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’.

I never understand this, I never pay for seats when travelling with husband and toddler. They are not going to sit a toddler with strangers! If I do sit apart from my husband it's really not a big deal.

So far we've just had random seat allocation and have always been sat together.

I often travel with the two DC on my own and have never paid for seats. As long as you check in as soon as check in opens you will find seats together even with Ryanair, Wizz etc who I fly with regularly. The only time I didn't get seats together was when I forgot to check in and we were separated. People on board offered to move, without me asking but I declined their kind offer as it stopped the kids bickering and fighting. Best flight ever!

How are other passengers saving money by the airline making me pay to choose specific seats?

I'd think this is obvious............If you pay more for your flight, then the airline makes more money overall, therefore can afford to charge lower prices for the standard bookings with no extras

@MidnightPatrol just two of us. (Me and 11 yo DD).

But it's 10 hour flights to the states (and back).

I concluded that she wants a window as she always falls asleep that way, that gave me a middle seat.(and those were £59each to pick), which meant I could have a stranger who we'd have to annoy each time we needed to get out to the loo/leg stretch etc.

For the extra £16 each I could select the twin seats at the back, and we both get exactly what we wanted. So I paid it and actually felt relieved it was sorted.

Prior to them deconstructing the price of flying, it was ridiculously expensive.

Back in the early to mid 80's, it used to cost £200 to fly from Dublin to London return. That is the equivalent of €640 today, based on 1984 prices. In the mid-80's, they introduced flights for £99 if you booked a month in advance. That is €300 today, based on 1985 prices.

I'm flying to London this week And it cost me €40 return. For that difference in cost, I'm happy with random seat allocation and no food or drink provided.

Pretty much all airlines charge in some capacity now. I would always pay it, whilst some airlines will specify that one adult will be with the child, it means behind/in front/across the aisle. It doesn’t guarantee to be next to.

I understand all the extras such as luggage, seats at front, food. But don't understand having to pay to choose where you sit. In the theater there are different costs to different tickets. I can understand this. But not what the airlines do .

I would love to know what would happen is you don't pre book seats. Your toddler will scream the plane down, no?

Because some people are travelling alone, or don't care who they sit beside. They are flexible and can be dotted around the place. So they don't pay. Your family require a full section to sit together. Others need to be arranged around you. So you pay for that.

There is no threat. There is choice. Pay and you are guaranteed seats. Do not pay and take your chances being dotted around. Lots of people here are saying they like the flexibility. You just need to budget for seat allocation when it is important.

Have you actually read the Ts &Cs? Airlines aren't allowed to separate toddlers from their parents. Generally (each airline is different) they need to be adjacent to a parent, which has different meanings on different airlines.

If you all want to sit together, then pay. DH and I used to take it in turns outbound/inbound, we never paid for seat selection (and now DC are old enough to sit alone).

I'm with you on this one, it's simply a way the airlines can wring more hard earned cash out of their customers. Pure greed.

It also means that those not having a load of luggage or wanting to sit in a particular seat are not having to subsidise those who want these things. They would probably sit your child with at least one of you because why should other passengers have to tolerate your child?

It shouldn't be such a large cost that effectively it's a hidden extra on the flight, and the so-called low fare is completely unrealistic compared with what you actually pay once you add everything.

Also sometimes it's really just not necessary to pay £15 or £20 to reserve your seat so far in advance as you can pay £5 nearer the time or free when you check in like two weeks before you go. It's such a crock of shit.

Assuming all children should be sat with their parents is a difficult one for airlines.
Many years ago, before seat paying, you were allocated seats at the desk when you booked in at the airport.
Those who turned up late got what was left and that included if you had kids with you.

Paying for the privilege of choice gives people peace of mind.

I for example always choose the safest place to sit also away from the toilets. Whether I’ve got kids with me or not I always do this and happy to pay extra so that I can have a choice.

When I recently travelled with my 3 and 1 year old on Jet2, I couldn't choose seats as they were all booked, so I contacted them, and they said that children under 12 have to be seated with their accompanying adult.
Apparently it's the law.

