Airlines forced to seat children with parents

[ibeentothetop]

Thanks Burnham, now it’ll be more expensive for child free people like me to pick a seat. I can’t believe that things like this even need to be legislated for.

As far as I am aware it does seem redundant. I believe they aren't allowed to seat a child away from a parent, so if you book and don't pay to sit with your child and it gets left up to them to select they will always place the child with a parent. They won't necessarily place the whole family together, but they don't need to, the other parents can sit alone.
I've taken 3 flights with my daughter and never once paid to sit next to her and always have been...so yeah not sure if needs to be legislated for..

That's a shame. I'd pay not to sit next to mine. 😆

AFAIK, seated "with" a parent doesn't mean next to. It could be in front of or behind, or across the aisle.

And just to be clear - your issue is with Andy Burnham rather than, say, the airlines who weren't complying with international regulations or who gouge their customers at every turn because the truth is that flying is a bloody expensive business but the hordes still clamour for cheap trips to Spain?

It's a novel take, I'll give you that.

Oh behave yourself. If you can't afford to reserve a seat that you so desperately want then you can't afford to fly.

I will be interested to know if they are still meaning together to include across aisles, in front/behind etc.

This. And did you WANT to sit next to my children? I don’t get it.

To my mind if you pay for a seat on a flight you should, at the same time select your seat on said flight and NOT pay extra to booze your seat whether you have kids or not. You’re paying for a seat - you reserve them on a train so why not on a plane? I think the whole paying to reserve a particular seat needs to stop full stop

Surely you would rather a child be seated with their parent than have a random unsupervised child seated next to you for the duration? It works both ways.

This. That kind of misaligned approbation is sadly a huge part of our culture though, the actual wrong doers fly under the radar of vitriol!

I know. I always wonder about people who refuse to move seats in order to let a parent sit with a child. I mean, if you want to be next to my kid for this entire 3-hour flight, be my guest…

Choose
NOT booze 😂

We’re flying to Canada next year; to book our seats is £500! It’s insane!

Where was this outrage when we couldn’t just book our seats when we paid for them? Why do we think this is acceptable when we are paying a private company a lot of money to fly with? I don’t care if you’re booking seats next to your wife/lover/child. It’s just a way to make extra money. You can easily allocate plane seats (and now even easier with AI- jeez I can do this with excel!) without incurring an extra cost. It’s like having to pay an ‘admin fee’ for ticket bookings.

Some people do! The Home Alone where the parents go in First Class and put the kids in economy apparently happens, if you believe some posts.

I am surprised it is not already law or an aircraft safety requirement to sit a child next to its parents. In the event of a fire it is essential that passengers exit the plane as fast as possible - any delay can cost lives. There are design regulations based around speed of exit. If a child is separated from parents, even in the row behind, then parents are likely to fight against the crowd to get to their child slowing exit for everyone.

I also think airlines should have a basic duty of care towards young children much includes not exposing them to potentially risky passengers or at least having an adult with children responsible for mediating that risk.

Years ago they seated people booking together all together

they assumed someone going on holiday needed a suitcase with clothes in AND hand luggage

they knew people would need a drink and might like a newspaper, a blanket and or a cushion

they served a meal incase people were hungry

now it is ALL extra -
it’s a money making scheme

How hard (and logical) to book seats together if you want to sit together it is not rocket science

I agree tbh

It is so they can advertise a lower headline price. They don’t want you to just pay that figure, and wouldn’t run a profit if they did.

Yes tbh I’d prefer to pay the price “all in” rather than having to pay for each thing separately. And the actual price not being anything like the price advertised.

It's the airlines who charge, not the PM.

LOL nice try OP.

I think most families who fly will be delighted.

Just sit where you get given if your can't afford it.

Ryanair charge you for sitting next to your kid currently.

I have been seated behind my 2yo and my 5yo because I hadn't booked seats, apparently that counted as sitting "together" (hadn't flown for a while and didn't realize vindictive airlines were seemingly making life difficult for those who didn't pay).

I ended up next to an 8 year old for a 2 hour flight. The mum had a toddler next to her. The 8 year old was happy next to me and my dd.

Some parents choose not to sit with their children...

The last time I flew with Ryanair, one family had one set of window and middle seats and one of a middle seat and aisle seat, separated by the aisle of course.

I was in the other aisle seat. I expected that the parents would take a son each or possibly ask me to move to let a parent sit with the boys.

Oh no... The father grabbed the middle seat on the other side and (whilst I was trying to stand up to let the kids in) the mother instructed them to climb over me! I protested and pointed out that I was trying to stand. (I had very bad knees at the time - I'm no spring chicken.)

The mother then plunked herself down beside the father and pretended to sleep for the entire flight...The father didn't show any interest in keeping an eye on the boys either.

The boys weren't badly behaved, but they were primary aged and loud. Mum and Dad were obviously using the flight as a break from them.