 to avoid that happening.

If you will not mind at all being seated away from the children, then crack on. On full flights, there may not be any seats next to each other to offer you.

If it does matter to you, spend money on 1 adult + 2 children for seats.

If you're asking if you will be guaranteed a seat next to the 7 year old, the answer is no.

I don't think you can choose your own seats when you check in online. The system allocates them for you. That's what happened with me when I did an online check in with KLM last week.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

I'll keep an eye via the app anyways and see if the plane starts to fill up. As it is, there's only about 10 seats taken.

How does that solve your problem?

Whenever you check in - even if you check in as early as possible - you'll be allocated random seats and you won't know which seats they are until you click 'save' which does your boarding passes, at which point it's too late.

So even if there are still only 10 seats allocated at the point you do your early check in, you'll get random seats and then everyone else will be allocated seats around you.

I'm doing exactly the same as you OP. And I have no angst. It's a short flight and it will be fine.

'Together' can mean behind, on the diagonal or across the aisle. Up to you if you want to risk it for £8. Don't expect people who have paid for their seats to move to accommodate you though!

Surely if I check 4 people in at once, the system puts them in 4 seats together or near as a single process?

We're in the exact same position, flights at the end of August, 2 DC of 11 and 6. We haven't paid to sit together, will wait what happens when we check in. If EasyJet want parents to sit with their children, then they should not make us pay extra for this.

Disclaimer- our DC won't move if they have a screen, which they will for the flight. I'm willing to take my chances 🤷🏼‍♀️

That's not necessarily true. It's not unknown for airlines to substitute a different plane with a different seating configuration. And if that happens and you don't get the seats you've paid for, you won't get your money back.

Just reiterating what others have said about check in. You don't "choose seats at check in" with easyJet, you get randomly allocated seats when you check in unless you pay the extra to select your seats. You check in and a seat number is assigned to everyone without your input.

I guess you probably will have a higher chance of getting seats together if you check in early. It's not guaranteed at all. As people check in online the seats will fill up. Depends on whether you want to take the risk or not.

Surely if I check 4 people in at once, the system puts them in 4 seats together or near as a single process

if easyJet have a similar algorithm to Ryanair then no they will make sure to spread you out all over the plane with the exception of one adult being near (not beside) the 7 year old.

We see it that the flight is part of our holiday and we want to be together. In your case, personally I'd rather have my DC as close as possible so it's easy to check they've got drinks, snacks - also you haven't got a clue who they'll be sat by and how tolerant they'd be of a child on their own.

No it doesn’t. We checked in as a four, booked as a four, have a 9 and 11 year old. We got 1d, 30f, 24d and 28c. No one anywhere near each other. There were a family with twins in the same situation, which did get sorted, but ours did not. Pay the extra, their system although claimed to sit children with adults from their party, clearly does not.

That's not how they work - the system allocates randomly

Nope…. They can sometimes randomly allocate all over the plane to force people to pay to sit together. Crafty…

Just had a thought, a recent flight of ours was cancelled so we had to change flight a week before. When I phoned to rebook, the BA person told me there was only one area on plane we could both sit together, the other seats were random single ones.

OP, reading some of your posts again, I'm wondering if you're perhaps thinking that it works like this:

• Pay the fee; get first dibs on seat allocation before other people
• Don't pay the fee; get to choose from what's left when you check in

Here is the info directly from easyJet website FAQs.

In my experience easyJet do tend to allocate seats to parties together when checking in online. Ryanair on the other hand are known for NOT seating together (I’m recalling a large hen party who were allocated the middle seat in a row of 3 for 12 consecutive rows!)

Apparently they have an algorithm which automatically tries to seat you together.

I actually think easyJet do make an attempt to sit people close together when you check in, but that's besides the point. Together doesn't mean next to eachother. Could mean behind, could mean Infront, could mean across the aisle. And it's completely dependent on how many seats are taken/how many have checked in before you. The plane could appear empty right until check in when everyone suddenly checks in and there's not many seats together left.

If you want to risk it then check in online as soon as the check in opens. No guarantees though and don't complain if it doesn't work.

I do this too. But we have teenagers and they are meh about whether they sit next to us or not. They are only going to be on their screen the whole time anyway.

It is August, you won't be the only family. I think you should select seats. Mind you, I'd be more concerned about the flight being cancelled given EasyJet's performance this week.