I flew with EasyJet last year and paid for a specific seat as I wanted an aisle seat and the ease of knowing I knew where i was sitting. A family of 2 parents and I think 3 pretty young children (sort of 18mnts 2 and 3 year olds, had managed to get seats on the emergency exit aisle. The air hostess said if you booked children's seats you shouldn't have been able to book the emergency exit row as they can't have children in that row or certainly not by the door. I think the air hostess saw me as a lone female traveller sitting close to it all as an easy target and asked me to sit in the window seat by the emergency exit so the family could use my seat to still be close together. I really didn't want that seat as I'd still be amongst the family, who were lovely but who wants to be in between a stressed out family with young kids on a flight?! I expressed my reluctance and pointed out other options and that I had specifically paid for this specific seat. They did manage to rejig things so I could still have an aisle seat further up the plane and the family could use my original seat. Can't quite remember the exact logistics, but my point is, they will almost certainly move other passengers even if they have paid, to ensure a very young child isn't separated from a parent. So, you could not pay and risk annoying several other people in an enclosed space who have paid for their seat, or get a peaceful flight while some other poor person looks after your child?!

I mean this comment light heartedly, I'm not having a go :)

Those are my favourite seats 💺

I wasn’t suggesting this was a positive.

@MidnightPatrol
Where is the additional cost to the airline of allocating seats at booking vs allocating at check in?

When booking you're choosing the seats. You are agreeing you will sit there (or are happy to have a random seat). So it's all neatly and easily sorted. If they wait until check in it must be a nightmare having to work out where to put everyone to accommodate all the different group sizes, with lots of random seats left over. What if they can't actually make it work?

@ZiriForGood
There should be a guarantee that child will be seated directly next to one of the parent (unless last minute booking) as that is a need not a want

Yes, it's a need. And if you need it, you pay for it, like so many other things in life. The people who don't need to pay will be paying out somewhere else (eg. as PP have mentioned, the high financial costs of being single).

We are booking London theatre seats currently. We can get random cheap seats all over the place. We however will pay extra to be in a good row, in a particular tier, together, for much more money.

If we travel, on what are really pretty cheap airlines, we will pay more for a big suitcase, and seats together. Because overall it’s still a good deal compared to the days of so called free food, free luggage and free seating where tickets cost an arm and a leg each. The days when we got the ⛴️ 🚤 as nobody could afford to ✈️ .

You have a choice. Pay for what you want or don’t go.

It’s good to know that some airlines will not separate a young child and accompanying adult.

It’s a while since I’ve travelled with children but going as two adults I don’t pay for seat selection. We take our chance, are inevitably sat at opposite ends of the plane, which in turn makes boarding difficult for the staff as we have both boarding passes on one phone.

We don’t mind sitting apart on the plane - there’s plenty of time to chat at the other end! I don’t mind the concept of adding a premium for seat selection, as long as the airline doesn’t mind if we choose not to buy it.

I've sat across the aisle from my 6&4yos. It was fine.

If they did introduce law saying a patent had to sit directly next to a young child... would people be happy if that meant you needed a 1-1 ratio if the aplane was a 2-2 formation, or 2-1 ratio for 3-3 planes? Or they wouldn'tet you book for children if the seats weren't available for you to sit directly next to them?

It's rather bogus though. All the seats are cramped and shit, the whole experience of flying has been made absolutely rubbish in the last 20 years.

At the theatre there is a genuinely different experience in sitting near the front. In an aeroplane I'm paying more to see how uneven the aircrew's foundation is.

I've made my peace with this recently.

Just booked to go to Copenhagen with DD. We like to sit at the back of the aircraft with nobody behind us (Both Autistic) so the additional £38 I've paid for this feels a small price to pay. DD gets her window seats and I get to chance it with whoever is next to me on the aisle seat

We’ve flown 3 times this year and have always been sat together even thought we have never paid for seats together. We have been placed near the back of the plane each time, but that’s not a big deal.