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’.

Why on earth would the airline staff look after your children? It's not their job.

All that would happen is your child would not get their snacks, hence no spillages to clear up. Your child would also not be entertained. The end result would be either a bored, hungry child or an upset child. And there would be nobody to blame except you.

It's hardly a ransom. Flights are significantly cheaper, even when paying to select seats, before pricing was deaggregated.

Its a rip off expecting parents to pay extra just to be able to sit next to their child. The fact is it's not for the benefit of the parent and child themselves, it's for the safety of OTHER passengers in the case of an evacuation. Because if parents are separated from their child they will obviously slow down an evacuation by trying to get to them.
I don't ever pay extra to sit with my kids and I don't think I have ever done. But then I don't mind if they're in the row in front or behind, or across the aisle as long as they're close enough I can still talk to them (which that is) I've also never asked anyone to swap with me. I do try and check in as early as possible to select seats (free) though.
I was once on a Tuu flight where the airplane type was changed and everyone's seat selection got messed up. Even people who paid to be together.
There seems to be a lot of people who are annoyed that parents don't want to pay extra. Which is weird.

@Itsrainingten
Have you ever not been sat beside your kids?
We never pay for seats 90% of the time the lead name on the booking is in seat B or seat E. In the middle of the two kids.

Occasionally we end up one adult / one child and other adult / other child. But still very close by.

Yeah been across the aisle. But never further than that. That's fine by me though. The only time we've ever been not even near is on the TUI flight where they changed the aircraft and EVERYONE was messed up. But it was fine because since everyone had been stuck everywhere (even people who'd paid so they were entitled to a refund) pretty much half the plane were rearranging themselves and we ended up next to them after that anyway.
I have noticed that when we fly as a family Ryanair will tend to stick me with both kids and DH alone which pisses me off. Why do they make me default childminder - luckily DH is reasonable so we switch it up, one of us with kids on the way out and the other on the way back

Nobody is annoyed at parents not wanting to pay extra. People are annoyed at parents expecting other people to move so that they can sit with their children.

Before we had children I got very fed up with entitled parents expanding others to move to accommodate them. I have a hidden disability and needed to be sat with my husband so we paid for seats today. The amount of time I had to disclose my disability to stop pressure from parents and cabin crew to move. One flight I was actually verbally abused and called a bitch for not moving.
now we have kids we still pay to all sit together. Should not have to in an ideal world but I would much rather pay extra and make sure we are all together.

Take the risk if you want but do not expect others to accommodate you. Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.

I guess you are the lead name on the booking?
Put your DH down first. Mine likes to be the man who takes the family on holiday😜and always gets the privilege of being between the kids. 😂

I love my kids dearly but it's lovely getting peace on a flight (unless I end up with two random screamers beside me)

This. Plus those that want others to move so adult friends/partners can sit together!

Witnessed it again at the weekend, people doing their best to guilt others into moving to accommodate them on a shortish flight which cost me just a tenner to book a preferred seat in advance.

We always pay to book seats in advance with the kids but sometimes the airline messes up and we lose them.

You can't just assume people are being cheeky.

I used to be so kind, always agreeing to swap seats even if I'd paid, because I assumed parents were getting caught out, not realising that their assumption of being sat together wasn't right, whatever.

Then I joined MN and realised how many parents deliberately don't pay and then expect to be moved or have a stranger look after their kid for the entire flight. I don't move seats anymore. And no, if I'm sitting next to someone's kid, I don't look after them - if they need something then I press the call button so that the parent can be located, every time.

I think it should be made impossible to book a child's ticket unless a seat next to the parent is paid for. If there aren't enough seats free on the plane, too bad, parent must book a different flight.

(I'd prefer childfree airlines but that ain't happening any time soon.)

Nobody expects to be moved or ask anyone to move.
People assume airlines will follow the guidelines and not separate under 12s from parents.

But the guidelines are "ideally not more than 1 seat row away" not directly next too.

The guidelines allow kids to be placed in rows in front or behind, or across aisle. Many parents are unhappy with this, and they absolutely do expect people to move to sort it out for them. As I said - in the past, I have moved. Now, I won't.

I wouldn't move from a seat I'd chosen and paid for. If I hadn't paid for it I'd be prepared to move to an equivalent seat in another row if asked.

It's a money making exercise for them. Some people are happy to sit wherever, apart from their friends/family. But others, like families will want to sit together.
I flew with easyjet last week and we paid for 4 allocated seats as have got two toddlers. No way was I up for any drama, moving other passengers etc. I wanted window seats for the kids so they wouldn't be up and down.

On both flights, a couple of families had not booked seats and it was a huge drama trying to get kids sat with a parent. Other customers were asked to move to accommodate it, but majority of the other passengers were families and would have shelled out the extra to allocate seats, so didn't want to move. Then the crew started offering bribes like free drinks etc.
It was sorted in the end but the flight was delayed taking off.

Lesson is, they probably won't sit you together, so if that is what you require, then pay the surcharge to book and have the peace of mind.

I have frequently had people sitting in my seat and asking me do I mind swapping. I was on a flight last week and there was an extended family who sat in seats beside one another and then asked the person who was meant to be sitting there to swap.

I think it should be made impossible to book a child's ticket unless a seat next to the parent is paid for. If there aren't enough seats free on the plane, too bad, parent must book a different flight.

What you're proposing here is literally a parent tax. I'm not fussed whether my kid is directly next to me, or across the aisle or in the row in front. Why should I pay more just because you don't like it? I propose you pay for the seats next to you as well as your own, then you won't end up with a kid next to you.

Are you seriously suggesting that someone travelling alone pays for the seat next to them as well as their own seat?

It shouldn’t apply to children old enough to look after themselves (so set it at a certain age and leave it open to parents to book if they want to beyond that age).

The reason why parents of toddlers and young children should pay to seat them appropriately rather than random strangers who have no responsibility towards them should be painfully obvious, but this is MN so of course it’s not.

No of course I'm not suggesting they do that. Unless like this PP they're suggesting that PARENTS should pay extra to avoid these other people having kids end up sitting next to them. Or maybe, you know we could just go back to airlines sitting groups together like they used to.
I'm not paying more to sit next to my kids. I'm not bothered whether I do or not, so I won't be asking you to swap. But if YOU have a problem with potentially ending up with a kid next to you then feel free to buy up the extra seats

Oh I see. Thanks for clarifying.

If we talk about changing the system, wouldn't it be easier to just require airlines to sit small children directly next to one of the adults, and to do the same for disabled people who need a carer?
They would still pay if they want to choose a specific seat, the same as everyone else.

It totally makes sense that they charge for specific seat selection, as seats have different properties. Fair enough that they charge for keeping the adult group together.
However forcing parents to pay extra "for the peace of mind" when the airline would have to seat them very close anyway is weird.

@ZiriForGood that pretty much is the current system. Parents are put with their offspring primarily so they don't slow down the evacuation process.
Airline's are expected to be able to evacuate a plane in something like 90 seconds. That's not going to happen if children aren't with their parents. It goes against that primal instinct to leave your child in a dangerous situation.

If Parents want to choose window seats or asile seats, back front whatever their choice but they will not separate Parents from kids.

I have a sneaky suspicion that some Parents book window and asile hoping the middle seat will remain free - then panic when some random is put in between them.

I have a sneaky suspicion that some Parents book window and asile hoping the middle seat will remain free - then panic when some random is put in between them.

I reckon you're right on this. But I also think that it's a reasonable risk to take since almost nobody wants the middle seat. If you asked if they'd swap and take either the aisle or window instead of being stuck in the middle between a parent and child, almost everyone would be happy to do THAT swap.