Page 13 | Airlines forced to seat children with parents

ibeentothetop · 2026-10-07T21:07:17+00:00

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.

EarthlyNightshade · 09/10/2026 10:45

ibeentothetop · 08/10/2026 17:10

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

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I never pay for seats on airplanes.

Why do you pay?

ilovesooty · 09/10/2026 15:30

Yellowbelliedsapsuckeristaken · 09/10/2026 10:34

As a child free person, why is MUMSNET the place to moan?

Are you another suggesting that childfree people shouldn't be here?

TunnocksOrDeath · 09/10/2026 17:48

SplishSplash123 · 08/10/2026 12:03

I'm aware of this, thank you, and like you would assume that base price of all seats would be increased to compensate.
The OP said it would be more expensive for them to "pick a seat". I was asking them why they felt sure that this would be a consequence.

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Once people who pay to choose their seat have done that there are usually insufficient small blocks of seats together for families to use. The only way to resolve that is a feedback in the "choose your seat" system which works out where it can sit family groups from what's left and shows them as unavailable, once it reaches a tipping point; limiting which seats are there for all-adult passengers to choose from.
When this happens you reach the point where passengers are unwilling to pay extra to pick from what's left MUCH quicker. OP predicts that airlines will manage this reduced supply of preferred seats by increasing prices to choose one.

SplishSplash123 · 09/10/2026 18:12

TunnocksOrDeath · 09/10/2026 17:48

Once people who pay to choose their seat have done that there are usually insufficient small blocks of seats together for families to use. The only way to resolve that is a feedback in the "choose your seat" system which works out where it can sit family groups from what's left and shows them as unavailable, once it reaches a tipping point; limiting which seats are there for all-adult passengers to choose from.
When this happens you reach the point where passengers are unwilling to pay extra to pick from what's left MUCH quicker. OP predicts that airlines will manage this reduced supply of preferred seats by increasing prices to choose one.

Edited

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I don't think OP has given it that much thought, quite frankly, I think they just wanted an excuse to bash families and complain because families are getting something for "free" and they are not!

SuperBlondie28 · 09/10/2026 18:20

MyDeftDuck · 08/10/2026 06:19

Perhaps they should legislate for children to sit BEHIND their parents………then they can kick the seats as much as they want 🤷‍♀️………😂

I got kicked for 3 hrs on and off last year by a child behind me . The parents murmured 'stop it' and that's it!

I wish next year's flight to lanzarote could include a seating plan where I know where the little kids are, so I can shell out £22 each way to sit AWAY from them! I'm traveling with DH only.

I

Nothavingagoodvalentinesday · 09/10/2026 23:17

EstoyRobandoSuCasa · 07/10/2026 22:19

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

🤣
So would I.

Nothavingagoodvalentinesday · 09/10/2026 23:21

Yetone · 08/10/2026 13:18

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

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It’s interesting to note that the in flight meal was originally so that passengers had something to do on the plane to stop them getting nervous about flying.

PruLeithsNecklace · 11/10/2026 11:16

Really they ought to sit children with their parents as a matter of course, if there is an incident and the plane needs to be evacuated quickly no one wants unaccompanied children panicking and getting trampled on and parents moving in the wrong direction to get to them. I’m not sure the governments plan is much of a win though because now prices will just increase for everyone.