Paying for seat reservations on flights

[MidnightPatrol]

I have just booked a flight and as increasingly seems to be the case, they want me to pay to reserve a seat.

I have a young child so I can’t ’risk it’ on the day, and the trip will be more enjoyable (by which I mean less of a nightmare) if we are seated together in one row (me, DH, DC).

The cost of this? 66 euros.

I just want to ensure I am seated with the other passengers in my booking, specifically my toddler. Feels grating to incur an additional expense for this ‘privilege’.

We used to do 2 bookings. DS1 and I got priority boarding and went on first to get seats for us all. Dh, dd and ds2 would come on with the non-priority crowd. I always felt good getting one over on Michael O'Leary.

I must admit, I hated that approach. It was very stressful. Very Hunger Games. They didn't even let people with kids on first. Much easier to pay to select seats together.

You could if you took all the extras off!

But I get that it wouldn't draw people in at the start, although it would make reservation fees more palatable. I feel there's a market for a no bullshit airline that gives you the real price with hold luggage and seat selection and lets you take them off, though.

like is 2024 paying for seats has been around for ages it's not a new thing 🤷‍♀️ when you go onto ticketmaster and buy concert tickets the cheaper ones are at the back or standing. in our cinema they have plush seats they cost extra if you want them. if you want specific things you pay for it. flying has become too cheap in certain cases. but people have become used to cheap flights ( same also with food and clothes ) 🙄 airlines clearly state their costs too you so yoi can see how much it is and decline if you want to pay. but don't moan about the consequences. I as other people have siad include cost of luggage and seats when I look at flights. I like to enjoy my holiday and want comfort so will pay for it to ensure that.

At one time with ryanair, if you didn't choose to pay you couldn't check in until 24 hours before at which point you could actually pick a seat from what was left.
So we would pay for a middle seat for one person and then wait until the minute check-in opened and pick a free seat next to the paid one, to save one lot of fees. Ryanair got wise to that so now it's autoallocation if you don't pay.
I go random and most times I get an aisle seat , which I prefer anyway.

But charging those that do mind and don't want to take a risk to be allocated just any seat ....those people paying more are subsiding those who choose not to. But this would only be to a point. The airline would be doing calculations to work out their pricing strategy- there are many variables to consider. And working out what those people are willing to pay for the privilege selecting their seat would be one.

It would have been illegal for the airline to have the children sat in the emergency exit row and the plane could not have taken off. Different to whether a family can sit together

The disabled don't have to pay.

I recently flew EasyJet, with Airport Assistance. They allocated me appropriate seats at no additional cost to myself by reference to my mobility needs. They couldn't have been more accommodating

Eidted to apologise for insensitivity of that post. Different disabilities have different requirements. I just wanted to give a shout out to easyJet

Planes need to be balanced.
Not so much an issue if a plane is full but if its got empty seats or lots of kids you can't have them all in the same area or the same side.

So it's probably easier for the airline to place people than it is for people all to pick the front of the plane.
A plane cannot take off if all the weight is at the front.

So if you really want to pick your seat you need to pay for the privilege of making someone else's job harder placing other people to balance the plane.
Does that make sense?

It's also illegal to separate under 12s from parents.

So that family getting those seats is a failure on the airline.

not with the ultra low cost airlines - eg RyanAir, WizzAir. You are auto allocated seats, none of this seat selection nonsense!

No, it's not. The CAA rules in this regard are advisory only

Well, quite!

Sorry to be pedantic - but you're now permitted to take nail scissors (and tweezers) through Security in your hand luggage (no need to purchase at Boots after Security)

Yes I have already been corrected but I'm sure that used to be the case

"And asked 3 times are you sure you don't want to pay to choose your seat😀"

Ha ha - yes

But yet my 500ml bottle of water is way too dangerous to be allowed through security. Do they think I'm going to try and drown someone with it?

We’re more than happy not paying for a seat. I love the fact you can pick and choose what you book and don’t book. Never pay for priority and avoid bags as well.

most airlines would sit you with the toddler.

Never pre booked seats even when I’ve flown with my kids and we’ve always all been sat together when I do pick the free ones.

I agree. It is a joke to get more money from you.
We never pay and alwaya show up early for check in and request we are seated together. Only once we were not so after take off we asked to be swapped.

What airlines are you using where you still check in at the airport (at least I assume that's what you mean)? I thought they all did online checking these days.

You need to think of it the other way round.

Seats are X.
They are X - £discount if you don't care where you sit.

But doing it that way would mean they have a higher 'from £x' price, which they don't want to do of course.

Keep in mind when airlines say they will seat parents with children, their definition of 'with' may be across the aisle or in the row behind or in front of you.

I think a lot still offer physical check-in if you want it.

At our local non-UK airport you can certainly check-in at a desk with several major airlines such as BA and Air France.

Easyjet/Ryanair have bag drops, not sure what they do about Check-in.

Honestly! The liquids limit was introduced after the biggest disaster in aviation history was narrowly averted. It would have made the awful Twin Towers disaster look like a Teddy Bears picnic in comparison.

We've never paid the seat reservation fee and have always been seated together as a family of four with 2 DC (age 4 & 7).

I have never paid to reserve seats and we have never been separated from our children. Sometimes we have two pairs of seats, or a three and one somewhere else but it's never been a problem.

I don't think they would sit a young child.on their own, and I would imagine the strangers that got stuck with them would have something to say about it as well.