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.

Yep exactly.

Yes, I'd come back.
I don't think it's fair on children in question. And certainly some people just prefer to spend money different way.
Depends on age of a child, but something along
'you realize, random strangers might not be very diligent in helping your 5 years old with oxygen mask, I certainly am not sure whether I would be able to help, I might panic.' Best to say that as soon as you can unclip you seatbelt, shortly after emergency bit.
I can think of lots of other possibilities.

Yes, I remember when you got all this with your flight and flights were so much more expensive.

I actually don’t care about people sitting with their kids.

Not again.

But even ‘cheap flights’ are only cheap for you because you are being subsidised by those paying more - perhaps because they booked at last minute, or have luggage, or buy loads of food and drink, or have a fully flexible ticket…. The passengers on the cheapest tickets without luggage who bring their own snacks are not the ones making money for the airline.

But fares used to be so very much more expensive. This year I paid about £500 for 2 of us to travel to Greece with 2 pieces of hand luggage, 2, 23 kg bags in the hold and seats over the exit row. In the 1970s I went to the same destination and the fares were about half of this. I have just googled it and other things are between 5 and 7 times more expensive now.
Really flights are too cheap. If you want all the frills you can go business class and it would still be cheaper, allowing for inflation, than the 1970s.

But not everyone on the plane pays that.

No, I know. I met someone last year on the plane who only ever pays the basic. As he frequently goes between one place and another he didn’t need any luggage as he had stuff in both places. It doesn’t bother me. I have a choice what I pay for. I go business class when I am going long haul as I like to lie flat and my husband can’t keep his legs twisted for more than 4 hours.

Often there isn't much choice though, Once one business starts doing something, they all start doing it like sheep because they are worried about losing profit or business. It might be a good development but often it isn't.

Examples include

outsourcing to India then bringing it all back
using chatbots instead of answering phones
charging for families to sit together on aeroplanes
charging "booking fees" when you book online even though you can't book any other way (still allowed but has to be very obvious)
not including VAT in prices (now businesses have to when marketing to consumers)
making cars bigger and bigger (I still hope for regulation there)

So where there's a real detriment, you end up having to regulate to protect consumers. In this case it isn't in the public interest to discourage parents from sitting with their children.

ah, ok, that's very fair!

I thought you were being a bit Mafiosa about it, and were going to threaten to hunt them down.

EU legislation now requires a child under 14 to be seated alongside a parent or guardian. To have one rule for flights from the UK into the EU and another for flights from the EU into the UK would not be practical.

Governments have every right to legislate on aviation safety. A child looking for a parent in an emergency is a potential safety hazard.

So if the plane is full and everyone else has paid you want the staff to make someone move just for you?

So pay the £9 ffs. Don’t increase costs for the rest of us. Parents are so selfish.

I mean, no. You misunderstand the concept of cheap flights.

Even if he could do this it means that fares will go up for everyone! 🤷‍♀️

Yup. Tight fisted parents expecting everyone else to subsidise their travel.

People must be very stupid if they listen to this guy's outpourings and swallow it all 🤷‍♀️ Going on about petrol costs - tells them to use an app? The apps have been about for years. Andy and his magic wand 🤷‍♀️

We've always paid for seats as I wouldn't trust a stranger to put an oxygen mask on my child and I would never ask someone who has paid for their seat to move

Interesting...how do you think it works?

See i think parents should be made to book seats so that they are all seated together - i think a lot of parents are entitled and think that others should move for their kids when THEY should be taking that responsibility.

I'm an incredibly nervous flyer so book specific seats that I know I'm okay in - if some arsehole tried to tell me I had to move for their kid they'd be given a VERY short shrift

I know people love to hate Ryanair, but for lots of people living outside London and the SE, they are often the only airline that actually flies from local airports to where we actually need to go. Increasingly, their basic seat prices and luggage and seat add-ons are far less than other airlines, including our national carrier BA. You may be able to take a carry on case on some airlines , but other than that you basically get the same service as budget airlines. I fly a lot, even more so now as an empty nester who can just travel outside school holidays. Ryanair extras such as luggage costs/seats are far less than Wizz, Easyjet, Veuling etc and even a lot of the legacy airlines who no longer offer full service. The same for cheap seats as at the back, it is usually at most £10 a seat and if I remember rightly, children got a free seat next to a paying adult. When I travelled with children it was just part of the cost of travel, so I just payed it. Dynamic pricing is a thing, so costs for extras increase in peak times such as school holidays, but airlines are not a charity and actually need to be profitable. The entitlement from so many on this tread is astounding. I have been a parent restricted to school holidays for travel, paid to be sat together with my DC and maybe needed to book in more luggage than I would now. That is just how it goes, parenting is expensive in lots of way, particularly holidays. Nothing new or shocking about this......

Travelled with kids for 13 years and never paid for a seat to be with them and ALWAYS been with them.
But now they’re over 13 and we spend a fortune paying to be seated together because quite frankly neither want to sit with strangers, and I wouldn’t want DD sitting beside some random bloke anyway. £400 extra on a USA flight recently. Fucking ridiculous.
Airlines should be made to seat kids with parents til 16 at a minimum.
Trust me - no one wants to be on an emergency on flight with parents separated from their children - the parents will
ALWAYS try to get to the children. Even if that child is 13

Just to add, BA do not even fly into Heathrow anymore from my local airport, are an increasingly really shite option from outside London. When I have used them recently, they are just basically Ryanair with a carry on case included. I can however fly into Warsaw, Milan, Barcelona etc and just get a connecting long haul flight on a legacy airline (often cheaper due to taxes and tariffs). Airline travel has never been easier or cheaper. Having to pay for add-ons is hardly a new thing so I am really perplexed that people still get angry about this. If you book a basic fare and then need to book a seat and a 20kg bag then being asked to pay for it really does not seem to be unreasonable.

Pay a fortune? I’m sorry but if you’re flying transatlantic you’re not exactly strapped for cash!