To not pay to choose seats but expect to sit together?

[Peachpicklepie]

I'll be flying with easyjet on a short flight (just over an hour) soon. It will be me, my toddler (2 years 4 months) and my baby (four months). Baby will be on my lap. According to the website they will sit children near an accompanying adult - surely in the case of a two year old this means next to?! I really don't want to spend another £20 on choosing seats if it's unnecessary.

They wouldn't separate you and risk your two year old making the flight hell for everyone else. I say dare them!

Bot read TFT but I never book seats. Frequently fly with 3 children without my husband, but even if we all fly together, still don’t. Children are not 10, 8 & 7 and have been flying since the oldest was 2. Whilst we as adults have not always been together, with one or two children each, sometimes at the other end of the plane, that’s what you sign up to when not booking seats, and we’re ok with that. As a single adult with the children, you cannot be seated in the same row anyway (unless a larger plane) and we are all ok with that. The children know how to behave and talk to, (or not talk to!) other adults. We have never asked anyone to swap seats. If anything it’s been offered. Depending on how many times DC need to get to the bathroom from their seat!!

You know that not everyone on a flight is going on holiday, right?

The OP has said nothing about a holiday. Perhaps there's a reason she needs to travel and is financially stretched enough for the £20 to matter.

There’s absolutely no need to book seats. Just make sure you book in online when it opens. Mumsnet are weird about this, most people in the real world don’t stump up an additional £100 for a family of 4 going both ways. I’ve never had an issue.

What makes you so special? Why should someone who has paid be expected to move to accommodate you who chose not to move? I would not move for you unless you gave me the cash i had paid there and then

The people who actual pay this are a tiny minority whatever mumsnet says. You are the unusual one and as such will probably get the seat you paid for that it clearly says isn’t guaranteed anyway 👍🏻

Except the airline then split up people who have paid to sit together.

I've been on a delayed flight from Tenerife when a family of five had not prebooked and the dad stood in the aisle shouting 'you have to sit us together' the steward looked him in the eye and said - no we don't.

They did do their best asking people to move and eventually one parent was sat with one child each and their little girl was is the front row. A good 7 to 8 rows away from her closest parent. She put her headphones in for the safety announcement and would have been fucked in an emergency situation.

Everybody was pissed off with them, the staff and fellow passengers. For a few quid they could have not caused a delay and upset other passengers who had paid.

Yes you can be demanding and entitled like the father was but you do so at the expense of everyone else.

I have flown Easyjet many times and never been separated from any of my party, kids or adults. Just check in one month in advance and you will be fine.

For most airlines "next to" is considered to be the seat directly in front or behind, or across the aisle.

Haven't read all the replies so apologies if repeating.

I'm pretty sure Martin Lewis said to be aware about this when booking holidays on TV the other night.

Your compassion for powerless frontline staff shines out.
I work in the NHS and experience this kind of attitude (plus crap pay)
oh joy

I am just gloing to shoehorn in an anecdote here (because I can, as my DS would say).

I was on a flight from London to Melbourne and a family kicked off BIGTIME because they were not seated together. All together. They were a family of ... 5..... and were seated 4 in the middle aisle and one across the aisle. No amount of explaining from the cabin crew that there simply were not 5 seats together on the plane - or indeed any plane- got through their thick fucking heads.

They stormed off the plane and their bags had to be located and removed while we sat on the plane. I had Ds1 aged 3 months with me and it was rather - annoying.

I swear this story is true. i did wonder what this family did. Maybe go by ship?

We’ve done this today. I checked in as soon as we received the email and we’ve been sat together - three in a row and one in the seat across the aisle.

*middle section

Exactly what everyone with common sense does…..

It's not club class service sitting next to your children.
Yes I've flown Wizz Air to long distance Singapore Airlines biz class and everything in between- it really isn't a perk to sit next to your own children....it's just a wheeze from the airlines to scam more money out of you. Check in early on Easyjet and you won't need to pay it.

Ryanair!

Lots of people who think that charging for extras is a necessity for airlines to operate. The article below suggests otherwise.

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-11984505/EasyJet-lifts-profit-expectations-demand-travel-booms.html

This! More fool the idiots who pay this stupid charge.

They can't throw people off a flight for not paying for an optional extra, don't be ridiculous.

Good.

If enough people who have paid to sit together get moved around, people will say fuck that noise and stop paying to choose their seats and hopefully this stupid idea will be scrapped.

On a flight we were on to Cyprus a mum assumed she would be sat with her four kids plus baby. She boarded and created hell when she realised that not paying to be sat together literally meant her kids aged from teens to pre schoolers wouldn't be sat with her. The baby under 2 was but in the end some passengers moved round so she was as close as possible to them. Delayed the flight and made us miss our departure time:

easyJet makes on average £4-£5 profit per passenger carried, but since they carry upwards of 60 million passengers per year they're doing ok.

The extras certainly do count though.

if i have to pay i wont move i dont care what the crew say i book a certain seat for a reason

also its not just low cost airlines BA also charge you for booking seats

Airlines should remove the parents if they’re not prepared to sit in the seats they’ve been given (because they didn’t pay to guarantee different ones).

Customers who have paid should not be moved around for others who chose not to.

The whole “you’ll move for me and my child because the stewards can make you” should be applied to the people who won’t sit down, not the people who won’t do someone else a favour.

That’s the only way in which the airlines are unreasonable IMHO. If the rule is that we pay, then they should take action and enforce accordingly. Not penalise people who are actually complying with the rules that the airline has set.

This!