How should these airline seats be used?

[badbaduncle]

Very differing opinions so just wanted to hear your views.
4 travellers going away (2 parents, 17 and 19yo.) 2 staying 2 weeks (1parent, 1 child), 2 staying 3 weeks (same)
4 return flights booked but due to availability they are not together. The 3 week trip has 'premium economy' flights, the 2 week trip economy flights. 10 hour flights.
1 parent is exceptionally tall, the other has mobility issues and arthritis.

1.The 2 week trippers think the fairest is that they get the PE seats on the way out as the 3 week trippers get them on the way back.
2.The parents think they should have them on way out as they have physical needs and this would be more comfortable
3.One parent and all teens thinks the other parent is annoying on a flight as they fall asleep and snore loudly and create embarrassment
4.The teenagers think that as the parents don't drink or watch the TV the seats are wasted on them.
5.The parent who organised the trip (to their home country) - and paid for it all -thinks everyone should shut up and be grateful and we can swap around a bit.

What do you think?

Feeling lesser and unfairly treated is not an experience my DC would acknowledge.

Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.

When did it become a thing that parents should give up a privilege they have earned by virtue of paying for the tickets (and in physical need of space) to be 'fair'?
I understand that DD will miss out but it's x no brainer. 2 x parents fly PE on the way out. DD missed out. Sucks. It's swings and roundabouts. She will win another time. Parents don't slum it to make it 'fair' for dc

Well I guess you could put names in the hat in the name of fairness, but I'd put the kids in economy.

I'd also put the kids in economy - unless they want to pay for an upgrade themselves.

when I was 17-19 I was slumming it in the seats next to the toilet, if I could even afford a flight - most of the time I was crammed into coaches. That's as it should be, you earn comfort and priviledge as you age and can pay for it!

I was waiting for this! Yes, mwah mwah, off my my holibobs!

Although apparently Gordon Ramsay and Madonna also do this 😂

I flew back to my home country alone aged 19 and got stuck on the back row between a body builder and a chain smoker! And I was quite happy!
DC are so horrified when I tell them about smoking on planes. It does seem insane now doesn't it? But I remember thinking "I'm whizzing through the air a mile above the earth, in a modified tin can" can cadging a ciggie - one of only about 5 I have smoked in my life 😂

Ok, what if the OP were taking their parents (or any other pair of grown adults) on holiday and had paid for the tickets? Would your answer be the same?

Premium economy for the one with arthritis. Some draw, nearest the bull on a dart board or some other method for the other premium economy seat.

Exactly!

And in a family with a SAHM, then presumably the wage earning husband would fly first class because he paid, and the SAHM and kids can travel in economy...

All 4 people in a family of 2 adults and 2 teens are equal. Some of their roles might not be money earning (i.e. caring for children or studying), but the wage earner is not entitled to better/more than the other members of the family just because they earn the money. Children are not second class citizens who have to make do with less than their parents.

I would say parents get the best seats both ways. The other possibility is ;just to draw straws for them.

In principle I agree with the OP, but in reality I wouldn't be able to deny DD the opportunity to experience PE so would go option 1 and ask them to smuggle extra snacks back to cattle class.

I'm with the majority, that it would seem reasonable for the parents to have the PE seats on the way out. Presumably both have done their share of standard economy travelling in their lives; the teenagers will be fine and anyway have opportunities in the future.

coi Have teens the same age in our house. Eldest just returned from a gap year in Australia. Plane full as normal on the way back - but don't tell yours about her experience on her way out 12 months ago; 8 passengers socially distancing on the whole flight, both legs! (yes, normal large plane - I think two airlines were keeping the routes open flying cargo)

How can both parents get the best seats both ways? They're not flying back together.
The premium economy seats are booked for the 3 week trip. They all fly our together using 4 seats, 2 of which are premium.
In 2 weeks time, one parent flies back with 1 child and those seats are standard economy. No choice.
A week after that, the other parent flies back with the other child, and those seats are the premium ones.

Basically, on the flight out, both parents can sit in premium and both kids in normal. In 2 weeks, 1 parent and 1 kid come home in normal seats. Then 1 week later, the other parent and kid come home in premium. So at the end of the whole thing, only one member of the family will have travelled both ways in economy and that's the kid coming back in 2 weeks.

Those who pay get the better seats

Parents get the seats unless the kids are planning to chip in for their tickets?

Do the teens even want to go on the trip? The 'you're getting a paid for holiday' argument slightly wanes if it's not really their choice and they're just doing it as a family duty'.

I would say parents go PE and the kids get a chance for an hour or so.

Or two get to try it one way and two the other way.

No other options.

Which airline? On some PE isn't all that different anyway.

I would say parents get the PE seats both ways, expecially due to the physical reasons listed. Although I suppose if one person is paying it should be up to them, although I wouldn't have just one person left out of PE overall.

Parents get the premium seats on the grounds that teenagers can sleep upside down in a nightclub, and the parents paid.

Oh don't be so dramatic. Are you protecting by any chance?

And as for all the 'what if you were travelling with elderly parents' or the comment about a sahm having to be in economy because her husband earns the money...not really relevant to this situation is it!

You're the second person to say this.

How can both parents sit in premium economy both ways? The premium seats are for the 3 week trip, not the 2 week trip. One of the parents flies home on the 2 week flight and the other one the 3 week flight. The parent coming home after 2 weeks needs to sit in the seats they have booked which are not premium.

Parents get the best seats

Tall person and person with mobility needs get PE. I am 6ft 2 and can barely fit my knees in economy and person in front cannot recline their seat because of it.

Yes they are both very very keen to come. DD is coming home early due to a prior commitment but both very excited about the whole trip. My home country is others dream holiday destination so it really isn't a hardship.

It's TUI we are flying with - no idea what PE is like with them or anyone else as I have always been very much a 'basic economy' passenger!

We would let the 2 weekers have the better seats on the way out, and the 3 weekers on the way home - so everyone gets to experience it. With a little swapping around mid flight if we felt like it.

But it is 100% up to you, as the person paying and presumably who was left to organise the whole thing!